Install
The fastest paths are the five-minute quickstart or the one-line installer:
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/3vilM33pl3/memory/main/scripts/install.sh | shThe installer detects your platform, checks whether PostgreSQL is reachable, and points you at the bundled Docker stack when none is found.
The current stable release is v2.0.0. If you are upgrading from v1, stop here and use the Update guide before restarting the service.
Choose a platform
Linux / Debian
Install the .deb package and enable the systemd service.
macOS / Homebrew
Install via Homebrew or the native Intel/Apple Silicon .pkg.
Windows
Install the native x86_64 MSI/ZIP or use Docker Desktop/WSL2.
Memory Layer runs as a native background service (memory-layer.service on Linux, a launchd agent on macOS) that manages the database connection, curation pipeline, and embedding backends. The memory CLI and TUI communicate with this service over a local socket, so nothing leaves your machine unless you configure an external embedding or LLM provider.
Prerequisites
You need a PostgreSQL database with the pgvector extension enabled. See PostgreSQL and pgvector for setup instructions. Optional LLM and embedding providers improve curation and semantic retrieval, but the core service works without them.
| Requirement | Why it matters | Verify |
|---|---|---|
| PostgreSQL | Durable storage for projects, captures, memories, activity, and history. | psql "$DATABASE_URL" -c "SELECT 1;" |
| pgvector | Vector storage for semantic retrieval. | psql "$DATABASE_URL" -c "SELECT extversion FROM pg_extension WHERE extname = 'vector';" |
memory binary | CLI, TUI launcher, service management, MCP, evals. | memory --version (current release: 2.0.0) |
| Optional LLM provider | Better curation, summaries, and answer synthesis. | memory doctor |
| Optional embedding provider | Semantic search and graph-enhanced retrieval quality. | memory embeddings list |
Configure
cd /path/to/project
memory wizardmemory wizard runs the setup flow once, covering the machine configuration and, when run inside a repository, the repo-local project setup. Secrets are written outside your repository so they are never committed. Use memory wizard --dry-run to preview every file and service action first.
Verify
memory doctor
memory health
memory status --project <project-slug>doctor checks configuration and dependencies. health checks the backend service. status combines service, project, watcher, and MCP diagnostics.