open-zk-kb

# open-zk-kb

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You open a new session and your agent has no idea who you are. Again. You re-explain your stack, your conventions, that one edge case you've corrected five times.

open-zk-kb gives your agent a memory — so corrections stick, context compounds, and every session starts smarter than the last.

<p align="center">
  <a href="docs/pi.md">
    <img src="assets/pi-demo.gif" alt="Store, apply, inspect, and remove an automatic preference in Pi" width="760">
  </a>
  <br>
  <sub>The full loop in Pi: store a preference, carry it into a fresh session, inspect the vault, and remove it when it stops being useful.</sub>
</p>

## Quick start

> **Requires [Bun](https://bun.sh)** — install with `curl -fsSL https://bun.sh/install | bash`

```bash
bunx open-zk-kb@latest
```

The installer configures your selected clients, installs agent instructions, and creates a local vault. Supported clients: **OpenCode**, **Claude Code**, **Cursor**, **Windsurf**, **Zed**, **Pi**, and **OMP**.

See the [Setup Guide](docs/setup-guide.md) for manual installation and troubleshooting.

## Why open-zk-kb?

Your agent starts from zero every session. No memory, no learning curve. You correct the same mistakes, re-explain the same conventions, re-teach the same context. Switch tools and it's even worse — your Cursor agent doesn't know what your Claude agent learned.

open-zk-kb fixes that.

- **Correct it once, it sticks** — your agent stores corrections, preferences, and decisions. Next session, it already knows.
- **Works across every tool** — one knowledge base shared by [Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf, OpenCode, Zed, Pi, and OMP](docs/setup-guide.md)
- **Finds what's relevant** — hybrid search matches meaning, not just keywords, so only useful context surfaces
- **Runs locally** — no API keys, no cloud, works offline. Your data stays on your machine.
- **Human-readable** — plain Markdown files [you can browse, edit, and version control](docs/architecture.md#dual-storage-model)
- **Open source** — MIT licensed

## Pi: native knowledge tools

Install the Pi package, then restart Pi:

```bash
pi install npm:open-zk-kb
```

The extension exposes all ten `knowledge-*` tools directly in Pi. Results use Pi-native compact rendering: search, store, context, and health have focused summaries and expandable detail, while the other tools show concise status output. The MCP server and local SQLite/embedding work still run with **Bun >= 1.0**; Pi itself runs under its supported Node.js runtime. Installing Bun is therefore required even when using the Pi package.

Pi also loads active project preferences automatically when a session starts and injects them into model context without requiring a model-initiated search. The visible `knowledge-context` entry reports what happened without fabricating a tool call.

See the [Pi experience guide](docs/pi.md) for the complete preference workflow and renderer examples. For installer-managed instructions, verification, and troubleshooting, see [Pi installation](docs/setup-guide.md#pi-installation).

## Configuration

Zero configuration required. Local embeddings work out of the box with no API key.

See the [Configuration Guide](docs/configuration.md) for embeddings, vault path, lifecycle tuning, and server settings.

## Under the hood

Built on the Zettelkasten method — atomic, linked notes with structured kinds. Each note captures one concept (a decision, a preference, a gotcha) and links to related notes, building an interconnected knowledge graph.

Search combines SQLite FTS5 full-text indexing with local vector embeddings (MiniLM-L6-v2) for semantic matching. Markdown files are the source of truth; the database is a rebuildable index.

## Telemetry

When opted in (`telemetry.enabled: true` and `telemetry.share: true`), open-zk-kb sends anonymous session analytics to [PostHog](https://posthog.com) (EU Cloud) — which client and models you use, vault size, and tool usage counts. No note content, search queries, or personal data is ever collected. Both flags are disabled by default. Set `DO_NOT_TRACK=1` to unconditionally block sharing (local SQLite counters are unaffected). Set both flags to `false` to disable all telemetry entirely. See [Telemetry](docs/telemetry.md) for the full event schema and details.

## Documentation

- [Setup Guide](docs/setup-guide.md) — installation, client-specific setup, troubleshooting
- [Pi Experience](docs/pi.md) — native tools, automatic preferences, and renderer gallery
- [Tools Reference](docs/tools-reference.md) — all 10 MCP tools with parameters and examples
- [Note Lifecycle](docs/note-lifecycle.md) — note kinds, statuses, review system
- [Configuration](docs/configuration.md) — embeddings, vault, lifecycle, and server settings
- [Architecture](docs/architecture.md) — dual storage, ownership model, design decisions
- [Development](docs/development.md) — local dev, testing, debugging
- [Contributing](.github/CONTRIBUTING.md) — guidelines for contributors

## License

[MIT License](LICENSE)