memex

Fast local history search for Claude, Codex CLI, Cursor, OpenCode, Pi Coding Agent, OpenClaw, and GitHub Copilot CLI logs. Uses BM-25 and optionally embeds your transcripts locally for hybrid search.

Mostly intended for agents to use via skill. The intended workflow is to ask agent about a previous session & then the agent can narrow things down & retrieve history as needed.

Includes a TUI for browsing, finding and resuming agent CLI sessions, with optional token usage tracking.

Install

brew install nicosuave/tap/memex

Or

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nicosuave/memex/main/scripts/setup.sh | sh

Or (from the AUR on Arch Linux):

paru -S memex

Or (with Nix):

nix run github:nicosuave/memex

Development shell:

nix develop

Note: No binary cache is configured, so first builds compile from source.

NixOS service:

Enable background indexing with the provided module:

{
  inputs.memex.url = "github:nicosuave/memex";

  outputs = { nixpkgs, memex, ... }: {
    nixosConfigurations.default = nixpkgs.lib.nixosSystem {
      modules = [
        memex.nixosModules.default
        {
          services.memex = {
            enable = true;
            continuous = true; # Run as a daemon (optional)
          };
        }
      ];
    };
  };
}

Home Manager:

Configure memex declaratively (generates ~/.memex/config.toml):

{
  inputs.memex.url = "github:nicosuave/memex";

  outputs = { memex, ... }: {
    # Inside your Home Manager configuration
    modules = [
      memex.homeManagerModules.default
      {
        programs.memex = {
          enable = true;
          settings = {
            embeddings = true;
            include_reasoning = false;
            model = "minilm";
            execution_provider = "auto"; # coreml on macOS, cpu elsewhere
            cuda_device_id = 0; # optional when execution_provider = "cuda"
            cuda_library_paths = ["/usr/local/cuda/lib64"]; # optional override
            cudnn_library_paths = ["/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu"]; # optional override
            compute_units = "ane"; # CoreML only: ane, gpu, cpu, all
            auto_index_on_search = true;
            token_usage = false; # opt in to local token and cost tracking
            index_service_interval = 3600;
          };
        };
      }
    ];
  };
}

Then run setup to install the skills:

memex setup

Restart Claude, Codex, OpenCode, or Pi after setup.

Quickstart

Index (incremental):

memex index

Plaintext reasoning is excluded by default because it is usually low-value search noise. Opt in with memex index --include-reasoning; reasoning records remain BM25-only. Encrypted and redacted payloads, along with reasoning signature fields, are always excluded.

Search (JSONL default):

memex search "your query" --limit 20

TUI:

memex tui

Notes:

• Embeddings are enabled by default.
• Searches run an incremental reindex by default (configurable).
• Concurrent searches coalesce stale auto-index work: one process refreshes while other lexical searches query the last committed index. Semantic and hybrid searches wait for vector writes to finish. Explicit index, reindex, embed, and analytics backfill commands wait up to 30 seconds for another index mutation to finish and report its holder on timeout.

Full transcript:

memex session <session_id>

Single record:

memex show <doc_id>

Human output:

memex search "your query" -v

Multiple machines over SSH

Each machine keeps and updates its own index. The coordinating memex queries configured machines concurrently over SSH, merges their rankings, and keeps the originating machine attached to every result. The TUI uses the same backend for search, history previews, sharing, token charts, and interactive resume.

Install a protocol-compatible memex binary on each machine and configure SSH normally in ~/.ssh/config. Then add machines to ~/.memex/config.toml:

[multi_machine]
default = ["local", "mini"]
timeout_seconds = 10

[[machines]]
id = "mini"
label = "Mac mini"

[machines.control]
type = "ssh"
host = "mini" # SSH config alias

[machines.index]
type = "remote"

The ssh = "mini" field is a shorthand for the machines.control table. Set command = "/path/to/memex" when memex is not on the non-interactive SSH PATH. SSH keys, users, ports, jump hosts, and host-key policy remain in ~/.ssh/config.

memex search "tantivy corruption"             # configured defaults
memex search "tantivy corruption" --machine mini
memex usage --machine local --machine mini

Unavailable machines produce partial results with a warning. Remote token usage requires token_usage = true in that machine's memex config. The index backend is intentionally separate from the control transport so an immutable S3 split backend can replace type = "remote" later while SSH continues to handle indexing and resume.

In the TUI, use the machines dropdown (or press m while the session list is focused) to select the configured default set, local, or one remote machine. The machine, source, project, and query filters are shared by the session results and token chart; the range dropdown bounds the chart.

Token usage

Token tracking is disabled by default because it scans and caches local agent logs. Enable it in ~/.memex/config.toml:

token_usage = true

Then reconstruct historical token usage from local Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, OpenCode, Pi, OpenClaw, and Copilot logs:

memex usage
memex usage --source codex --since 2026-07-01
memex usage --json --events

--cost auto prefers a provider-stored request cost and otherwise applies the versioned built-in API price catalog. --cost source uses only stored costs; --cost reprice always applies the catalog. Calculated costs are API-equivalent estimates, not subscription charges. Events with unknown models or prices remain in token totals and are reported as unpriced.

Each source also reports prompt-cache efficiency: the cache hit rate, plus an estimate of cache waste — prompt tokens that were in the previous request's prompt but were re-billed at input rates instead of read from cache, priced at catalog rates and attributed to idle gaps past the cache TTL or model switches where those apply. Waste is estimated per transcript file chain and errs toward undercounting: subagent sidechains, ambiguous dedupe deltas, and prompts that shrink past compaction are not counted.

Local token history is reconstructed usage. It is deliberately kept separate from authoritative subscription quota percentages and reset windows.

When token tracking is enabled, press Ctrl+T on the TUI home screen to toggle the 30-day activity chart between session count and token volume. Token activity is loaded lazily and cached when first shown.

Build from source

cargo build --release

Linux with NVIDIA CUDA support:

cargo build --release --features cuda

Binary:

./target/release/memex

Setup (manual)

If you built from source, run setup to install:

memex setup

This detects which tools are installed (Claude/Codex/OpenCode/Pi) and presents an interactive menu to select which to configure.

Search modes

Common filters

• --project <name>
• --role <user|assistant|tool_use|tool_result>
• --tool <tool_name>
• --session <session_id>
• --source claude|codex|cursor|opencode|pi|openclaw|copilot
• --since <iso|unix> / --until <iso|unix>
• --limit <n>
• --min-score <float>
• --sort score|ts
• --top-n-per-session <n>
• --unique-session
• --fields score,ts,doc_id,session_id,snippet
• --json-array

JSON output also includes source and, when available, tree/linkage metadata: event_id, parent_event_id, logical_parent_event_id, parent_session_id, thread_source, conversation_kind, parent_tool_use_id, source_tool_use_id, and source_tool_assistant_uuid.

Background index service

Works on macOS (launchd) and Linux (systemd).

Enable:

memex index-service enable
memex index-service enable --continuous

Disable:

memex index-service disable

index-service reads config defaults (mode, interval, log paths). Flags override.

On Linux, creates systemd user units in ~/.config/systemd/user/. On macOS, creates a launchd plist in ~/.memex/. On successful enable, memex writes auto_index_on_search = false to config when that setting is absent, so searches do not duplicate daemon work. Explicit user config is preserved.

Embeddings

Disable:

memex index --no-embeddings

Recommended when embeddings are on (especially non-potion models): run the background index service or index --watch, and consider setting auto_index_on_search = false to keep searches fast.

Embedding model

Select via --model flag or MEMEX_MODEL env var:

memex index --model minilm
# or
MEMEX_MODEL=minilm memex index

Execution provider

Select via execution_provider in config or MEMEX_EXECUTION_PROVIDER:

When execution_provider = "cuda", you can optionally select a GPU with cuda_device_id or MEMEX_CUDA_DEVICE_ID.

When loading CUDA, memex first tries the system loader paths, then any configured cuda_library_paths / cudnn_library_paths, then common CUDA install locations and active venv / conda site-packages/nvidia/*/lib directories. If your system keeps CUDA or cuDNN in a nonstandard location, set MEMEX_CUDA_LIBRARY_PATHS and MEMEX_CUDNN_LIBRARY_PATHS or the matching config keys.

Config (optional)

Create ~/.memex/config.toml (or <root>/config.toml if you use --root):

embeddings = true
auto_index_on_search = true
include_reasoning = false  # opt in to plaintext reasoning; encrypted/redacted payloads stay excluded
token_usage = false  # opt in to local token and cost tracking
model = "minilm"  # minilm, bge, nomic, gemma, potion
execution_provider = "auto"  # auto, cpu, coreml, cuda
cuda_device_id = 0  # optional, when execution_provider = "cuda"
cuda_library_paths = ["/usr/local/cuda/lib64"]  # optional list of CUDA library dirs
cudnn_library_paths = ["/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu"]  # optional list of cuDNN library dirs
compute_units = "ane"  # CoreML only: ane, gpu, cpu, all
scan_cache_ttl = 3600  # seconds (default 1 hour)
max_indexed_tool_input_bytes = 65536  # 64 KiB default
max_indexed_tool_output_bytes = 262144  # 256 KiB default
index_service_mode = "interval"  # interval or continuous
index_service_interval = 3600  # seconds (ignored when mode = "continuous")
index_service_poll_interval = 30  # seconds
index_service_label = "memex-index"  # service name (default: com.memex.index on macOS)
index_service_systemd_dir = "~/.config/systemd/user"  # Linux only
claude_resume_cmd = "claude --resume {session_id}"
codex_resume_cmd = "codex resume {session_id}"
cursor_resume_cmd = "cursor-agent --resume {session_id}"
opencode_resume_cmd = "opencode resume {session_id}"
pi_resume_cmd = "pi --session {source_path_shell}"
# copilot_resume_cmd = "your-copilot-resume-command {session_id}"

Service logs and the plist live under ~/.memex by default (macOS). On Linux, systemd units are created in ~/.config/systemd/user/.

scan_cache_ttl controls how long auto-indexing considers scans fresh. include_reasoning defaults to false. Set it to true (or pass memex index --include-reasoning) to add plaintext reasoning as BM25-only records. Encrypted and redacted reasoning payloads are always excluded. max_indexed_tool_*_bytes limits oversized tool payloads while leaving user and assistant text unchanged. memex keeps roughly the first three quarters and final quarter, with a marker reporting the omitted middle. Each value must be at least 1024 bytes. Run memex index --reindex to apply new limits to records that are already indexed. execution_provider applies to ONNX-backed models; potion uses the model2vec backend. cuda_library_paths and cudnn_library_paths accept path lists and are only used when execution_provider = "cuda".

Resume command templates accept {session_id}, {project}, {source}, {source_path}, {source_dir}, {cwd}, plus shell-quoted {source_path_shell}, {source_dir_shell}, and {cwd_shell}.

The skill definitions are bundled in skills/.