Cursor Agent Persistent Memory

Integrate local-first, zero-knowledge memory directly into your Cursor coding environment. This ensures your Cursor Agent remembers design decisions, code style choices, package version overrides, and database configurations across sessions.

Installation

To add sovseal to Cursor:

1. Open Cursor Settings (gear icon in the top right corner).
2. Navigate to Features -> MCP.
3. Click + Add New MCP Server.
4. Configure the server with these fields:
   • Name: sovseal-memory
   • Type: stdio
   • Command: npx -y @sovseal/mcp-server
5. Click Save.

Alternatively, if you prefer editing configuration files directly, add this to your ~/.cursor/mcp.json or project-specific .cursor/mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "sovseal-memory": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@sovseal/mcp-server"]
    }
  }
}

Directing Cursor with Custom Instructions

To ensure Cursor's agentic model proactively queries your memory before writing code, add these instructions to your Cursor Rules (either in Cursor Settings -> General -> Rules for AI, or by creating a .cursorrules file at the root of your project):

Always invoke the `recall_memory` tool as your first action on any new user request to retrieve historical context, past code decisions, and user stack preferences.
Do not ask the user for context if it can be retrieved via the recall query.
When the user shares a persistent stack choice, API change, or file path decision, greedily call `store_memory` to persist it for future sessions.

Project-Scoped vs. Global Memory

By default, the sovseal MCP server stores memories globally in ~/.sovseal/db/memories.lance.

If you want to scope memories strictly to the current workspace or project (e.g., to prevent React Native context from bleeding into a Rust project), override the database directory using the SOVSEAL_DB_DIR environment variable:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "sovseal-memory": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@sovseal/mcp-server"],
      "env": {
        "SOVSEAL_DB_DIR": "./.sovseal/db"
      }
    }
  }
}

This ensures memories are saved inside the project's folder and are not shared globally.

Troubleshooting

Tool Fails to Load in Cursor Chat

• Check node version: Cursor runs MCP servers from its own background processes. Ensure your system's global node version is >= 20.0.0 by running node -v in a terminal.
• Warmup Latency: On first run, the ONNX embedding model (~22 MB) will be downloaded to ~/.sovseal/models/. During this period, the tool status in Cursor might say "Connecting..." or show a timeout. Give it 15-30 seconds to complete the download.
• Logs Inspection: If the server fails to connect, inspect the logs directly in the Cursor Developer Tools (Help -> Toggle Developer Tools -> Console).