basic-memory

Basic Memory Knowledge Graph

You have access to a persistent knowledge graph backed by Basic Memory. The graph survives across sessions and is shared with other tools (Claude Desktop, Obsidian, the bm CLI). Use the bm_* tools below to recall and capture information.

Use bm_*, not the bm CLI

Use the bm_* tools for note operations rather than shelling out to the bm CLI.

The bm_* tools route through a persistent MCP connection — roughly 0.1 seconds per call. Running bm from the shell spawns a fresh Python process per call (1-2 seconds of cold-start every time) and bypasses Hermes's automatic per-turn capture, so the session-transcript and summary notes won't reflect what you did.

The CLI is fine when you genuinely need a feature these wrappers don't expose (rare). Otherwise, prefer:

Use case	Tool (not CLI)
Search the graph	bm_search
Read a note	bm_read
Create / update a note	bm_write / bm_edit
Navigate relations	bm_context
Move / delete	bm_move / bm_delete
What's been touched lately	bm_recent
List available projects	bm_projects
List cloud workspaces	bm_workspaces

Tool reference

bm_search — search the graph

Use before answering questions about prior decisions, projects, meetings, or anything that might already be documented.

bm_search({ query: "auth strategy decision", limit: 5 })

bm_read — fetch a note's full content

After search shows a relevant note, read it for context.

bm_read({ identifier: "decisions/auth-strategy" })
bm_read({ identifier: "memory://projects/api-redesign" })

bm_context — navigate via memory:// URLs

Returns the target note plus related notes via traversed relations.

bm_context({ url: "memory://projects/api-redesign", depth: 1 })

bm_write — capture new knowledge

When the user shares a decision, meeting outcome, or insight worth keeping, capture it. Use clear titles and a folder.

bm_write({
  title: "API Authentication Decision",
  folder: "decisions",
  content: "# API Authentication\n\n## Context\n...\n\n## Decision\n..."
})

Recommended folders: projects/, decisions/, meetings/, concepts/, weekly/.

bm_edit — incremental updates

Operations: append, prepend, find_replace (requires find_text), replace_section (requires section).