Norn

[Norn]

Norn

Persistent, visible memory for AI coding agents.

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[The Norn dashboard: browse memories by project, search them live, and forget any one with a moment to undo]

Your AI forgets you every session. Norn is a local MCP server that remembers your decisions, preferences, and project context across every session and project, for Claude Code, Cursor, and any MCP client. Unlike most memory tools it is fully local and fully inspectable: a dashboard lets you see exactly what it stored and forget anything you do not want.

Quickstart

What you need: just Node.js 20 or newer — you don't install Norn separately, the command below fetches it automatically. Check with node --version; if it's missing or below v20, grab the LTS from nodejs.org.

Connect to Claude Code — one command, no clone:

claude mcp add norn -- npx -y @samad001z/norn-server

Or use the CLI in your terminal — run it on demand, or install the norn command:

npx @samad001z/norn-core list           # no install — npx fetches it each timenpm install -g @samad001z/norn-core     # or put the `norn` command on your PATH

Any other MCP client — add this to its MCP config:

{  "mcpServers": {    "norn": {      "command": "npx",      "args": ["-y", "@samad001z/norn-server"]    }  }}

Restart your tool. Norn registers four tools: remember, recall, forget, list.

Optional — flag possible conflicts: add "env": { "NORN_DETECT_CONFLICTS": "1" } to the config above and Norn will surface memories that might disagree, for you to resolve in the dashboard. Off by default; it downloads a small extra model the first time it finds a candidate, and it never changes your store on its own.

Not sure where that config goes? The Connect Norn to your AI tool guide has exact, copy-paste setup for Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf, VS Code + GitHub Copilot, and Gemini CLI — plus a beginner "what you need" and troubleshooting. (VS Code + Copilot uses a servers key instead of mcpServers.)

Verify it's connected: tell your assistant "Remember that I prefer pnpm over npm," then in a new chat ask "What package manager do I prefer?" — it should answer pnpm by calling Norn's recall tool.

The first remember or recall downloads a local embedding model (all-MiniLM-L6-v2, ~25 MB) once, then runs fully offline.

git clone https://github.com/samad001z/Norn.gitcd Nornnpm installnpm run build -w @samad001z/norn-core && npm run build -w @samad001z/norn-serverclaude mcp add norn -- node "$(pwd)/server/dist/index.js"

See it work

Memory survives across sessions, and recall is semantic: it matches meaning, not keywords.

Session 1

You: Remember that we deploy to production from the main branch on Vercel.

Claude calls remember("deploy to production from the main branch on Vercel", project: "acme")

Session 2, the next day, in a fresh context window

You: How do we ship to prod?

Claude calls recall("how do we ship to prod")

Norn returns "Deploy to production from the main branch on Vercel." even though the query shares no keywords with the stored note.

Using memory: it's explicit, not automatic

Norn does not record your sessions. It is a memory store, not a logger — it never silently captures your prompts, code edits, or terminal commands. A memory exists only when the agent calls remember(), which happens in two ways:

• You ask for it. "Remember that we deploy from main on Vercel." The agent calls remember(...) and the note is saved.
• The agent chooses to, when it judges a fact worth keeping for next session — a decision, a preference, a constraint.

That is the point: you decide what's kept, so the store stays signal, not noise. The flip side is that if you never ask, nothing is saved — so a sparse dashboard after a long working session is expected, not a bug. The work itself lives in git; Norn is for the durable facts you want recalled later.

A few habits that make it pay off:

• End a task with "remember the key decisions from this" and the agent writes them down.
• Front-load context once — "remember my stack and conventions" — instead of re-pasting it every session.
• Ask "what do you remember about X?" to make the agent call recall() on demand.

Everything saved this way shows up in the dashboard, and you can forget any of it.

How it works

Three local pieces share one local database:

Claude Code / Cursor  ──MCP (stdio)──►  Norn MCP server  ┐                                                          ├──►  ~/.norn/norn.db        Dashboard (Next.js)  ────────────────────────────┘     (SQLite + sqlite-vec)

• MCP server (/server): exposes remember, recall, forget, list over stdio.
• Store (/core): SQLite + sqlite-vec, with embeddings from a local MiniLM model (no API key). recall blends semantic similarity with recency and trims results to a token budget; remember dedupes near-identical notes.
• Dashboard (/web): a Next.js app to browse and manage everything.

All three resolve to the same store, so a memory written by your agent appears in the dashboard, and a memory you forget in the dashboard is gone for the agent too. The store is chosen in this order:

1. NORN_DB_PATH, if set — an explicit override always wins.
2. The nearest project-local .norn/norn.db, walking up from the working directory (see Per-project memory).
3. The global ~/.norn/norn.db.

With no project store and no override, this is the original behavior: one global ~/.norn/norn.db.

Per-project memory

Give a repo its own memory that ships with it. From the project root:

npx @samad001z/norn-core init   # or: norn init

This creates a .norn/ directory holding that project's norn.db. Because each project has its own database file, memories never bleed across projects: an agent working in one repo only sees that repo's memory.

How a project is detected

Norn finds your project the way git does — by walking up from the working directory to the nearest ancestor that contains a .norn/ directory. Run your agent (or the CLI) anywhere inside the repo and it resolves to the same store. The store is chosen in this order:

1. NORN_DB_PATH, if set — an explicit override always wins.
2. The nearest project-local .norn/norn.db, walking up from the working directory.
3. The global ~/.norn/norn.db — the original behavior when no project store exists.

Even without norn init, projects stay isolated in the shared global store: every memory is stamped with the project root it was written under (a scope, derived from the nearest .git/.norn ancestor — distinct from the freeform project label), and recall only returns the current project's memories plus global ones. Separate db files are the primary isolation; the scope stamp is defense in depth for the shared store.

Commit memory with the repo

norn export / norn import are available from v1.1 onward. On earlier versions, commit the binary norn.db directly (the default norn init setup).

norn.db is a binary SQLite file — it holds embedding vectors, so it has no readable git diffs and can conflict on merge. To version your memory cleanly, commit a diffable text export instead and let each checkout rebuild its own database:

norn export   # writes .norn/memory.json — text, tags, project, ids, timestamps (no vectors)

memory.json is sorted deterministically, so re-exporting an unchanged store produces an empty diff. Embeddings are not stored in it; they are regenerated locally on import, so the file stays small and review-friendly. Commit it and gitignore the binary store with a .norn/.gitignore like:

# .norn/.gitignore — commit memory.json, ignore the binary store.# norn.db is binary SQLite (it holds embedding vectors): no readable diffs,# and it can conflict on merge. memory.json (not listed here) is the# diffable file you commit; the sidecars below are always transient.norn.dbnorn.db-walnorn.db-shmnorn.db-journal

norn init (v1.1+) writes exactly this .gitignore for you, so memory.json is the committed artifact out of the box. Prefer to commit the binary norn.db instead — no import step on clone, at the cost of readable diffs? Just delete the norn.db line.

On a fresh clone, rebuild the local database from the committed file:

norn import   # reads .norn/memory.json and regenerates embeddings locally

import upserts by id, so it is safe to re-run; it never duplicates a memory.

Try it: isolation, then commit-and-clone

A self-contained, copy-paste walkthrough (uses npx, no install; needs Node 20+ and git):

# 1. Two separate projects, each with its own committed memory store.mkdir -p /tmp/demo/alpha /tmp/demo/beta
cd /tmp/demo/alphanpx @samad001z/norn-core initnpx @samad001z/norn-core remember "Alpha API rate limit is 600 requests per minute per token"
cd /tmp/demo/betanpx @samad001z/norn-core initnpx @samad001z/norn-core remember "Beta deploys to prod from the main branch on Vercel"
# 2. Isolation: from Beta, ask for Alpha's fact. Beta only ever returns its own#    (and global) memories — Alpha's note never appears here.npx @samad001z/norn-core recall "what is the request rate limit"
# 3. Export Alpha's memory to a diffable file and commit it.cd /tmp/demo/alphanpx @samad001z/norn-core export                       # writes .norn/memory.jsongit init -q && git add .norn/memory.json && git commit -qm "Add project memory"
# 4. Simulate a teammate's fresh clone: bring the export, NOT the binary db.mkdir -p /tmp/demo/alpha-clone/.norncp .norn/memory.json /tmp/demo/alpha-clone/.norn/memory.json
# 5. Rebuild the store from the committed file and confirm recall works.cd /tmp/demo/alpha-clonenpx @samad001z/norn-core import                       # regenerates embeddings locallynpx @samad001z/norn-core recall "what is the request rate limit"#   → "Alpha API rate limit is 600 requests per minute per token"

Features

• Remembers across sessions and projects. Stop re-pasting CLAUDE.md by hand.
• See everything it knows. No black box: every memory is visible.
• Forget anything, with undo. Full control over what it keeps.
• Surfaces stale memories. Memories you haven't touched in a while are quietly flagged in the dashboard so you can prune them. It surfaces — it never deletes.
• Possible-conflict detection (opt-in). Set NORN_DETECT_CONFLICTS=1 and Norn flags memories that might disagree so you choose which to keep — it never auto-resolves, edits, or deletes. Off by default; the extra model only downloads once you turn it on.
• Norn Live: watch your agents use memory. A live activity feed in the dashboard shows every remember, recall, and forget as it happens, plus conflicts that need your call. See Norn Live.
• Lives in your tools over MCP. Claude Code, Cursor, and any MCP client.
• Local-first. Your context, the embedding model, and the database all stay on your machine.

Privacy

Local by default. The store is a SQLite file on your disk, the embedding model runs on your machine, and nothing leaves it: no account, no API key, no telemetry. Delete ~/.norn/norn.db and the memory is gone.

Manage your memories

The dashboard lets you browse by project, search, and forget any memory (with undo). It runs from a clone of this repo (it is not part of the npx server package), and it reads the same local store your agent writes to — ~/.norn/norn.db — so whatever Norn remembered shows up here.

Run these four commands from a fresh terminal:

git clone https://github.com/samad001z/Norn.gitcd Nornnpm install          # install dependenciesnpm run build:core   # build the store package the dashboard reads through (required)npm run dev:web      # start the dashboard

Then open http://localhost:3000/app.

Skipping npm run build:core is the usual reason the dashboard opens empty: the web app imports the compiled store from @samad001z/norn-core, so that package has to be built once first. After that, npm run dev:web is all you need to reopen it.

To point the dashboard at a store in a non-default location, set NORN_DB_PATH to the same path your agent uses before running dev:web (otherwise the default is fine):

NORN_DB_PATH=/path/to/norn.db npm run dev:web

[The Norn dashboard: browse by project, search, and forget your memories]

Prefer the terminal? Inspect the same store without the dashboard:

npm run cli -w @samad001z/norn-core -- init    # give this project its own committed storenpm run cli -w @samad001z/norn-core -- listnpm run cli -w @samad001z/norn-core -- recall "how do we deploy"npm run cli -w @samad001z/norn-core -- export  # write .norn/memory.json to commit with the reponpm run cli -w @samad001z/norn-core -- import  # rebuild this checkout's store from memory.json

Norn Live: watch agents use memory

Open http://localhost:3000/app/live (or the Live link in the dashboard sidebar) to watch agents use your memory in real time. Every remember, recall, and forget that goes through Norn is recorded to a local activity log and streams into the feed as it happens — who acted, what they did, when, and a short preview of what it touched. A needs you panel collects possible conflicts (when detection is on) that are still waiting for your decision; resolving one in the dashboard clears it here too.

Like everything else in Norn, the log is local: events live in the same SQLite file as your memories and never leave your machine. The page streams over server-sent events and falls back to polling if the stream drops.

Naming agents. Events are attributed via the optional agentId tool argument, or the NORN_AGENT_ID environment variable in your MCP config. Without either, a server session gets a generated id like agent-3f9c21 — activity still groups per session, it just isn't labeled. Set NORN_MODEL if you also want events tagged with the model; Norn never guesses it.

What it is and isn't:

• It logs only Norn's own tools. It is not a session recorder — your prompts, code, and terminal never touch it. Plain list browsing isn't logged either.
• Event logging is best-effort by design: a failed log write never blocks or rolls back a memory write. Treat the feed as a trace, not an audit record.
• Events need server v1.3.0 or newer. Older servers write no events, so the feed stays empty until the npx command picks up the new version (it fetches the latest automatically on next launch).
• The log is currently unbounded — there's no retention cap yet; it grows with use. Pruning is on the roadmap.

Roadmap

• Swappable embedding backends (Ollama, OpenAI-compatible) behind the existing Embedder interface.
• Edit memories in place from the dashboard (adding and forgetting already work).
• A larger labelled benchmark for conflict detection, to tune the thresholds with more data.
• Retention for the activity log (age/count caps), so Norn Live's history doesn't grow unbounded.
• More editor and MCP-client integrations.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome. See CONTRIBUTING.md. The short version:

npm installnpm run buildnpm test -w @samad001z/norn-core

License

MIT. See LICENSE.