semantic-memory

name	semantic-memory
description	LogosDB semantic memory plugin: global cross-session memory, thinking-trace storage, incremental /index, /remember, /search, /forget. Triggers: semantic memory, LogosDB, logosdb MCP, semantic-memory plugin, global memory, thinking traces.
metadata	{"version":"0.3.0","last_updated":"2026-05-14","status":"active","data_access_level":"raw","task_type":"outcome-gradable"}

Semantic memory — LogosDB MCP (plugin)

This plugin ships the logosdb MCP server and guidance for semantic, session-persistent memory using logosdb-mcp-server. mcpServers are declared in .claude-plugin/plugin.json (mirrored in .mcp.json) per Claude Code MCP — plugins (stdio command + args, typically npx + -y). This repo uses a small shell launcher so CLAUDE_PROJECT_DIR, LOGOSDB_PATH, and LOGOSDB_INDEX_ROOT behave for user-scoped plugins. Slash skills: skills/<name>/SKILL.md (example-plugin). Upstream: LogosDB README, mcp/README.md.

Default behavior: omit EMBEDDING_PROVIDER so the server uses on-device Transformers.js (Xenova/all-MiniLM-L6-v2, 384 dims). First run may download model weights to the normal Transformers.js cache. No cloud API keys are required for that path.

---

UX rules — silent by design

All automatic memory operations must be invisible to the user. The plugin runs in the background and the user should never feel interrupted or overwhelmed.

Operation	Rule
Session-start /index .	Run it, print nothing. No "Indexing…", no progress, no summary.
Session-start logosdb_search global	Never announce the search. Never say "I found N memories." Incorporate relevant context naturally.
Per-turn logosdb_index (turn record)	Completely silent. No confirmation, no "Remembered.", no tool JSON.
Per-turn incremental re-index	Completely silent.
Background logosdb_search during conversation	Do not announce the tool call. Do not quote chunk text. Cite file paths inline when relevant.
Session compaction handoff note	Completely silent.

User-invoked slash commands (/index, /search, /forget, /remember) are the one exception: they respond with exactly one concise line (see §7b). No raw JSON, no multi-line dumps.

Never say: "I am indexing your project", "Memory updated", "Searching past sessions…", "I found N relevant memories", "Stored a turn record", or any similar announcement for automatic operations.

---

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18+ and npm / npx on PATH.
• Claude Code with plugins enabled.
• Open the workspace / repository you want to index; logosdb_index_file paths are confined to that cwd (see §4).

Plugin contract (agent): whenever the semantic-memory plugin is active for this workspace, treat session start (first turn after Claude loads the project) as requiring /index . — i.e. run logosdb_index_file on path: ".", incremental: true, default namespace: "code" (or the namespace your project’s CLAUDE.md defines), before other substantive tool work. "." is the project cwd after the wrapper cd. Incremental runs are cheap when nothing changed. This is instructional (the model must do it); for a hard guarantee, use Claude Code hooks (e.g. SessionStart) to invoke indexing. Projects may opt out by stating that in CLAUDE.md.

---

1. Where vector data lives (plugin default)

The MCP entrypoint is scripts/logosdb-mcp-wrap.sh, which:

1. cds into CLAUDE_PROJECT_DIR when it is set and a directory (so process.cwd() is your repo — see claude-code#42687).
2. Sets LOGOSDB_PATH (default $CLAUDE_PROJECT_DIR/.logosdb).
3. Sets LOGOSDB_INDEX_ROOT to the same project root so logosdb_index_file can allow project paths even if cwd handling regresses (security.ts indexRoots).
4. Runs npm exec --yes -- logosdb-mcp-server when available, else npx --yes logosdb-mcp-server, with quieter npm env to reduce npx cache / cleanup noise.

Why a wrapper? Matches the problem people hit with plugin MCP + npx: wrong cwd, missing tools, and occasional npm warn cleanup / non-zero exits from the npm driver (not always the server itself). claude --debug helps distinguish spawn vs protocol errors.

Add .logosdb/ to your project .gitignore if you do not want vector files committed.

User-wide store: merge references/user-claude-json-logosdb.json into ~/.claude.json (LOGOSDB_PATH = ${HOME}/.claude/.logosdb) and disable this plugin’s MCP so logosdb is registered only once.

On startup the wrapper prints one diagnostic line to stderr (safe for MCP): [semantic-memory plugin] LOGOSDB_PATH=.... Use claude --debug (or your client’s MCP logs) if tools still do not appear.

---

2. MCP registration (built into the plugin)

You do not need a project .claude/mcp.json for the bundled server.

File	Role
.claude-plugin/plugin.json	Plugin metadata + mcpServers.logosdb: /bin/sh + scripts/logosdb-mcp-wrap.sh
.mcp.json (repo root)	Same mcpServers block (mirror)
scripts/logosdb-mcp-wrap.sh	cd + LOGOSDB_PATH + LOGOSDB_INDEX_ROOT + npm exec / npx

Avoid duplicates: register logosdb exactly once. Pick one: (a) this plugin’s MCP, (b) user ~/.claude.json — see references/user-claude-json-logosdb.json (LOGOSDB_PATH = ${HOME}/.claude/.logosdb), or (c) project references/project-mcp-fallback.json. Disable the plugin if you use (b) or (c).

Official pattern (reference): plain stdio block is command + args — see Anthropic server-types.md (stdio) and Connect Claude Code to tools via MCP.

Optional backends (Ollama, OpenAI, Voyage) and tuning: upstream mcp/README.md — Configure. Edits belong in this plugin’s .mcp.json (or your fork), not scattered per project.

---

3. Install / verify the published server (optional check)

npm view logosdb-mcp-server version

Smoke test (stdio is driven by the client; here you only check the process stays up):

LOGOSDB_PATH=/tmp/logosdb-smoke-test npx --yes logosdb-mcp-server </dev/null &
sleep 3
kill %1 2>/dev/null

On macOS, timeout may be missing; use sleep + kill as above. npm warn cleanup lines often come from npm tearing down a temp npx tree and do not always mean the MCP server crashed (check whether logosdb_list appears in Claude after /reload-plugins).

---

4. Path confinement (logosdb_index_file)

logosdb_index_file only accepts paths under process.cwd() or LOGOSDB_INDEX_ROOT (if set). Symlinks that escape those roots are rejected. Index paths inside the opened project, or set LOGOSDB_INDEX_ROOT to an absolute allowed root (see upstream Path confinement).

---

4b. Native logosdb (npm) vs MCP logosdb-mcp-server

Piece	Role
logosdb (Node native addon)	Vector store: put, search, delete, etc. Pulled in as a dependency of logosdb-mcp-server. Version is whatever the published MCP package declares (e.g. ^0.7.10).
logosdb-mcp-server	MCP process: logosdb_index_file, logosdb_search, logosdb_list, … Incremental file indexing (incremental: true, default for /index) is implemented here (manifest under LOGOSDB_PATH/_logosdb_mcp_manifests/), not inside the native addon. Use ≥ 0.7.11 for incremental (npm view logosdb-mcp-server version). ≥ 0.7.12 loads the native addon lazily so a missing logosdb prebuild no longer prevents tools/list from returning tools (first index/search still requires a working native install).

Why it feels fast: with incremental: true, only new or changed files under the path are embedded again; unchanged files are skipped and changed files have their old chunk rows removed first (upstream CHANGELOG 0.7.11). Cost is still O(changed files) for disk + O(changed chunks) for the embedding model — not zero, but far less than a full tree re-index.

---

4c. When to re-index — agent behavior

Claude Code does not run filesystem watchers for skills. You (the agent) must follow this cadence when semantic-memory is active. All indexing steps are silent — no output, no progress, no summary lines.

1. Every Claude session / load (mandatory, silent): call logosdb_index_file with path: ".", incremental: true, namespace: "code" silently before other work. This refreshes the whole tree incrementally. Do not print the result.
2. After editing multiple files in a subtree: call logosdb_index_file with incremental: true on that subtree, silently.
3. Before a broad logosdb_search when files may have changed: optional quick incremental pass, silently.

Do not spam full non-incremental re-indexes of huge trees every turn — use incremental: true ( /index already does).

Optional automation outside skills: Claude Code hooks (e.g. react to FileChanged) can run a script that calls logosdb_index_file with incremental: true on a configured subtree; keep LOGOSDB_PATH private to the project.

---

4d. Memory scope — global vs project (LOGOS_MEMORY_MODE)

The wrapper script reads LOGOS_MEMORY_MODE (default: global):

Mode	LOGOSDB_PATH	Session memories stored in	Search scope
global (default)	~/.claude/.logosdb	global namespace, visible from all future sessions and projects	global + code (current project)
project	<project>/.logosdb	decisions or project namespace, isolated to this repo	project namespaces only

Set in your shell profile to make it persistent:

# default — nothing needed
# or for per-project isolation:
export LOGOS_MEMORY_MODE=project

Namespaces at a glance:

Namespace	Purpose	Scope
global	Cross-session Q+A, thinking traces, persistent facts	All projects
code	Source code chunks (incremental file index)	Current project
docs	Documentation	Current project
decisions	Architectural decisions, notes	Current project

---

4e. Automatic cross-session turn memory

You (the agent) must follow this cadence when semantic-memory is active. All steps are completely silent — no output, no announcements, no confirmations.

Session start (in addition to /index .)

After indexing, silently search the global namespace for context relevant to what the user is about to do:

logosdb_search(query="<first user message or session context>", namespace="global", top_k=5)

Use any retrieved memories to inform your first response. Do not announce the search, do not say "I found N memories", do not quote raw results — incorporate relevant context naturally and invisibly.

After each substantive response

After producing an answer that involved meaningful reasoning or new information, silently store a compact turn record using logosdb_index. Do not say "Remembered", do not confirm the store, produce no output at all:

logosdb_index(
  text="[YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM] <project-basename>\nQ: <user-question (≤300 chars)>\n<thinking-summary-if-available>\nA: <answer-summary (≤500 chars)>",
  namespace="global"   // or project namespace if LOGOS_MEMORY_MODE=project
)

What counts as substantive: answers to architecture questions, debugging outcomes, decisions made, code explanations, anything worth knowing in a future session. Skip trivial confirmations or pure file edits with no reasoning.

Thinking traces

When extended thinking is active, Claude's reasoning chain is available during the response. After completing a turn that involved significant reasoning:

1. Summarize the key steps of the reasoning (≤ 400 chars)
2. Include it in the stored record wrapped in <thinking>…</thinking>:

[2026-05-14 12:52] my-project
Q: How does the auth middleware work?
<thinking>
Traced call chain: router → authMiddleware → jwtVerify → next(). Key issue was missing refresh-token rotation on 401.
</thinking>
A: Auth middleware calls jwtVerify on every request; missing rotation was causing infinite 401 loops on expired tokens.

This makes reasoning patterns searchable across future sessions.

---

5. Verify MCP after enabling the plugin

1. Install or enable semantic-memory (/plugin install semantic-memory or claude --plugin-dir . from this repo).
2. Run logosdb_list from the agent (or /mcp). Empty namespaces are fine; a spawn error is not.
3. Confirm /index . works once (incremental); add the §7 CLAUDE.md block to the project so every session starts with that pass.

If the UI says the MCP server connected but registered 0 tools (older logosdb-mcp-server): the subprocess often exited during import because the logosdb native addon failed to install (missing N-API prebuild for your OS/arch, or npm install inside npx did not produce logosdb.node). Use the same node Claude uses and run:

# Resolves `logosdb` the same way as `npx logosdb-mcp-server` (sibling in the temp install tree)
npx --yes -p logosdb-mcp-server node -e "require('logosdb'); console.log('logosdb native OK')"

If that throws, fix the native install (Node 20 LTS vs bleeding-edge 22, reinstall, or build from source per LogosDB nodejs/README.md), then /reload-plugins. After logosdb-mcp-server ≥ 0.7.12 is published and picked up by npx, tools should list even when native is broken; tool calls will then return a clear error until native loads.

---

6. Slash commands (preferred: skills/ layout)

Per example-plugin README — Skills, user-invoked slash commands use skills/<name>/SKILL.md with frontmatter (name, description, argument-hint, optional model). This plugin registers:

Skill directory	Slash command
skills/index/SKILL.md	/index (top-level skill name index)
skills/search/SKILL.md	/search
skills/forget/SKILL.md	/forget
skills/remember/SKILL.md	/remember — store a memory to global or any namespace

Some Claude Code builds also expose the copies under skills/semantic-memory/.claude/commands/ as /semantic-memory:index (and similarly …:search / …:forget). Those prompts call the same MCP tools (logosdb_index_file, logosdb_search, logosdb_delete); naming is client UI only, not the MCP contract.

Legacy repo-root commands/*.md is not used here (see commands/README.md in this repo).

Verify: /search with a trivial query (empty namespace → “No matches…” is fine).

6b. Project-only prompts (optional)

If the plugin is not loaded but you still want /index, /search, /forget from markdown prompts, copy skills/semantic-memory/.claude/commands/{index,search,forget}.md into your project .claude/commands/ (same filenames as upstream LogosDB). When the plugin is active, prefer the plugin skills above to avoid duplicate slash definitions.

PLUGIN_ROOT="/path/to/claude-code-semantic-memory"
install -d .claude/commands
cp "$PLUGIN_ROOT/skills/semantic-memory/.claude/commands/"*.md .claude/commands/

---

7. CLAUDE.md — drop-in template

The MCP server does not index the repository by itself: call the tools, or use the plugin slash skills /index, /search, /forget. A ready-to-paste block lives at references/claude-md-template.md — copy everything between the BEGIN/END markers into the project's CLAUDE.md. Verbatim copy:

## Semantic Memory (LogosDB)

The **semantic-memory** plugin is active for this workspace. Vector data lives in `.logosdb/` (git-ignored). The plugin provides three slash commands that work without any extra setup.

### Session start — mandatory

**Run `/index .` at the start of every session** before doing other work. This incrementally refreshes the full index (only changed/new files are re-embedded; unchanged files are skipped, so it is fast).

\`\`\`text
/index .
\`\`\`

### Slash commands

| Command | What it does |
|---------|--------------|
| `/index <path>` | Index or re-index a file or directory (incremental by default). Use `.` for the whole project, or a subdirectory/file for targeted refresh. |
| `/search <query>` | Semantic search over indexed content. Returns ranked file matches. Accepts `--top-k=n` (default 5), `--namespace=name` (default `code`), and optional ISO timestamp bounds (`--from-ts`, `--to-ts`). |
| `/forget <query or --id=n>` | Delete indexed chunks by semantic query match or by row id. |

### Namespaces

- **`code`** (default) — source files and general project content
- `docs` — documentation-only searches (`--namespace=docs` / `-n docs`)
- `decisions` — durable architectural or research notes

### Conversational / background use (keep output quiet)

When you (the agent) call `logosdb_search` directly during normal conversation — not via `/search` — keep `top_k` 3–5, cite source files briefly (e.g. `src/foo.ts`), and **do not quote the full chunk text** in the final answer.

### When to re-index

- After pulling / merging changes: `/index .`
- After editing a specific file: `/index <file>`
- Before a broad search when files may have changed since last index

### Forcing a re-index

`/index` is incremental, so unchanged files are skipped (`skipped_files: 1, indexed_files: 0` is a cache hit, not an error). To force a rebuild: `touch <file>` then `/index <file>`, or delete `.logosdb/<namespace>/` and `.logosdb/_logosdb_mcp_manifests/<namespace>.json` and re-index.

### Opting out of auto-index

If the repo is very large, replace `/index .` above with a narrower path (e.g. `/index ./src`) and document the choice here.

---

7b. Quiet / less-verbose output

The Claude Code TUI auto-renders every MCP tool call as a JSON box; that rendering is client-side and the plugin cannot suppress it. What the plugin does control is the assistant's prose response. The skills enforce concise output:

• /index — exactly one line: Indexed {indexed} chunks · {indexed_files} updated · {skipped_files} skipped · {pruned_files} pruned → '{namespace}'.
• /search — one header line + numbered path (score: …) lines. No chunk text, no raw JSON.
• /forget — exactly one line: Deleted id {id} ….
• Background logosdb_search (no slash command) — top_k 3–5; the assistant cites file paths and paraphrases instead of quoting chunks.

If the JSON tool-call box itself is still too noisy, lower top_k (each chunk in the result inflates the box). For headless / scripting use, claude --output-format text and --quiet reduce surrounding chatter; check claude --help on your build for the exact flags.

---

8. MCP tools (summary)

Tool	Role
logosdb_index	Store a short text snippet in a namespace
logosdb_index_file	Chunk, embed, and store a file or directory tree; use incremental: true for fast refresh (skip unchanged files; MCP ≥ 0.7.11)
logosdb_search	Semantic search; optional ts_from / ts_to
logosdb_list	List namespaces
logosdb_info	Stats for a namespace
logosdb_delete	Delete by row id or by natural-language query

Use one embedding backend and dimension per namespace on disk; when changing models, use a fresh LOGOSDB_PATH or new namespace.

---

9. Troubleshooting

Symptom	Action
MCP fails to start / no logosdb_* tools	Update Claude Code (needs CLAUDE_PROJECT_DIR for plugin MCP, claude-code#42687); or install plugin --scope project. Check stderr for [semantic-memory plugin] line; run claude --debug.
npx / native addon errors	From a terminal: LOGOSDB_PATH=/tmp/t npx -y logosdb-mcp-server — fix Node, network, or logosdb wheel install.
Two logosdb servers / flaky tools	Remove duplicate logosdb from project .claude/mcp.json if the plugin already supplies it.
/index, /search, /forget missing	Confirm plugin enabled; reload; definitions live under skills/index, skills/search, skills/forget.
Project-only prompts wanted	Copy skills/semantic-memory/.claude/commands/*.md to .claude/commands/ (§6b).
logosdb_index_file rejects a path	Stay inside cwd or set LOGOSDB_INDEX_ROOT.
Search wrong after model change	New embeddings need a fresh LOGOSDB_PATH or namespace.
incremental not accepted / ignored	Upgrade logosdb-mcp-server to ≥ 0.7.11 (npm view logosdb-mcp-server version); the native logosdb package version comes transitively from that release.

---

Trigger conditions

Use this skill for LogosDB, logosdb MCP, semantic / persistent memory, or semantic-memory plugin behavior (MCP, slash commands, CLAUDE.md).

Auto command routing (important)

Prefer slash commands when available:

• /index — First on each session: /index . when semantic-memory is active (then narrower paths as needed). Always incremental: true (cheap when little changed).
• /search — semantic lookup, "where is X", prior decisions. Use --namespace=global to search cross-project memories.
• /forget — delete by id or semantic query.
• /remember — explicitly store a memory to global (or any namespace with --namespace).

Fallback MCP tools: logosdb_index_file, logosdb_search, logosdb_delete, logosdb_index.

Default namespaces: global (cross-session memories + thinking traces), code (source), docs (documentation), decisions (durable decisions).

Memory scope: controlled by LOGOS_MEMORY_MODE env var (global = default, project = per-repo isolation). See §4d.