---
title: "Welcome"
description: "Real memory for your AI. A knowledge base you own."
canonical_url: "https://docs.basicmemory.com/welcome"
---
# Welcome

> Real memory for your AI. A knowledge base you own.

**Basic Memory** is real memory for your AI — a knowledge base you own. Built-in AI memory is small, vendor-owned, and usually invisible. Basic Memory is large, structured, and inspectable: a knowledge graph written in plain Markdown. Open it in any editor, hand it to any AI tool, and keep it forever.

<note icon="i-lucide-megaphone">

**New in 1.0:** a wiki for every project, live notes, documents as searchable notes, and Basic Memory agents (beta). See [Basic Memory 1.0](https://docs.basicmemory.com/whats-new/basic-memory-1-0). Upgrading the local package? Read [Upgrade to v0.24](https://docs.basicmemory.com/whats-new/v0-24-upgrade) and [Migrating to 1.0](https://docs.basicmemory.com/reference/migrating-to-1-0).

</note>

<docs-video alt="What Basic Memory is, in one minute" poster="/videos/posters/hero.png" src="https://docs.basicmemory.com/videos/hero.mp4">

## Pick your path

<card-group>
<card icon="i-lucide-lightbulb" title="What is Basic Memory?" to="https://docs.basicmemory.com/start-here/what-is-basic-memory">

How persistent AI memory works, and why it beats chat history.

</card>

<card icon="i-lucide-cloud" title="Quickstart — Cloud" to="https://docs.basicmemory.com/start-here/quickstart-cloud">

Connect Basic Memory Cloud and create your first note in 2 minutes, no install required.

</card>

<card icon="i-lucide-terminal" title="Quickstart — Local" to="https://docs.basicmemory.com/start-here/quickstart-local">

Run the open-source version on your machine. Your files never leave your computer.

</card>

<card icon="i-lucide-map" title="Set Up Local Projects" to="https://docs.basicmemory.com/local/getting-started">

After installing locally: create projects and choose where your notes are saved on disk.

</card>
</card-group>

## Go deeper

<card-group>
<card icon="i-lucide-plug" title="Connect your AI tools" to="https://docs.basicmemory.com/integrations">

Claude, ChatGPT, Codex, Gemini, Cursor, VS Code, Obsidian, and more via MCP.

</card>

<card icon="i-lucide-bot" title="Agents" to="https://docs.basicmemory.com/agents/about">

Agents that look after your notes, with every change reviewed by you.

</card>

<card icon="i-simple-icons-github" title="Open source" to="https://github.com/basicmachines-co/basic-memory">

Run locally, self-host, contribute, or just explore the code.

</card>

<card icon="i-lucide-bot" title="AI-friendly docs" to="https://docs.basicmemory.com/reference/llms-txt">

These docs support llms.txt, so your AI assistant can read them directly.

</card>
</card-group>
</docs-video>


## Sitemap

See the full [sitemap](https://docs.basicmemory.com/sitemap.md) for all pages.