Minima vs Memory (Knowledge Graph)

A side-by-side comparison of two AI, Data & Knowledge servers — tools, transport, auth, maintenance, and copy-paste config for each.

	Minima On-premises RAG over your local files (PDF, DOCX, CSV, MD, TXT), queryable from Claude via MCP. Unverified stdio (local) No auth Python	Memory (Knowledge Graph) Official MCP server providing persistent, file-backed knowledge-graph memory across sessions. Verified stdio (local) No auth TypeScript
Category	AI, Data & Knowledge	AI, Data & Knowledge
Language	Python	TypeScript
Transport	stdio (local)	stdio (local)
Auth	None	None
GitHub stars	1.0k	74k
Last commit	5 months ago	5 months ago
Verified
Actively maintained
Install	`git clone https://github.com/dmayboroda/minima && cd minima && docker compose -f docker-compose-mcp.yml --env-file .env up --build`	`npx -y @modelcontextprotocol/server-memory`
Repo	Open	Open

Verdict

Pick Minima if you prefer its approach (on-premises rag over your local files (pdf, docx, csv, md, txt), queryable from claude via mcp).

Pick Memory (Knowledge Graph) if you want the official, vendor-maintained server, and you prefer the more popular, battle-tested option.

Add Minima

Install / run

git clone https://github.com/dmayboroda/minima && cd minima && docker compose -f docker-compose-mcp.yml --env-file .env up --build

Paste into ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "minima": {
      "command": "uv",
      "args": [
        "--directory",
        "/path_to_cloned_minima_project/mcp-server",
        "run",
        "minima"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Add Memory (Knowledge Graph)

Install / run

npx -y @modelcontextprotocol/server-memory

Paste into ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "memory-knowledge-graph": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@modelcontextprotocol/server-memory"
      ],
      "env": {
        "MEMORY_FILE_PATH": "/absolute/path/to/memory.jsonl"
      }
    }
  }
}

FAQ

Minima or Memory (Knowledge Graph) — which is better?

Pick Minima if you prefer its approach (on-premises rag over your local files (pdf, docx, csv, md, txt), queryable from claude via mcp). Pick Memory (Knowledge Graph) if you want the official, vendor-maintained server, and you prefer the more popular, battle-tested option.

Can I use both Minima and Memory (Knowledge Graph)?

Yes — MCP clients let you enable multiple servers at once. Add both configs to your client's mcpServers and use whichever tool fits the task.

Do Minima and Memory (Knowledge Graph) work with Claude, Cursor and Windsurf?

Both do. Copy the per-client config below into Claude Desktop, Cursor, or Windsurf.

View Minima →View Memory (Knowledge Graph) →More comparisons →