mcp-backpack 🎒

A persistent, portable memory layer for Claude Code.

Website: mcpbackpack.com

mcp-backpack gives your AI agent a "hard drive." It creates a project-scoped database in your working directory, allowing Claude to remember context, architectural decisions, and to-do lists even after you clear the context window or restart your terminal.

Unlike other memory tools, Backpack is designed for travel. You can "pack" your memory into a JSON file, commit it to Git, and "unpack" it on a different machine.

Features

• 💾 Persist Context: Save generic thoughts, summaries, and state to a local SQLite database (.backpack_memory).
• 📂 Project Scoped: Automatically detects which project you are working in and creates a separate memory silo for it.
• ✈️ Git Syncing: Export your database to backpack.json to share context with your team or sync between your work laptop and home PC.
• ⚡ Zero Config: Built on diskcache and mcp. No running servers or Docker containers required.

Installation

Option 1: Install via PyPI (Recommended)

You can add this tool directly to Claude Code using uvx.

claude mcp add backpack -- uvx mcp-backpack

Option 2: Run from Source (Local Development)

If you have cloned this repository and want to run it locally:

# Assuming you are in the repo root
claude mcp add backpack -- uvx --from . mcp-backpack

Configuration

To prevent committing your local binary database to Git, you must update your .gitignore.

Run this command in your project root:

echo ".backpack_memory/" >> .gitignore

Note: Do NOT ignore backpack.json if you intend to use the syncing feature!

usage

Once installed, simply talk to Claude. The tool exposes the following capabilities:

1. Daily Workflow

• Save a thought: "Put the current API schema in the backpack as schema:auth."
• Retrieve a thought: "Check the backpack for schema:auth."
• Search: "Rummage through the backpack for anything related to 'database'."
• List all: "List contents of the backpack."

2. The "Context Compaction" Protocol

When Claude's context window fills up, use the backpack to save your state before clearing:

"Before we compact context, please save our current task:next_steps and session:summary to the backpack."

3. Syncing Across Machines (Travel Mode) ✈️

Moving from your work computer to your personal laptop?

1. At Work: "Pack for travel." (Creates backpack.json)
2. Git: git add backpack.json && git commit -m "sync memory" && git push
3. At Home: git pull
4. Claude: "Unpack from travel."

Tools API

The server exposes the following tools to the LLM:

License

MIT License