zmem

Local-first hybrid memory for engineering workflows.

zmem is a small POC/experiment inspired by QMD-style document search, built to explore whether we can get strong practical recall by combining:

• dense retrieval via @zvec/zvec
• lexical retrieval via SQLite FTS5/BM25
• a simple fusion pipeline (RRF)
• a local MCP server for coding-agent integration
• graph data for relationships between memories (wip)

overall it is a local-first, agent-oriented memory substrate for engineering decisions and evolving project context

Quickstart

Get zmem running locally in a few minutes.

1. Install

npm install -g @cosmiclasagnadev/zmem
zmem help

Or from this repo:

npm install
npm run build
npm install -g .

2. Initialize a workspace

Create or update a starter config for the workspace you want to index:

zmem init --workspace=default --root=/absolute/path/to/your/project --yes

This creates a config and sets up zmem to use user-scoped storage by default.

3. Check setup

Validate config, storage, and local model settings:

zmem doctor --workspace=default
zmem models status

4. Prepare local query-expansion models

zmem uses local-first query expansion by default.

See the exact model pull commands:

zmem models pull

This will print commands for the default local models:

• primary: hf:mradermacher/qmd-query-expansion-qwen3.5-2B-GGUF:Q4_K_M
• fallback: hf:mradermacher/qmd-query-expansion-qwen3.5-2B-GGUF:Q4_K_S

Run the printed node-llama-cpp pull commands, or let zmem download on first query.

5. Ingest your docs

zmem ingest /absolute/path/to/your/project --workspace=default

6. Query your memory

zmem query "database migration" --workspace=default
zmem query "" --mode=recent --workspace=default
zmem query "" --mode=typed --types=decision,preference --workspace=default

7. Use with MCP / OpenCode

Start the MCP server:

zmem mcp --workspace=default

Then point your MCP client, such as OpenCode, at the zmem command.

First-run notes

• Default storage is outside your repo:
  • macOS/Linux: ~/.local/share/zmem/workspaces/<workspace-slug>/
  • Windows: %APPDATA%/zmem/workspaces/<workspace-slug>/
• Query expansion is enabled by default for hybrid retrieval.
• If the local query-expansion model is unavailable, zmem warns once and falls back to deterministic expansion.
• You can inspect the fully resolved config with:

zmem config show --workspace=default

References:

• QMD
• ZVec

What this does differently

• explicit memory types and lifecycle (pending, active, archived, deleted) plus supersedes_id
  • if no explicit type is defined, it defaults to 'fact'
  • if no explicit tags are defined, it defaults to '[]'
• local-first query expansion is enabled by default for hybrid retrieval, with deterministic fallback when the local model is unavailable
• uses @zvec/zvec for dense retrieval when doing vector search

Architecture (high level)

• Language/runtime: TypeScript + Node.js
• Vectors: @zvec/zvec
• Lexical: better-sqlite3 + FTS5/BM25
• Embeddings: node-llama-cpp by default, with explicit provider hooks for Gemini and offline mock testing
• Validation: zod
• Agent integration: @modelcontextprotocol/sdk

Hybrid retrieval flow (follows qmd's style closely):

1. lexical search (FTS/BM25)
2. vector search (zvec)
3. reciprocal rank fusion (RRF)
4. bounded query expansion
5. heuristic memory-item reranking

Indexing pipeline

flowchart LR
    A[Markdown/Text Sources] --> B[Ingestion Pipeline]
    B --> C[Parse + Chunk]
    C --> D[(SQLite + FTS5)]
    C --> E[Generate Embeddings]
    E --> F[(zvec Vector Index)]

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Retrieval pipeline

flowchart LR
    Q[User Query] --> M{Mode}

    M -->|lexical| L[FTS/BM25 Search]
    M -->|vector| V[Embedding + zvec Search]
    M -->|hybrid| H[FTS + Vector in parallel]

    L --> O[Top Results]
    V --> O
    H --> R[RRF Fusion]
    R --> O

    O --> C1[CLI Output]
    O --> C2[MCP Tools]

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At runtime, the same core API powers both CLI commands and MCP tools, so behavior stays consistent across direct terminal use and agent workflows.

Project layout

• src/ingest/ - discovery, parsing, chunking, orchestration
• src/search/ - lexical/vector retrieval + fusion
• src/core/ - shared API (save, recall, get, list, delete, reindex, status)
• src/mcp/ - MCP server + tool registration
• src/db/ - SQLite handling + migrations
• config.example.json - sample configuration

Getting started

1) Install

npm install

2) Configure

Create your local config file:

cp config.example.json config.json

Then update:

• workspaces[].root to a real absolute path
• any desired patterns for ingestion
• storage paths (storage.dbPath, storage.zvecPath) if needed
• ai.embedding.provider if you want to switch from local llamacpp to gemini
• ai.embedding.apiKey / ZMD_EMBED_API_KEY when using gemini
• storage.baseDir only if you want to override the default XDG-style storage root
• ai.queryExpansion.* if you want to tune or disable default local-first query expansion

If config.json is missing, zmem falls back to defaults.

Default storage is outside your repo:

• macOS/Linux: ~/.local/share/zmem/workspaces/<workspace-slug>/
• Windows: %APPDATA%/zmem/workspaces/<workspace-slug>/

Within each workspace directory, zmem stores:

• memory.db
• vectors/

Advanced overrides still work through storage.baseDir, storage.dbPath, storage.zvecPath, ZMEM_STORAGE_BASE_DIR, ZMEM_DB_PATH, and ZMEM_ZVEC_PATH.

Query expansion can also be tuned with env vars such as:

• ZMEM_QUERY_EXPANSION_ENABLED
• ZMEM_QUERY_EXPANSION_PROVIDER
• ZMEM_QUERY_EXPANSION_MODEL
• ZMEM_QUERY_EXPANSION_FALLBACK_MODEL
• ZMEM_QUERY_EXPANSION_MAX_EXPANSIONS

3) Ingest documents

npm run dev -- ingest ./docs --workspace=default

4) Query memory

npm run dev -- query "database decisions" --mode=hybrid --workspace=default

5) Check status

npm run dev -- status --workspace=default

CLI usage

Run help:

npm run dev -- help

Primary commands:

• ingest <path> [--workspace=<name>] [--logs=true|false]
• query <query> [--workspace=<name>] [--mode=hybrid|lexical|vector|recent|important|typed] [--scopes=a,b] [--types=a,b] [--expansion-mode=off|deterministic|llm] [--logs=true|false]
• status [--workspace=<name>] [--logs=true|false]
• init [--config=./config.json] [--workspace=<name>] [--root=<path>] [--storage-base-dir=<path>] [--enable-query-expansion=true|false] [--yes]
• doctor [--config=./config.json] [--workspace=<name>]
• config show [--config=./config.json] [--workspace=<name>]
• models <status|check|pull> [--config=./config.json]
• mcp [--config=./config.json] [--workspace=<name>] [--verbose=true|false]

Examples:

npm run dev -- ingest ./test-docs/search --workspace=default
npm run dev -- query "sqlite" --mode=lexical --workspace=default
npm run dev -- query "vector embeddings" --mode=vector --workspace=default
npm run dev -- init --workspace=default --root=/absolute/path/to/repo --yes
npm run dev -- doctor --workspace=default
npm run dev -- models pull

Local query expansion

zmem now defaults to local-first query expansion for hybrid retrieval.

• primary model: hf:mradermacher/qmd-query-expansion-qwen3.5-2B-GGUF:Q4_K_M
• fallback model: hf:mradermacher/qmd-query-expansion-qwen3.5-2B-GGUF:Q4_K_S
• expansion is skipped when lexical exact-match signal is already strong
• if the local model is unavailable, zmem warns once and falls back to deterministic expansion

To inspect or prepare local models:

npm run dev -- models status
npm run dev -- models pull

MCP usage

Start the MCP stdio server:

npm run dev -- mcp --workspace=default

Implemented tools:

• memory_query
• memory_search
• memory_get
• memory_list
• memory_save
• memory_delete
• memory_status
• memory_link
• memory_neighbors
• memory_edge_update

Optional admin tool:

• memory_reindex (enabled with ZMEM_ENABLE_REINDEX_TOOL=true)

Verbose MCP logs:

ZMEM_MCP_VERBOSE=true npm run dev -- mcp --workspace=default

Local development

Useful scripts:

• npm run dev - run CLI via tsx
• npm run build - build TypeScript to dist/
• npm start - run built CLI
• npm run typecheck - type-check without emitting
• npm test - run tests
• npm run smoke - build + smoke script

Typical dev loop:

npm run typecheck
npm test
npm run smoke

Environment variables

• ZMD_EMBED_MODEL - override embedding model
• ZMD_EMBED_DIMENSIONS - override embedding dimensions
• ZMD_EMBED_PROVIDER - override embedding provider (llamacpp, openai, ollama, gemini, mock)
• ZMD_EMBED_API_KEY - embedding API key override for remote providers such as Gemini
• ZMD_EMBED_BASE_URL - optional embedding API base URL override
• ZMD_EMBED_TASK_TYPE - optional Gemini task type override such as RETRIEVAL_DOCUMENT
• ZMEM_STORAGE_BASE_DIR - override the XDG-style storage root
• ZMEM_DB_PATH - override the resolved database path directly
• ZMEM_ZVEC_PATH - override the resolved vector storage path directly
• ZMEM_WORKSPACE - default workspace for MCP resolution
• ZMEM_MCP_VERBOSE=true - verbose MCP logs to stderr
• ZMEM_ENABLE_REINDEX_TOOL=true - expose memory_reindex MCP tool

Roadmap

• graph traversal poc
• Rust implementation and comparison with metrics
• policy/compliance/audit/retention layer
• added unit tests for error paths
• improve batching controls and recall latency metrics
• more integration ergonomics and ideas
• reranking improvements (position-aware blend)
• query expansion strategies
• deeper retrieval tuning and eval harnesses