| name | anda-brain |
| description | Long-term memory service for LLM agents.
Provides persistent, structured memory (Cognitive Nexus) through three operations:
Formation (encode conversations into memory), Recall (query memory with natural language), and Maintenance (consolidate and prune memory).
Use this service when:
- You need to persist facts, preferences, relationships, or events across sessions
- You want to recall previous conversations, decisions, or user context
- You need structured long-term memory without understanding KIP syntax
- You want to trigger memory consolidation or cleanup
Common trigger phrases:
- "remember this", "save this for later", "don't forget"
- "what did I say last time?", "recall my preferences"
- "what do we know about X?", "who is X?"
- "run memory maintenance", "consolidate memory"
|
| metadata | {"version":"0.2.0","url":"https://github.com/ldclabs/anda-brain/blob/main/skills/anda-brain/SKILL.md","keywords":["long-term memory","agent memory","knowledge graph","cognitive nexus","memory formation","memory recall","memory maintenance","KIP","persistent memory"]} |
🧠 Anda Brain
Persistent long-term memory service for LLM agents, powered by a Knowledge Graph (Cognitive Nexus) and KIP (Knowledge Interaction Protocol). Anda Brain is open-source software designed to be self-hosted — deploy your own instance with the Quick Start guide.
Note: The hosted cloud service (brain.anda.ai) and its console (anda.ai/brain) have been discontinued. All examples below assume your own deployment.
For a complete, ready-to-run agent built on Anda Brain, see Anda Bot.
Business agents interact entirely through natural language and a simple REST API — no KIP knowledge required.
Business Agent ──natural language──▶ Brain ──KIP──▶ Cognitive Nexus
(your agent) (this service) (knowledge graph)
What You Get
Three operational modes cover the full memory lifecycle:
| Mode | Endpoint | Purpose | Auth |
|---|
| Formation | POST /v1/{space_id}/formation | Encode conversations into structured memory | write (CWT or space token) |
| Recall | POST /v1/{space_id}/recall | Query memory with natural language | read (CWT or space token) |
| Maintenance | POST /v1/{space_id}/maintenance | Trigger memory consolidation & pruning cycle | write (CWT or space token) |
Supporting endpoints:
| Method | Endpoint | Purpose | Auth |
|---|
GET | / | Anda Brain website | — |
GET | /info | Service info (name, version, sharding) | — |
GET | /SKILL.md | This skill description | — |
GET | /v1/{space_id}/info | Space status and statistics | read (CWT or space token) |
GET | /v1/{space_id}/formation_status | Formation progress (lightweight monitoring) | read (CWT or space token) |
POST | /v1/{space_id}/execute_kip_readonly | Execute a read-only KIP request | read (CWT or space token) |
GET | /v1/{space_id}/conversations/{conversation_id} | Get one conversation detail | read (CWT or space token) |
GET | /v1/{space_id}/conversations/{conversation_id}/delta | Get incremental conversation updates | read (CWT or space token) |
GET | /v1/{space_id}/conversations | List conversations (cursor pagination) | read (CWT or space token) |
GET | /v1/{space_id}/management/space_tokens | List space tokens | write (CWT) |
POST | /v1/{space_id}/management/add_space_token | Add a space token | write (CWT) |
POST | /v1/{space_id}/management/revoke_space_token | Revoke a space token | write (CWT) |
PATCH | /v1/{space_id}/management/update_space | Update space information (name, description, public/private) | write (CWT) |
PATCH | /v1/{space_id}/management/restart_formation | Restart formation for a conversation (re-encode with updated model/config) | write (CWT) |
GET | /v1/{space_id}/management/space_byok | Get BYOK configuration for the space | write (CWT) |
PATCH | /v1/{space_id}/management/space_byok | Update BYOK configuration for the space | write (CWT) |
POST | /admin/{space_id}/update_space_tier | Update a space tier | manager (CWT) |
POST | /admin/create_space | Create a new memory space | manager (CWT) |
Auth scopes in tables apply when authentication is enabled (ED25519_PUBKEYS is set).
When to Use This Service
Use Anda Brain when your agent needs to:
- Persist knowledge across sessions — user preferences, facts, decisions, relationships, events
- Recall previous context — what happened before, what the user said, what decisions were made
- Share memory across agents — multiple agents can read/write to the same space
- Maintain memory health — consolidate old events, deduplicate facts, decay stale knowledge
The service handles all the complexity of knowledge graph management. Your agent just sends messages and asks questions in natural language.
When NOT to Use
- Temporary conversation context that only matters in the current session
- Large file storage (use object storage instead)
- Real-time data streaming
- Secrets, passwords, or API keys (the service is not a vault)
Concepts
Memory Space
Each space is an isolated environment with its own knowledge graph, conversation history, and database. Spaces are identified by a space_id string.
Memory Types
The Formation agent extracts three types of memory from conversations:
- Episodic Memory (Events) — What happened, when, who participated, outcome
- Semantic Memory (Stable Knowledge) — Facts, preferences, relationships, domain knowledge
- Cognitive Memory (Patterns) — Behavioral patterns, decision criteria, communication style
Cognitive Nexus
The underlying knowledge graph consists of:
- Concept Nodes — Entities with a type and name (e.g.,
{type: "Person", name: "Alice"}, {type: "Preference", name: "dark_mode"})
- Proposition Links — Directed relationships between concepts (e.g.,
(Alice, "prefers", dark_mode))
Authentication
If ED25519_PUBKEYS is configured, protected endpoints require a Bearer token in the Authorization header.
If ED25519_PUBKEYS is empty/not provided, authentication is disabled and requests are accepted without signature verification.
Authorization: Bearer <base64_encoded_cose_sign1_token>
Management endpoints (/v1/{space_id}/management/*) and admin endpoints (/admin/*) still follow their role/scope checks when auth is enabled.
API Reference
For complete endpoint and TypeScript schema details, see:
https://github.com/ldclabs/anda-brain/blob/main/anda_brain/API.md (English)
https://github.com/ldclabs/anda-brain/blob/main/anda_brain/API_cn.md (中文)
Content Negotiation
The API supports triple serialization. Set Content-Type and Accept headers accordingly:
application/json — JSON (default)
application/cbor — CBOR (binary, more compact)
text/markdown — Markdown (raw text or formatted Markdown)
All responses are wrapped in an RPC envelope when using JSON or CBOR:
{
"result": { ... },
"error": null
}
When Accept: text/markdown is used, the response is returned as raw text or a Markdown formatted string.
On error:
{
"result": null,
"error": {
"message": "error description",
"data": { ... }
}
}
Markdown Serialization Sample
If Accept: text/markdown is specified, the result field's content will be directly serialized as the response body.
Request:
POST /v1/my_space_001/recall
Accept: text/markdown
What are Alice's preferences?
Response (HTTP 200):
Alice has the following known preferences:
- **Dark mode** in all applications (confidence: 0.9, since 2025-01-15)
- **Email communication** preferred over phone calls (confidence: 0.8, since 2025-01-10)
Alice is currently working on **Project Aurora** and was last seen on 2025-01-15 discussing settings preferences.
Gaps:
- No information found about Alice's language preferences.
Create Space
Create a new isolated memory space.
POST /admin/create_space
Authorization: Bearer <token>
Content-Type: application/json
Request:
{
"user": "<owner_principal_id>",
"space_id": "my_space_001",
"tier": 0
}
Response:
{
"result": { ... }
}
Formation — Encode Conversations into Memory
Send conversation messages to be analyzed and encoded into the knowledge graph. The service extracts facts, preferences, relationships, events, and patterns, then stores them as structured knowledge.
Processing is asynchronous — the endpoint returns immediately with a conversation ID while encoding continues in the background. New submissions are queued and processed sequentially.
POST /v1/{space_id}/formation
Authorization: Bearer <token>
Content-Type: application/json
Request:
{
"messages": [
{
"role": "user",
"content": "I prefer dark mode for all my apps. My timezone is UTC+8.",
"name": "Alice"
},
{
"role": "assistant",
"content": "Got it! I've noted your preference for dark mode and UTC+8 timezone."
}
],
"context": {
"counterparty": "alice_principal_id",
"agent": "customer_bot_001",
"source": "source_123",
"topic": "settings"
},
"timestamp": "2026-03-09T10:30:00Z"
}
Response:
{
"result": { "conversation": 1, ... }
}
Fields:
| Field | Type | Required | Description |
|---|
messages | Message[] | Yes | Conversation messages (role: user / assistant / system) |
context | InputContext | No | Contextual metadata to help with encoding |
context.counterparty | string | No | User identifier |
context.agent | string | No | Calling agent identifier |
context.source | string | No | Identifier of the source of the current interaction content |
context.topic | string | No | Conversation topic |
timestamp | string | No (recommended) | ISO 8601 timestamp of the conversation |
Tips for best results:
- Include the
context field whenever possible — it helps the encoder associate knowledge correctly
- Send complete conversation segments, not individual messages
- Include timestamps to enable proper temporal reasoning
- The
name field in messages helps distinguish between multiple users in the same conversation
Recall — Query Memory
Ask a natural language question and receive a synthesized answer drawn from the knowledge graph and conversation history.
POST /v1/{space_id}/recall
Authorization: Bearer <token>
Content-Type: application/json
Request:
{
"query": "What are Alice's preferences?",
"context": {
"counterparty": "alice_principal_id",
"topic": "settings"
}
}
Response:
{
"result": {
"content": "Alice prefers dark mode for all applications and operates in the UTC+8 timezone.",
...
}
}
Note: result.content is the primary contract. Additional fields may vary by model/runtime.
Query examples:
| Intent | Example query |
|---|
| Entity lookup | "Who is Alice?" |
| Relationship | "Who does Alice work with?" |
| Attribute | "What are Alice's preferences?" |
| Event recall | "What happened in our last meeting?" |
| Domain exploration | "What do we know about Project Aurora?" |
| Pattern detection | "Does Alice prefer email or chat?" |
| Existence check | "Have we discussed the pricing strategy?" |
Space Status
Get statistics and health information for a memory space.
GET /v1/{space_id}/info
Authorization: Bearer <token>
Response:
{
"result": {
"space_id": "my_space_001",
"owner": "principal_id",
"db_stats": {
"total_items": 150,
"total_bytes": 524288
},
"concepts": 85,
"propositions": 120,
"conversations": 12,
...
}
}
Wiki — Versioned Reference Documents with Citations
The wiki is the space's reference memory: policies, manuals, SOPs, API docs and FAQs stored as immutable Markdown commits (git-like), retrieved by BM25 keyword search, and quoted through verifiable wiki:// citations. Search is deterministic and LLM-free; compose answers yourself and cite the URIs.
Commit (create or update):
POST /v1/{space_id}/wiki/docs
Authorization: Bearer <token with write scope>
{
"title": "Deployment Guide",
"content": "# Deployment Guide\n\n## Rollback\n\nUse the previous snapshot...",
"namespace": "engineering",
"tags": ["sop"],
"message": "initial import"
}
- Create: omit
doc_id. Update: pass doc_id and parent_version (the current_version you read). A stale parent_version returns 409 with the current version in error.data — re-read, merge, retry.
- Committing identical content is a no-op (
"idempotent": true); safe to retry and re-import.
- Content is whole-document Markdown (not a diff), at most 1 MiB after normalization (
413 beyond).
Search with citations:
POST /v1/{space_id}/wiki/search
{ "query": "rollback checksum", "namespaces": ["engineering"], "top_k": 8, "mode": "chunks", "expand": 1 }
Each hit carries the matching text and a citation: { "uri": "wiki://{space}/{doc_id}@{version_id}#{start}-{end}", "checksum": "sha3-256:...", "anchor": "...", "quote": "..." }. mode: "docs" returns one best hit per document. expand (0-2, default 0) widens each hit with adjacent passages; overlapping expansions merge and the citation range widens while staying verifiable. BM25 favors exact terms (product names, error codes); reformulate keywords rather than sending full sentences.
Read progressively:
GET /v1/{space_id}/wiki/docs/{doc_id} → metadata + table of contents
GET /v1/{space_id}/wiki/docs/{doc_id}/content?anchor=... → one section
GET /v1/{space_id}/wiki/docs/{doc_id}/content?start=&end= → byte range
GET /v1/{space_id}/wiki/docs/{doc_id}/content → full text (bounded)
GET /v1/{space_id}/wiki/docs/{doc_id}/content?version=... → historical version
Prefer TOC → section over full reads for long documents.
Manage and audit:
GET /v1/{space_id}/wiki/docs?namespace=&tag=&status=&cursor=&limit=
GET /v1/{space_id}/wiki/docs/{doc_id}/versions
POST /v1/{space_id}/wiki/docs/{doc_id}/archive (hidden from search, still readable)
POST /v1/{space_id}/wiki/docs/{doc_id}/restore
POST /v1/{space_id}/wiki/verify {"uri": "wiki://...", "checksum": "sha3-256:..."}
GET /v1/{space_id}/wiki/events?kind=&doc_id=
verify answers valid, superseded (a newer version exists — it names it), or invalid. Versions are immutable, so citations never rot.
Access control (ACL labels):
Documents may carry an acl_label (set via commit, or inherited from a per-namespace default configured with update_space {"wiki_acl_defaults": {"hr": "hr-internal"}}). Space tokens may carry labels: a token with labels sees only unlabeled documents plus its granted labels — enforced as a filter clause inside the same database query as retrieval, so over-broad results are structurally impossible. Tokens without labels and CWT holders are unrestricted; anonymous readers of public spaces see unlabeled content only. Denials surface as 404 (existence does not leak); the audit log, agentic recall, and the conversations endpoints (which persist full recall runner history) all require an unrestricted token and answer 403 to a labeled one. Note: OKF bundles do not carry ACL labels (the exchange format cannot express enterprise ACLs) — imported documents inherit namespace defaults.
POST /v1/{space_id}/management/add_space_token
{"scope": "read", "name": "analyst", "labels": ["engineering"]}
Read auditing and housekeeping:
update_space {"wiki_audit_reads": true} events every external search/read (WikiQueried / WikiRead, with the real actor); agent reads stay covered by recall conversation logs. Housekeeping runs automatically after maintenance cycles and on startup: the audit log is pruned to its retention cap (the prune itself is evented), and a stale-document report is refreshed. GET /v1/{space_id}/info exposes wiki_docs / wiki_chunks / wiki_versions / wiki_queries / wiki_digested / wiki_stale_docs.
Graph bridge (WikiDigest, opt-in):
PATCH /v1/{space_id}/management/update_space {"wiki_digest": true}
POST /v1/{space_id}/wiki/digest
When enabled, committed wiki versions are distilled into the Cognitive Nexus: an LLM proposes subject–predicate–object facts per section, and the runtime writes them as KIP propositions whose metadata always carries source: "wiki", a wiki:// citation with checksum, and the extractor fingerprint — provenance is attached by construction, not by prompt discipline. Re-committing a document supersedes facts the new version no longer asserts (metadata.status: "superseded", metadata.superseded_by → the new version). Recall answers can therefore explain why a graph fact is believed and quote the exact source passage. The digest also runs automatically after maintenance cycles and on space startup, and each run re-verifies a sample of recorded citations. Disabled by default because it writes to the graph.
OKF interchange (requires full-scope token):
POST /v1/{space_id}/wiki/import {"entries": [{"path": "guides/setup.md", "content": "---\ntype: Guide\n---\n\n# ..."}], "namespace": "kb"}
GET /v1/{space_id}/wiki/export?namespace=kb
Bundles follow the OKF v0.1 convention (Markdown + YAML frontmatter; concept paths become hierarchical slugs). Unknown frontmatter keys, ordering and comments survive round-trips verbatim; re-importing an unchanged bundle is a no-op (checksum-idempotent). Export adds x_anda_doc_id / x_anda_version_id / x_anda_checksum provenance keys plus a root index.md and manifest.json, so a wiki snapshot can be reviewed with git diff and replayed into an empty space. Reserved files (index.md, log.md, non-Markdown) are skipped on import.
Integration Pattern
A typical integration workflow for a business agent (replace your-brain-host with your deployment address, e.g. localhost:8042):
1. Remember: Send conversations for memory encoding
After each meaningful conversation with a user, send the messages to Formation:
curl -sX POST https://your-brain-host/v1/my_space_001/formation \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
"messages": [
{"role": "user", "content": "I work at Acme Corp as a senior engineer."},
{"role": "assistant", "content": "Nice to meet you! Noted that you are a senior engineer at Acme Corp."}
],
"context": {"counterparty": "user_123", "agent": "onboarding_bot"},
"timestamp": "2026-03-09T10:30:00Z"
}'
2. Recall: Query memory before responding
Before generating a response, check if relevant memory exists:
curl -sX POST https://your-brain-host/v1/my_space_001/recall \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
"query": "Where does this user work and what is their role?",
"context": {"counterparty": "user_123"}
}'
MCP Integration
If your agent has an MCP client, connect to the HTTP service's Streamable HTTP MCP endpoint:
https://your-brain-host/mcp/my_space_001
Use the same spaceId and spaceToken you would use for REST. Pass the token as Authorization: Bearer <token>. This is the preferred setup for company or team deployments where each employee's agent is assigned a dedicated Brain space.
For local desktop or development clients, run Anda Brain as a stdio MCP server and register it with that client:
MCP_AUTH_TOKEN="$SPACE_TOKEN" \
anda_brain mcp --space-id my_space_001 local --db ./data
Core MCP tools:
| Tool | Purpose |
|---|
anda_brain_remember_conversation | Encode conversation messages into long-term memory |
anda_brain_recall_memory | Query memory with natural language |
anda_brain_run_maintenance | Trigger consolidation and pruning |
anda_brain_get_space_info | Inspect space statistics and metadata |
anda_brain_get_formation_status | Check formation/maintenance progress |
anda_brain_execute_kip_readonly | Run read-only KIP for advanced graph inspection |
If ED25519_PUBKEYS is empty, local MCP development can omit tokens. Add --mcp-auto-create-space for stdio development or MCP_HTTP_AUTO_CREATE_SPACE=true for remote development when the target space does not exist yet; remote auto-create requires ED25519_PUBKEYS plus a CWT with write scope for the target space before creating the missing space. Set MCP_HTTP_ALLOWED_HOSTS when remote MCP is exposed behind a company domain or reverse proxy.
OpenClaw Integration
The anda-brain plugin integrates Anda Brain into OpenClaw agents, providing automatic memory encoding and a recall_memory tool — no manual API calls needed.
Prerequisites: Deploy Anda Brain and Create a Space
Before installing the plugin, you need a running Anda Brain deployment plus a spaceId and spaceToken:
- Deploy Anda Brain — see the Quick Start guide (binary or Docker, a few minutes).
- Create a brain space via
POST /admin/create_space — the space_id you choose is your spaceId.
- Create an API key via
POST /v1/{space_id}/management/add_space_token — the returned token is your spaceToken.
Install
- Install the plugin package:
openclaw plugins install anda-brain
- Update anda-brain configuration in
openclaw.json with the spaceId and spaceToken obtained from the console:
{
"plugins": {
"entries": {
"anda-brain": {
"enabled": true,
"config": {
"spaceId": "my_space_001",
"spaceToken": "STxxxxx",
"baseUrl": "http://localhost:8042"
}
}
}
}
}
- Restart OpenClaw Gateway.
openclaw gateway restart
Required fields:
spaceId: your Brain space ID (created via POST /admin/create_space)
spaceToken: your space API Key (created via POST /v1/{space_id}/management/add_space_token)
baseUrl: your Anda Brain deployment URL (e.g. http://localhost:8042) — always set this; the legacy default https://brain.anda.ai has been discontinued
What It Does
| Feature | Mechanism | Description |
|---|
| Memory encoding | agent_end hook | After each agent turn, conversation messages are automatically sent to POST /v1/{space_id}/formation (fire-and-forget). |
| Memory recall | recall_memory tool | Registered as an agent tool; the LLM can call it with a natural language query to retrieve knowledge via POST /v1/{space_id}/recall. |
Configuration Options
| Option | Type | Required | Default | Description |
|---|
spaceId | string | Yes | — | Memory space ID |
spaceToken | string | Yes | — | Space token for API authentication |
baseUrl | string | Yes (in practice) | https://brain.anda.ai (discontinued) | Your Anda Brain deployment URL — always set this |
defaultContext | InputContext | No | — | Default context included with every request (counterparty, agent, source, topic) |
formationTimeoutMs | number | No | 30000 | Formation request timeout (ms) |
recallTimeoutMs | number | No | 120000 | Recall request timeout (ms) — recall may take 10–100s |
recall_memory Tool Parameters
The plugin registers a recall_memory tool that the LLM can invoke:
| Parameter | Type | Required | Description |
|---|
query | string | Yes | Natural language question (e.g. "What are Alice's preferences?") |
context.counterparty | string | No | Current user identifier |
context.agent | string | No | Calling agent identifier |
context.topic | string | No | Topic hint for disambiguation |
Anda Bot
Anda Bot is a complete, open-source AI agent built on Anda Brain, using Brain as its long-term memory and cognitive backbone. Use it directly, or as a reference implementation for integrating Anda Brain into your own agent.
Troubleshooting
| Symptom | Fix |
|---|
401 Unauthorized | If auth is enabled (ED25519_PUBKEYS set), check Bearer token signature, aud (space ID), and required scope (read/write) |
404 Not Found on space endpoints | Verify the space_id exists and the token aud matches the target space |
| Formation returns but nothing in memory | Formation is async — check space status after a few seconds; look at the conversation status |
| Recall seems empty or insufficient | Memory may not be encoded yet, or the query is too narrow; try broader phrasing and include context |
| Maintenance rejected | Only one maintenance cycle can run at a time per space; wait for the current one to finish |
| Empty recall for new space | Expected — a new space has no memory yet; send conversations via Formation first |
Configuration Reference
The service is configured via CLI arguments and environment variables:
| Env Variable | Default | Description |
|---|
LISTEN_ADDR | 127.0.0.1:8042 | Listen address |
ED25519_PUBKEYS | — | Comma-separated Base64-encoded Ed25519 public keys; if empty, API authentication is disabled |
MODEL_FAMILY | anthropic | Model family to use for encoding and recall (e.g., gemini, anthropic, openai) |
MODEL_API_KEY | — | API key for the configured model provider |
MODEL_API_BASE | https://api.deepseek.com/anthropic | Model API base URL |
MODEL_NAME | deepseek-v4-pro | LLM model for agents |
HTTPS_PROXY | — | HTTPS proxy URL |
SHARDING_IDX | 0 | Shard index for this instance |
MANAGERS | — | Comma-separated manager principal IDs |
CORS_ORIGINS | — | CORS allowed origins: empty = disabled, * = allow all, or comma-separated origins |
MCP_HTTP_ENABLED | true | Mount Streamable HTTP MCP with the HTTP service |
MCP_HTTP_PATH_PREFIX | /mcp | Remote MCP prefix; clients connect to {prefix}/{space_id} |
MCP_HTTP_ALLOWED_HOSTS | — | Comma-separated Host allowlist for remote MCP |
MCP_HTTP_ALLOWED_ORIGINS | — | Comma-separated browser Origin allowlist for remote MCP |
MCP_HTTP_AUTO_CREATE_SPACE | false | Create remote MCP spaces on first use after a valid write CWT |
MCP_HTTP_AUTO_CREATE_TIER | 1 | Tier used for remote MCP auto-created spaces |
MCP_SPACE_ID | — | Space exposed by the MCP stdio server |
MCP_AUTH_TOKEN | — | CWT or space token used by MCP tools |
MCP_AUTO_CREATE_SPACE | false | Create the MCP space if it does not exist |
MCP_AUTO_CREATE_TIER | 1 | Tier used for MCP auto-created spaces |
Storage backends:
| Backend | Command | Key Config |
|---|
| In-memory (dev) | cargo run -p anda_brain | — |
| Local filesystem | cargo run -p anda_brain -- local | LOCAL_DB_PATH (default ./db) |
| AWS S3 | cargo run -p anda_brain -- aws | AWS_BUCKET, AWS_REGION |
| MCP HTTP | cargo run -p anda_brain -- local then connect /mcp/{space_id} | MCP_HTTP_ALLOWED_HOSTS, bearer token |
| MCP stdio | cargo run -p anda_brain -- mcp --space-id my_space_001 local | MCP_AUTH_TOKEN, LOCAL_DB_PATH |