Store Project Memories in Markdown with the Basic Memory MCP

https://github.com/basicmachines-co/basic-memory

AI agents are powerful, but their knowledge is often limited to the current conversation. This lesson introduces basic-memory, a command-line tool and MCP server that gives your Cursor agent a persistent, project-specific memory by allowing it to read and write simple markdown files.

Workflow demonstrated in this lesson:

• Install the basic-memory CLI tool.
• Use the bm project add command to initialize a dedicated memories directory in your project.
• Configure basic-memory as an MCP server within Cursor's .cursor/mcp.json file.
• Enable the tool and use the Composer agent to call commands like write_note and read_note.
• Observe the AI creating and reading .md files in your project's file system.

Key benefits:

• Persistent Knowledge: Give your AI agent a long-term memory that lives directly within your project.
• Human-Readable & Version Controllable: All memories are stored as simple markdown files, which you can easily read, edit, and commit to Git.
• Structured Context: Enables the AI to build, reference, and summarize a growing knowledge base specific to the project it's working on.
• Simple Setup: Quickly integrate a powerful memory system into your workflow with a few simple commands.

This technique provides a straightforward yet powerful way to enhance your AI agent's capabilities, allowing for more complex and context-aware interactions that persist across sessions.