Genesys

The intelligence layer for AI memory.

Scoring engine + causal graph + lifecycle manager for AI agent memory. Speaks MCP natively.

What is this

Genesys is a scoring engine, causal graph, and lifecycle manager for AI memory. Memories are scored by a multiplicative formula (relevance × connectivity × reactivation), connected in a causal graph, and actively forgotten when they become irrelevant. It plugs into any storage backend and speaks MCP natively.

Why

• Flat memory doesn't scale. Dumping everything into a vector store gives you recall with zero understanding. The 500th memory buries the 5 that matter.
• No forgetting = no intelligence. Real memory systems forget. Without active pruning, your AI drowns in stale context.
• No causal reasoning. Vector similarity can't answer "why did I choose X?" — you need a graph.

Your AI remembers everything but understands nothing. Genesys fixes that.

Quick Start

Most people should start with Option 1 (in-memory). If you want fully local with no API keys, jump to Option 3: Obsidian + local.

Option 1: In-Memory (zero dependencies)

The fastest way to try Genesys. No database required — state is kept in memory and optionally persisted to a JSON file.

pip install genesys-memory
cp .env.example .env
# Set OPENAI_API_KEY in .env

uvicorn genesys.api:app --port 8000

To persist across restarts, set GENESYS_PERSIST_PATH in .env:

GENESYS_PERSIST_PATH=.genesys_state.json

Give this to Claude to set it up for you: "Install genesys-memory, create a .env with my OpenAI key, start the server on port 8000 with the in-memory backend, and connect it as an MCP server."

Option 2: Postgres + pgvector (production)

Persistent, scalable storage with vector search via pgvector.

pip install 'genesys-memory[postgres]'
cp .env.example .env

Edit .env:

OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-...
GENESYS_BACKEND=postgres
DATABASE_URL=postgresql://genesys:genesys@localhost:5432/genesys

Start Postgres and run migrations:

docker compose up -d postgres
alembic upgrade head
GENESYS_BACKEND=postgres uvicorn genesys.api:app --port 8000

Give this to Claude to set it up for you: "Install genesys-memory[postgres], start a Postgres container with pgvector using docker compose, run alembic migrations, create a .env with my OpenAI key and DATABASE_URL, start the server with GENESYS_BACKEND=postgres, and connect it as an MCP server."

Option 3: Obsidian Vault (local-first)

Turns your Obsidian vault into a Genesys memory store. Markdown files become memory nodes, [[wikilinks]] become causal edges. A SQLite sidecar (.genesys/index.db) handles indexing.

pip install 'genesys-memory[obsidian]'
cp .env.example .env

Edit .env:

OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-...
GENESYS_BACKEND=obsidian
OBSIDIAN_VAULT_PATH=/path/to/your/vault

Start the server:

uvicorn genesys.api:app --port 8000

On first start, Genesys indexes all .md files in the vault and generates embeddings. A file watcher re-indexes incrementally when you edit notes.

If OBSIDIAN_VAULT_PATH is not set, Genesys auto-detects by looking for .obsidian/ in ~/Documents/personal, ~/Documents/Obsidian, and ~/obsidian.

Fully local (no API keys)

Use the local embedding provider to run Obsidian mode with zero external dependencies:

pip install 'genesys-memory[obsidian,local]'

GENESYS_BACKEND=obsidian
GENESYS_EMBEDDER=local
OBSIDIAN_VAULT_PATH=/path/to/your/vault
# No OPENAI_API_KEY needed

uvicorn genesys.api:app --port 8000

This uses all-MiniLM-L6-v2 (384-dim) via sentence-transformers for embeddings. The model is downloaded on first use (~80 MB).

Connect Claude Desktop — add to your claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "genesys": {
      "url": "http://localhost:8000/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Or for Claude Code:

claude mcp add --transport http genesys http://localhost:8000/mcp

Give this to Claude to set it up for you: "Install genesys-memory[obsidian,local], create a .env with GENESYS_BACKEND=obsidian, GENESYS_EMBEDDER=local, and OBSIDIAN_VAULT_PATH to my vault at [YOUR_VAULT_PATH], start the server on port 8000, and connect it as an MCP server. No API keys needed."

Option 4: FalkorDB (graph-native)

Uses FalkorDB (Redis-based graph database) for native graph traversal.

pip install 'genesys-memory[falkordb]'
cp .env.example .env

Edit .env:

OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-...
GENESYS_BACKEND=falkordb
FALKORDB_HOST=localhost

Start FalkorDB and the server:

docker compose up -d falkordb
uvicorn genesys.api:app --port 8000

Give this to Claude to set it up for you: "Install genesys-memory[falkordb], start a FalkorDB container using docker compose, create a .env with my OpenAI key and GENESYS_BACKEND=falkordb, start the server on port 8000, and connect it as an MCP server."

From source

git clone https://github.com/rishimeka/genesys.git
cd genesys
pip install -e '.[dev]'

Seed scripts

Two utility scripts populate a running Genesys instance with demo data via the REST API. They require a running server with Clerk auth configured.

cp .env.example .env
# Set CLERK_SECRET_KEY and CLERK_USER_ID in .env

python seed_demo.py      # Creates 25 memories with causal edges and runs recall queries
python seed_recalls.py   # Runs 5 rounds of recall queries to build reactivation history

Both scripts read credentials from environment variables (via .env). See .env.example for all required variables.

Connect to your AI

Claude Code

claude mcp add --transport http genesys http://localhost:8000/mcp

Claude Desktop

Add to your claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "genesys": {
      "url": "http://localhost:8000/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Any MCP client

Point your client at the MCP endpoint:

http://localhost:8000/mcp

MCP Tools

Tool	Description
memory_store	Store a new memory, optionally linking to related memories
memory_recall	Recall memories by natural language query (vector + graph)
memory_search	Search memories with filters (status, date range, keyword)
memory_traverse	Walk the causal graph from a given memory node
memory_explain	Explain why a memory exists and its causal chain
memory_stats	Get memory system statistics
pin_memory	Pin a memory so it's never forgotten
unpin_memory	Unpin a previously pinned memory
delete_memory	Permanently delete a memory
list_core_memories	List core memories, optionally filtered by category
set_core_preferences	Set user preferences for core memory categories

How it works

Every memory is scored by three forces multiplied together:

decay_score = relevance × connectivity × reactivation

• Relevance decays over time. Old memories fade unless reinforced.
• Connectivity rewards memories with many causal links. Hub memories survive.
• Reactivation boosts memories that keep getting recalled. Frequency matters.

Because the formula is multiplicative, a memory must score on all three axes to survive. A highly connected but never-accessed memory still decays. A frequently recalled but causally orphaned memory still fades.

STORE → ACTIVE → DORMANT → FADING → PRUNED
           ↑                    │
           └── reactivation ────┘
                                  (only if score=0, orphan, not pinned)

Memories can also be promoted to core status — structurally important memories that are auto-pinned and never pruned.

Benchmark Results

Tested on the LoCoMo long-conversation memory benchmark (1,540 questions across 10 conversations, category 5 excluded):

Category	J-Score
Single-hop	94.3%
Temporal	87.5%
Multi-hop	69.8%
Open-domain	91.7%
Overall	89.9%

Answer model: gpt-4o-mini | Judge model: gpt-4o-mini | Retrieval k=20

For context, Mem0 scored 67.1% and Zep scored 75.1% on the same benchmark. Full reproduction scripts are in benchmarks/.

Storage backends

Backend	Install	Use case
memory	Built-in	Zero deps, try it out
postgres + pgvector	pip install 'genesys-memory[postgres]'	Persistent, scalable
Obsidian vault	pip install 'genesys-memory[obsidian]'	Local-first knowledge base
FalkorDB	pip install 'genesys-memory[falkordb]'	Graph-native traversal
Custom	Bring your own	Implement GraphStorageProvider

Configuration

Copy .env.example to .env and set:

Variable	Required	Description
OPENAI_API_KEY	Unless GENESYS_EMBEDDER=local	Embeddings
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY	No	LLM memory processing (consolidation, contradiction detection)
GENESYS_BACKEND	No	memory (default), postgres, obsidian, or falkordb
GENESYS_EMBEDDER	No	openai (default) or local (sentence-transformers, no API key)
DATABASE_URL	If postgres	Postgres connection string
OBSIDIAN_VAULT_PATH	If obsidian	Path to your Obsidian vault
FALKORDB_HOST	If falkordb	FalkorDB host (default: localhost)
GENESYS_USER_ID	No	Default user ID for single-tenant mode

See .env.example for all options.

Built by

Genesys is built by Rishi Meka at Astrix Labs. It came out of frustration with re-explaining project context to Claude every session. The goal is the intelligence layer between your LLM and your memory — fully open source.

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md.

License

AGPL-3.0-or-later

Note: Genesys releases prior to v0.3.6 were documented as Apache 2.0 in error. The LICENSE file has always contained the AGPLv3 text. From v0.3.6 onward, all documentation correctly references AGPL-3.0-or-later with a Contributor License Agreement.