dsh-memory-vault

Persistent OKF memory for DeepSeek Harness (DSH): a Python MCP server (SQLite FTS5 + Markdown), two Cordis plugins (memory-mcp, memory-auto) and a vault starter with templates and a type registry.

Components

Component	What it does	Bundle
memory-mcp	MCP stdio wrapper: connects DSH to the memory vault server	@luisarg/memory-mcp
memory-auto	Auto memory capture: session digest with commit/compaction checkpoints	@luisarg/memory-auto
memory-vault-server/	Python MCP server: SQLite FTS5 + Markdown OKF	—
memory-vault/	Vault starter: templates + type registry + tag vocabulary	—
scripts/digest_session.py	Optional standalone post-session digest (CLI, not used by the plugins)	—

Quickstart

pnpm install
pnpm -r build

# local dev with an overlay (paths relative to the repo cwd)
dsh web --patch ./examples/dev-memory.cordis.yml

Install

# 1. install both plugins (npm, prebuilt — no build approvals, no repo clone)
dsh plugin --profile web add @luisarg/memory-mcp@0.1.2 @luisarg/memory-auto@0.1.2

# 2. launch — first boot installs the vault server + starter under $DSH_HOME
#    (~/.dsh/memory-vault-server and ~/.dsh/memory-vault) automatically
dsh web

# verify
dsh --profile web --dump-config | grep -A8 memory

uv on PATH is recommended but no longer required: the bundled launcher.mjs runs the server with uv run when uv is present and falls back to a pip-managed venv (python3 -m venv + pip install -r requirements.txt, first boot needs network) when it is not. The packages are self-contained: they ship the Python vault server and the OKF vault starter, and copy them into place on first boot (existing files are never overwritten; upgrades copy only the missing launcher.mjs and requirements.txt). The version is pinned because pnpm's default minimumReleaseAge (3 days) would otherwise resolve an older release. Paths resolve as: env (DSH_MEMORY_PATH, DSH_MEMORY_SERVER_DIR) → $DSH_HOME/memory-vault(-server) → profile patch (see Path resolution). Launch from any directory.

Developers (local checkout instead of npm):

dsh plugin --profile demo add ./packages/memory-mcp ./packages/memory-auto

Offline: pnpm --filter @luisarg/memory-mcp pack and add the .tgz files.

Installing the repo root from GitHub is not supported (root has no dsh.bundle; pnpm lacks git subdirectory specs) — use npm or the tarball.

Usage & interaction commands

Once installed, the agent can read and write the vault through the mcp__memory__* tools — just ask it in the chat:

You say	Tool the agent uses
"search your memory for <topic>"	mcp__memory__search_memory
"remember this: <fact/decision>"	mcp__memory__store_decision / store_fact / …
"export everything you know about <project>"	mcp__memory__export_memories
"summarize my profile"	mcp__memory__get_profile

Automatic capture (memory-auto): git commits, compactions and session ends trigger digests; idle checkpoints capture when there is activity. Digests log as [memory-auto] … lines in the harness console, and writes land under <vault>/projects/<project>/<type>/ (Markdown) + the SQLite FTS5 index.

Verify the installation and the stored memory:

# composed config shows both bundles with the resolved paths
dsh --profile web --dump-config | grep -A8 memory

# what the vault holds (default vault: ~/.dsh/memory-vault)
ls ~/.dsh/memory-vault/projects/               # per-project OKF entries
grep -i "digest" ~/.dsh/memory-vault/log.md    # digest markers

# talk to the vault MCP server directly (standalone smoke test)
printf '%s\n' \
  '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"initialize","params":{"protocolVersion":"2025-06-18","capabilities":{},"clientInfo":{"name":"cli","version":"0"}}}' \
  '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","method":"notifications/initialized"}' \
  '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":2,"method":"tools/call","params":{"name":"ping","arguments":{}}}' \
  | MEMORY_PATH=$HOME/.dsh/memory-vault uv run --directory memory-vault-server python server.py

Run a second harness instance on another port (for testing without touching your main session):

pnpm dsh web --port 3090

Memory stack

The plugins work on an OKF vault (memory-vault/ in this repo, or your own). Runtime: uv on PATH, or Python ≥3.11 with a network on first boot — both launch paths go through the bundled launcher.mjs, which uses uv run and falls back to a pip-managed .venv (requirements.txt) when uv is missing.

The post-session digest runs in-process through the harness's own LLM service (ctx.llm, provider deepseek-official by default — configurable with provider/model), so the plugins need no external CLI and store no credentials: they use the same key DSH is configured with.

Path resolution (cwd-independent)

DSH does not chdir — the launch directory is irrelevant. Paths resolve in this order:

1. Env vars (override everything): DSH_MEMORY_PATH, DSH_MEMORY_SERVER_DIR.
2. Defaults under the harness home: $DSH_HOME/memory-vault and $DSH_HOME/memory-vault-server (~/.dsh when $DSH_HOME is unset).
3. Profile patch (cordis.patch.yml) or --patch overlay with explicit values.

Env var	Used for	Default
DSH_MEMORY_PATH	vault directory	$DSH_HOME/memory-vault
DSH_MEMORY_SERVER_DIR	directory with server.py (MCP server)	$DSH_HOME/memory-vault-server

# run the MCP server standalone:
MEMORY_PATH=./memory-vault uv run --directory ./memory-vault-server python server.py

Vault

memory-vault/ is an OKF bundle: templates/ (per-type templates), type-registry.yaml (source of truth for types), tag-vocabulary.json (tag normalization). Runtime data (projects/, raw/, logs/, memory.db) is created by the server on first use and excluded from git (.gitignore).

Architecture & diagrams

Interactive versions of the diagrams (standalone HTML, open in any browser):

• stack.html — architecture
• session-digest.html — dataflow
• mcp-tool-call.html — sequence
• capture-lifecycle.html — lifecycle

Editable specs live in docs/diagrams/*.json (generated with archify). Full write-up: docs/architecture.md; index: docs/README.md.

Repository layout

packages/memory-mcp/          # cordis bundle: MCP stdio client to the vault
packages/memory-auto/         # cordis bundle: automatic session digest
memory-vault-server/          # Python MCP server (SQLite + Markdown OKF)
memory-vault/                 # vault starter (templates + type registry)
scripts/digest_session.py     # optional standalone digest CLI (not used by the plugins)
examples/dev-memory.cordis.yml      # memory-mcp
examples/dev-memory-auto.cordis.yml # memory-mcp + memory-auto

Layer order

1. dsh.profile.bundles (base + every installed bundle)
2. $DSH_HOME/profiles/<name>/cordis.patch.yml
3. $DSH_HOME/cordis.patch.yml
4. --patch overlays

Patch replaces config wholesale — it does not merge.

Troubleshooting pnpm

• unable to open database file → the pnpm store is not writable in a sandboxed environment. Use --store-dir ./.pnpm-store on every pnpm install and on dsh plugin --profile X --store-dir ./.pnpm-store add ....
• dsh: pnpm failed when installing from GitHub → only applies to packages with a prepare script; copy the printed key into the profile's pnpm-workspace.yaml (allowBuilds). Note: the subpackages of this monorepo cannot be installed with github:... (pnpm has no git-subdirectory support) — use npm or a tarball.

Docs

• docs/ — public documentation (architecture + diagrams)
• Your first plugin
• Build a tool
• Plugin configuration
• Package and install