Basic Memory Toolkit
A comprehensive Claude Code plugin for managing Basic Memory knowledge bases with quality enforcement, structured workflows, automated validation, and schema-driven note types.
Attribution
This plugin builds on the excellent work from the Basic Memory project by Basic Machines. It cherry-picks and extends patterns from their official repositories:
- basic-memory — The core knowledge management system and MCP server that powers all note operations
- basic-memory-plugins — Official Claude Code plugin; our slash commands and skill structure draw from their patterns
- basic-memory-skills — Official skill library; our skills were inspired by and extend their approach
This toolkit adds development-focused features (two-tier validation, schema types for bugs/decisions/patterns, spec-driven development workflows) on top of their foundation.
Features
- 13 specialized skills for note creation, editing, searching, consolidation, validation, and knowledge capture
- 7 slash commands for quick workflows:
/remember, /continue, /organize, /research, /dev-session, /capture-decision, /validate-project
- 8 schema definitions for development-focused note types (bug-report, design-decision, code-pattern, etc.)
- Memory organizer agent for autonomous multi-project knowledge management
- 6 automated hooks for session management, validation, quality checks, and context preservation
- Two-tier validation — instant inline checks (PreToolUse) + thorough CLI validators (batch)
- Basic Memory MCP server bundled via uvx for zero-config setup
- Memory rules seed data for bootstrapping quality standards
Prerequisites
- uv installed (
curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh)
- Python 3.10+ (for basic-memory)
- Claude Code CLI
Installation
Option 1: From GitHub (recommended)
claude plugin marketplace add https://github.com/ZivBA/basic-memory-toolkit.git basic-memory-toolkit
Option 2: Plugin Directory (local development)
claude --plugin-dir /path/to/basic-memory-toolkit
Option 3: Copy to Project
cp -r basic-memory-toolkit /your/project/.claude-plugin/
First Run
On first install, the plugin displays a welcome message with setup steps. On version updates, it notifies you of the new version. This is controlled by a version-stamped flag file at ~/.claude/basic-memory-toolkit.initialized.
Step 1: Import Seed Rules (Recommended)
The plugin includes seed data for the memory-rules project, which provides quality standards that skills reference at runtime. To import:
- Start a Claude Code session with the plugin enabled
- Ask Claude: "Create the memory-rules project and import the seed rules from the plugin"
- Claude will use the
create-new-memory-project skill to set up the project and import the bundled rules from seed/memory-rules/
Without this step, skills will still work but won't have access to detailed quality rules.
Step 2: Marketplace Auto-Updates (Optional)
The plugin auto-updates from GitHub when installed via marketplace. For public repos this works without authentication, but may fail silently under GitHub API rate limits (60 unauthenticated requests/hour).
For reliable auto-updates, set a GitHub personal access token in your shell config:
# Add to ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc
export GITHUB_TOKEN=ghp_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
This raises the limit to 5,000 requests/hour. The token is your standard GitHub PAT — no special scopes are needed for public repos.
| Provider | Environment Variables | Notes |
|---|
| GitHub | GITHUB_TOKEN or GH_TOKEN | Personal access token or GitHub App token |
| GitLab | GITLAB_TOKEN or GL_TOKEN | Personal access token or project token |
| Bitbucket | BITBUCKET_TOKEN | App password or repository access token |
Components
Slash Commands (7)
| Command | Purpose |
|---|
/remember [title] [folder] | Capture insights, decisions, patterns to memory |
/continue [topic] | Resume previous work by loading context from memory |
/organize [project] | Analyze knowledge graph health and suggest improvements |
/research <topic> | Research a topic across all memory projects |
/dev-session [project] | Start a development session with full memory context |
/capture-decision [title] | Capture a design/architectural decision with structured template |
/validate-project [project] | Run validation suite across all notes in a project |
Skills (13)
ZivBA