docmancer 0.9.3

Compress local documentation context for coding agents.

Docmancer

Find out what your coding agents know, then carry the useful parts to every agent.

Coding agents remember useful things, but each one keeps a different version. Claude Code may know why a deployment changed, Codex may know a project convention, and Cursor may still carry an old instruction. The evidence is spread across memory files, rules, instructions, and session history.

Docmancer helps answer two questions:

1. What do my coding agents already know?
2. How do I carry the useful parts to every agent?

It discovers existing agent memory, keeps its sources attached, and gives you one local place to ask questions, build readable Context, and connect that Context back to your agents.

The complete single-machine product is free and local. The browser app is for people. The CLI, skills, hooks, and MCP are how agents use the same memory.

Start here

pipx install docmancer
docmancer setup
cd /path/to/your-project
docmancer web

setup finds every supported coding agent on the machine, shows one complete preflight plan and privacy warning, and asks for confirmation before changing anything. Once confirmed, it indexes existing memory and instructions, builds one laptop-wide canonical memory under ~/.docmancer/tree, installs or updates every detected user-level Docmancer skill, and enables automatic recall and session capture wherever the agent supports them. It does not modify the project in your current directory.

The canonical memory keeps the main things that should follow you between agents: who you are, durable preferences, working principles, and active projects or repositories. Changed evidence is reconciled automatically when setup, Ask, the local web app, memory sync, or a supported lifecycle hook runs. If a configured AI provider is ready, Docmancer uses it to merge and compress the evidence after redaction. If no provider is ready, or the provider fails, deterministic local rules produce the same stable files without blocking memory.

web opens a loopback-only app for the current project. Its main pages each have one purpose:

• Home lets you ask Docmancer what your agents know, customise the Docmancer agent, and connect coding agents.
• Context turns scattered evidence into readable, revisioned knowledge that connected agents can carry.
• Library keeps curated memory, attributable agent evidence, and technical documentation easy to inspect without mixing them together.
• Settings chooses the provider and model used for grounded answers and AI-assisted Context distillation.

Claude Desktop requires a manual skill upload. Other supported integrations can be installed from the web app or CLI. Detection and installation are shown as separate states so an installed application is never mistaken for a connected agent.

Ask what your agents know

docmancer ask "Why did we choose Railway?"

Docmancer checks for changed sources and returns a bounded answer with relevant project policy, curated memory, supporting agent evidence, and citations. It can recall evidence without a generation provider. Add --answer when you want a configured model to turn that evidence into grounded prose.

docmancer ask "What changed in our release process?" --answer

Build Context every agent can carry

Context is the readable, revisioned result of consolidating the useful evidence Docmancer found. Preview the plan first:

docmancer context refresh --dry-run

Build AI-assisted Context from the CLI by naming the provider and model:

docmancer context refresh --provider openai --model <model-id>

Or build deterministic Context locally without an LLM:

docmancer context refresh --provider none

The web app shows the source count, cluster plan, provider, estimated calls, and cost before an AI build begins. Previous Context revisions remain available for comparison and rollback.

Connect coding agents

docmancer setup installs all detected integrations and automatic recall and capture hooks during onboarding. Use --yes only when you have already reviewed the same plan and need a non-interactive run. You can manage one integration explicitly when needed:

docmancer agent install codex --hooks
docmancer agent install claude-code --hooks

Installed skills teach agents when to ask Docmancer for prior decisions and how to write deliberate project memory when you explicitly request it. Recall hooks provide a bounded view of the shared laptop memory and relevant project evidence automatically. Supported lifecycle hooks capture durable session conclusions and reconcile them without creating a per-item approval queue.

Keep a decision deliberately

docmancer write $'# Deployment\n\nDeploy the API on Railway.' \
  --path decisions/deployment.md \
  --scope project

Read it later:

docmancer read decisions/deployment.md

Existing-file edits and moves require the current content hash returned by read. This prevents one agent from silently overwriting a newer decision.

Import existing notes

docmancer import ./notes

Import copies Markdown into the project inbox. Docmancer never rewrites or moves the source files, and you review the complete file before turning it into curated memory.

Everyday commands

Command	Purpose
docmancer setup	Discover agent memory and connect supported coding agents.
docmancer web	Open the local human interface for the current project.
docmancer ask "..."	Recall curated memory and supporting agent evidence.
docmancer context refresh --dry-run	Preview a Context build without writing files or calling a provider.
docmancer context refresh	Build a deterministic local revision of shared Context.
docmancer common	Show knowledge recorded independently by several agents.
docmancer delivery	Show installed integrations, recall state, and recent use.
docmancer timeline	Show how curated memory changed.
docmancer write ... --path file.md	Write one deliberate Markdown memory file.
docmancer read <address-or-path>	Read one memory file and its provenance.
docmancer edit ... --expected-hash <hash>	Safely edit a memory file.
docmancer move ... --expected-hash <hash>	Safely rename or move a memory file.
docmancer import ./notes	Copy arbitrary Markdown into the project inbox.
docmancer status	Show local memory, source, security, integration, and Cloud health.
docmancer doctor	Diagnose installation and configuration problems.
docmancer cloud sync	Sync optional client-encrypted revisions.

Run docmancer --help or docmancer <command> --help for exact arguments.

Documentation is a separate Library

Your memory and third-party documentation answer different questions, so Docmancer keeps them separate:

docmancer docs add https://docs.pytest.org
docmancer docs query "How do I parametrize a fixture?"

Use ask for your decisions, preferences, rules, and agent evidence. Use docs query for libraries, APIs, and vendor documentation.

Local privacy and optional Cloud

Your memory, Context, credentials, indexes, and local web app stay on your machine. Docmancer has no telemetry. Network access occurs only when you explicitly fetch online documentation, use an external model, check package registries, or enable Cloud.

Paid Personal Sync adds encrypted continuity across approved devices, managed history, and recovery. Team adds locally approved shared Context and encrypted coordination. The hosted service receives ciphertext and cannot read your plaintext memory or execute local actions.

docmancer cloud connect
docmancer cloud sync

Local storage

Location	Contents
<project>/.docmancer/tree/	Curated project memory as Markdown.
<project>/.docmancer/context/	Revisioned generated Context artifacts.
<project>/.docmancer/inbox/	Markdown explicitly imported for optional whole-file curation. Automatic session capture is processed as a transient spool.
<project>/.docmancer/trash/	Recoverable deleted memory files.
<project>/.docmancer/state/decision-journal.jsonl	Append-only curated-file history.
<project>/.docmancer/state/delivery.json	Recent successful Context delivery receipts.
~/.docmancer/memory.db	Rebuildable machine-wide agent-memory index.
~/.docmancer/tree/	Automatically reconciled laptop-wide canonical memory as source-attributed Markdown.
~/.docmancer/state/laptop-memory/	Reconciliation manifest and revision history.
~/.docmancer/docmancer.yaml	Local configuration.

Requirements

Docmancer supports Python 3.11, 3.12, and 3.13. If pipx selects Python 3.14, choose a supported interpreter:

pipx install docmancer --python python3.13
docmancer doctor

For detailed commands, architecture, supported sources, Cloud boundaries, and troubleshooting, see the wiki.