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Quick Start: Claude Desktop + MCP

SerialMemory integrates with Claude Desktop via the Model Context Protocol (MCP). This allows Claude to store and retrieve memories across conversations.

Prerequisites

  • Claude Desktop installed
  • Docker Desktop running
  • .NET 8.0 SDK (or pre-built executable)

Step 1: Start SerialMemory

# Clone and start the stack
git clone https://github.com/serialmemory/serialmemory.git
cd serialmemory
docker compose up -d

# Run bootstrap to create demo tenant
./scripts/bootstrap-dev.ps1  # Windows
./scripts/bootstrap-dev.sh   # Linux/Mac

Step 2: Configure Claude Desktop

Edit your Claude Desktop configuration file:

Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

Add the SerialMemory MCP server:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "serialmemory": {
      "command": "dotnet",
      "args": ["run", "--project", "D:\\path\\to\\SerialMemoryServer\\SerialMemory.Mcp"],
      "env": {
        "POSTGRES_HOST": "localhost",
        "POSTGRES_PORT": "5432",
        "POSTGRES_USER": "postgres",
        "POSTGRES_PASSWORD": "postgres",
        "POSTGRES_DB": "contextdb",
        "OLLAMA_BASE_URL": "http://localhost:11434",
        "SERIALMEMORY_MODE": "self-hosted"
      }
    }
  }
}

Or use a pre-built executable:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "serialmemory": {
      "command": "D:\\path\\to\\SerialMemory.Mcp.exe",
      "args": [],
      "env": {
        "POSTGRES_HOST": "localhost",
        "POSTGRES_PORT": "5432",
        "POSTGRES_USER": "postgres",
        "POSTGRES_PASSWORD": "postgres",
        "POSTGRES_DB": "contextdb",
        "OLLAMA_BASE_URL": "http://localhost:11434"
      }
    }
  }
}

Step 3: Restart Claude Desktop

Close and reopen Claude Desktop to load the new MCP server.

Step 4: Test the Integration

Try these prompts in Claude:

Store a memory:

Remember that I prefer TypeScript over JavaScript for new projects.

Search memories:

What do you remember about my programming preferences?

Set user persona:

I'm a backend developer focused on distributed systems.

Available MCP Tools

Tool Description
memory_search Search memories semantically
memory_ingest Store new memories
memory_update Update existing memory
memory_delete Soft-delete memory
memory_about_user Get user persona
set_user_persona Set persona attributes
memory_multi_hop_search Graph traversal search
get_graph_statistics Knowledge graph stats

Troubleshooting

MCP server not connecting:

  • Check Docker containers are running: docker ps
  • Verify PostgreSQL is accessible: docker exec serialmemory-postgres pg_isready
  • Check Ollama has the model: docker exec serialmemory-ollama ollama list

Embeddings not working:

  • Pull the embedding model: docker exec serialmemory-ollama ollama pull nomic-embed-text

Permission errors:

  • Ensure the MCP executable path is correct
  • Check file permissions on Windows

Next Steps