## for VS Code
VS Code as your Basic Memory workspace
The editor you already live in becomes the place you edit your AI's long-term memory.
Your knowledge belongs in your editor
Most AI memory lives somewhere you can't see. Basic Memory notes are plain Markdown — bring them into the editor you already work in.
- —Close the chat tab, lose the context. Most AI tools have zero memory of what you worked on yesterday.
- —Static context files don't grow. You maintain them by hand and they're already out of date.
- —Architecture decisions, rejected approaches, and tradeoffs live in your head, not your AI's.
- —Knowledge from one project is locked in old chat history, invisible everywhere else.
Basic Memory changes that
Give VS Code a persistent, searchable knowledge base it can read and write to.
Edit your knowledge like code
Full IDE experience for your notes: syntax highlighting, Markdown preview, split editors, multi-cursor, Git. The same workflow as the rest of your codebase.
Copilot Chat with Basic Memory
VS Code's Copilot Chat supports MCP servers. Add Basic Memory and Copilot can search and write your long-term project knowledge, grounded in the notes you wrote.
Basic Memory CLI in the terminal
Search your knowledge base, create notes, and check recent activity right from the integrated terminal. `bm search`, `bm recent`, shell aliases for the rest.
Plain Markdown, version with Git
Everything is a file. Commit it, branch it, review it in a PR. The same vault is queryable by any MCP-connected agent.
One command to get started
Quick Setup
bm project add my-project --local-path ~/path/to/projectThen open that folder in VS Code. Every edit syncs to your knowledge graph automatically — no extension required. For Copilot Chat over MCP, add Basic Memory to .vscode/mcp.json: { "servers": { "basic-memory": { "command": "bm", "args": ["mcp"] } } }. For Basic Memory Cloud, use the cloud URL instead. Full setup guide →
What users are saying
“Basic Memory changed my whole relationship with LLMs... I switched from GPT and Gemini to exclusively Claude and Claude Code because of this integration and am completely revamping all our companies processes around a basic memory workflow now.”
Alex
TrainerDay
“I don't code without Basic Memory anymore. It's such a time saver to be able to refer to projects I don't currently have active and keep a running log of all of my learnings and ProTips. Absolutely love it.”
@groksrc
Developer
Start building with VS Code
Try Basic Memory free for 7 days. Your notes stay yours either way.
7-Day Free Trial
$15/seat/month
Graduated team pricing- AI collaboration via MCP
- Shared workspaces for teams and agents
- Team member management and audit logs
- Full-text search across notes and projects
- Desktop, mobile, and web access
- Private, exportable Markdown files
- 50,000 notes per seat
- 1,000 note updates per seat per day
- Cancel anytime, your data stays yours
Open source available for power users
View on GitHubFrequently asked questions
- How do I give VS Code AI persistent memory?
- Add Basic Memory as an MCP server in VS Code (it works with Copilot’s MCP support and MCP-capable extensions). Your AI assistant can then search project knowledge and save new context directly from the editor.
- Where is the memory stored?
- In plain Markdown files. On your machine with the free open source version, or synced via Basic Memory Cloud. You can open the files in VS Code itself: what your AI knows is just text in your workspace, not a hidden database.
- Does it work alongside Copilot?
- Yes. Copilot handles completion and chat; Basic Memory supplies durable project knowledge over MCP. Decisions, architecture, conventions. So the assistance is grounded in your project’s actual history.
