claude-mem vs codebase-memory-mcp (DeusData)
claude-mem vs codebase-memory-mcp (DeusData): side-by-side comparison of two claude code memory mechanisms systems — architecture, taxonomy, license, pricing, MCP/A2A support, and direct edges.
Cost & capability
| claude-mem | codebase-memory-mcp (DeusData) | |
|---|---|---|
| Capability band | competent | competent |
| Capability composite | 55 | 45 |
| Cost tier | free | free |
| $/Mtok input | 0 | 0 |
| $/Mtok output | 0 | 0 |
| Use cases | Code Generation Focused, Long Running Session | Code Generation Focused, Long Running Session, Offline Capable, Analytical Summarization |
Where they differ (15)
Rows where both sides have data and the values disagree — the shortlist of dimensions that actually distinguish these two systems.
| claude-mem | codebase-memory-mcp (DeusData) | |
|---|---|---|
| Capability composite | 55 | 45 |
| Use cases | Code Generation Focused, Long Running Session | Code Generation Focused, Long Running Session, Offline Capable, Analytical Summarization |
| Type | Episodic / session-log compression | Tree-sitter knowledge-graph MCP for code |
| Created | 2025-09 | 2026 (active 2026 release cadence; latest v0.6.1 2026-05-04) |
| Latest release | v12.7.0 2026-05-06 | v0.6.1 / 2026-05-04 |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| GitHub | 72.7k★ +9.1k/mo TypeScript | 2.1k★ (DeusData/codebase-memory-mcp) |
| Pricing | free / open source (AGPL-3.0); no paid tier | free / open source (MIT); no paid tier |
| Backend storage | searched not found | SQLite (WAL mode) at ~/.cache/codebase-memory-mcp/ |
| Deployment | local — SQLite + FTS5 per project; optional Chroma vector; no cloud | Local — single static binary (macOS arm64/amd64; Linux arm64/amd64; Windows amd64) |
| API surface | searched not found | MCP (stdio) — 14 tools incl. index_repository / search_graph / trace_call_path / query_graph (Cypher-like) / get_architecture / detect_changes / manage_adr / search_code / get_code_snippet / ingest_traces / list_projects / delete_project / index_status / get_graph_schema |
| MCP | native (first-party) | native (first-party MCP server) |
| OpenTelemetry | no | searched not found |
| Optimised for | Claude-Code-native + MCP-portable memory | structural code knowledge graphs (token-efficient; 99.2% reduction vs grep) + sub-ms queries + 155-language tree-sitter coverage |
| Anti-fit | not for non-Claude-Code clients (some are MCP-portable) | not for non-code memory; not for natural-language conversation memory; SEMANTICALLY_RELATED edges require optional embedding pipeline |
At a glance
| claude-mem | codebase-memory-mcp (DeusData) | |
|---|---|---|
| Section | Claude Code memory mechanisms | Claude Code memory mechanisms |
| Tier | T1 | T1 |
| Type | Episodic / session-log compression | Tree-sitter knowledge-graph MCP for code |
| Created | 2025-09 | 2026 (active 2026 release cadence; latest v0.6.1 2026-05-04) |
| Latest release | v12.7.0 2026-05-06 | v0.6.1 / 2026-05-04 |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| GitHub | 72.7k★ +9.1k/mo TypeScript | 2.1k★ (DeusData/codebase-memory-mcp) |
| Pricing | free / open source (AGPL-3.0); no paid tier | free / open source (MIT); no paid tier |
| Funding | — | searched not found |
| Backend storage | searched not found | SQLite (WAL mode) at ~/.cache/codebase-memory-mcp/ |
| Deployment | local — SQLite + FTS5 per project; optional Chroma vector; no cloud | Local — single static binary (macOS arm64/amd64; Linux arm64/amd64; Windows amd64) |
| API surface | searched not found | MCP (stdio) — 14 tools incl. index_repository / search_graph / trace_call_path / query_graph (Cypher-like) / get_architecture / detect_changes / manage_adr / search_code / get_code_snippet / ingest_traces / list_projects / delete_project / index_status / get_graph_schema |
| Embedding | searched not found | — |
| Multi-tenancy | searched not found | — |
| MCP | native (first-party) | native (first-party MCP server) |
| A2A | not supported | not supported |
| OpenTelemetry | no | searched not found |
| Optimised for | Claude-Code-native + MCP-portable memory | structural code knowledge graphs (token-efficient; 99.2% reduction vs grep) + sub-ms queries + 155-language tree-sitter coverage |
| Anti-fit | not for non-Claude-Code clients (some are MCP-portable) | not for non-code memory; not for natural-language conversation memory; SEMANTICALLY_RELATED edges require optional embedding pipeline |
Taxonomy
| Axis | claude-mem | codebase-memory-mcp (DeusData) |
|---|---|---|
| storage | file | graph |
| retrieval | injection | structural-query |
| persistence | cross-session | project-bound |
| update | consolidation | replacement |
| unit | summary | fact |
| governance | inspectable | user-controllable |
| conflict | append | deterministic-overwrite |
Pros & cons
claude-mem
Pros: OSS plugin that adds auto-memory + indexing without sending data to Anthropic's cloud — strongest privacy posture for Claude Code memory.
Cons: Plugin install + maintenance burden; less polished than first-party auto-memory.
codebase-memory-mcp (DeusData)
Pros: Single-binary zero-deps deployment; 155-language tree-sitter coverage; structural queries replace grep at 120x fewer tokens; SLSA-3 + Sigstore + VirusTotal; team-shared graph artifact format; preprint with reproduction-friendly evaluation.
Cons: Preprint not peer-reviewed; founders/company opaque (DeusData has no disclosed principals); no managed/cloud option; SEMANTICALLY_RELATED edges depend on optional embedding pipeline.