Memex Plugin: Persistent Research Memory

Memex Plugin solves a fundamental problem in AI-assisted research: when your session ends, the context disappears. The insights, the decision rationale, the tensions you worked through — gone. Memex preserves it.

Host Support

The vault itself is just an Obsidian folder of markdown files — readable by anything that reads markdown.

Why This Matters for Research

Research projects span weeks or months. Each session with Claude builds understanding — which papers matter, what theoretical tensions you're tracking, why you chose one methodology over another. Without persistent memory, every new session starts from scratch.

Memex captures the collaborative journey:

• Decisions and rationale — not just what you decided, but why
• Perspectives and tensions — disagreements and tradeoffs, not just conclusions
• Evolving understanding — how your thinking developed across sessions

How It Complements Claude's Built-in Memory

Claude Code's native auto-memory stores preferences and conventions — "always use uv", "prefer Sonnet for quick tasks." Think of it as working memory: how you work.

Memex is collaborative long-term memory: what you've worked on together, how you got there, and what's still open.

How It Works

Two-Layer Memo System

Obsidian Vault Integration

Memos organize into an Obsidian vault with:

• Project folders — memos grouped by research project
• Wikilinks — connections across sessions and projects
• Hybrid search — full-text + optional semantic search
• Knowledge graphs — visualize how your research connects

Commands

Retrieval and maintenance now live in skills plus the portable CLI, rather than extra slash commands:

Automatic Hooks

The plugin hooks into Claude Code's session lifecycle automatically:

Research Workflow Example

Week 1: You and Claude analyze 20 papers, develop initial coding framework. Memex captures the framework rationale and which papers were pivotal.

Week 3: You return after a break. Ask Claude to recall the coding framework, or run memex search "coding framework" directly — not just the framework itself, but why you made each decision.

Week 5: You're writing up methodology. The garden-tending / curator-practice skills and memex ask surface how your analytical approach evolved across sessions, giving you the reflexivity narrative for your paper.

Installation

Prerequisites

Quick Start

# 1. Install the CLI package
uv tool install git+https://github.com/linxule/memex-plugin.git

# 2. Inside Claude Code, add the marketplace and install the plugin
/plugin marketplace add linxule/memex-plugin
/plugin install memex@memex-plugins --scope user

# 3. Restart Claude Code to load hooks
claude

For a local clone or unreleased changes:

git clone https://github.com/linxule/memex-plugin.git ~/memex
cd ~/memex
uv tool install .
/plugin marketplace add ~/memex
/plugin install memex@memex-plugins --scope user

Configuration

Create ~/.memex/config.json to customize your vault location:

{
  "memex_path": "/path/to/your/memex/vault",
  "session_context": {
    "verbosity": "standard"
  }
}

See config.json.example in the plugin repo for all available options.

Import Existing Sessions

If you've been using Claude Code already, you have transcripts worth importing. The discover_sessions.py tool scores existing sessions by file edits, commits, and duration to find the ones with real collaborative work:

# See what's available
uv run scripts/discover_sessions.py --triage

# Import and rebuild index
uv run scripts/discover_sessions.py --import --apply
uv run scripts/index_rebuild.py --incremental

Semantic Search (Optional)

Without embeddings, keyword search (FTS5) works out of the box. For semantic search:

# Option A: LM Studio (fully local, recommended)
# Install LM Studio, load an embedding model, start server

# Option B: Gemini API
export GEMINI_API_KEY=your-key

# Build embeddings
uv run scripts/index_rebuild.py --full

Part of the Research Memex Ecosystem

Memex Plugin works alongside:

• Interpretive Orchestration Plugin — Persistent memory across stages of qualitative analysis
• Carrel — The environment Memex lives inside; Carrel sets the desk, Memex remembers what happened on it
• Obsidian Setup Guide — Your knowledge management hub where memos live
• Claude Code Setup Guide — The research environment where Memex operates