Palace — Claude Code MCP server: what it does, how to install
Local-first memory server for coding agents. It records past decisions, setup choices, and terminal commands in a local SQLite file across sessions.
Open on GitHubWhat Palace does
Palace keeps project context intact between agent restarts. Instead of compressing conversations into fuzzy summaries, it stores text verbatim inside a local palace.db database. Embeddings run on the local CPU through ONNX Runtime with the all-MiniLM-L6-v2 model, so no cloud API keys are needed.
The memory layout mirrors a physical building with wings, rooms, and text drawers. When an agent answers a question about historical context, it includes exact citations showing the file and drawer identifier. On the initial search or ingestion run, the binary fetches a 90 MB embedding model into the local cache.
The setup fails on Intel-based Macs because ONNX Runtime builds are unavailable for that target. Palace ships as a compiled Rust binary and works without external vector storage or Docker daemons.
What it helps with
- retrieve architectural decisions made in earlier agent sessions
- keep project coding conventions across fresh tool launches
- avoid re-explaining repository setup rules to the assistant
- trace exact sources and files behind previous technical choices
Example prompts for the agent
- "Why did we drop Redis in favor of SQLite last month?"
- "Search our notes for database migration guidelines."
- "Save our API route naming convention to the project decisions."
How to install Palace
Install
The MCP registry has no launch command for it: see the repository README
Step by step, with commands for each platform: How to add an MCP server to Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, VS Code, Gemini CLI and more
Questions about Palace
How to install Palace for Claude Code?
Download the binary with curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/AncientiCe/palace-rs/main/scripts/install.sh | sh and run palace install. The command connects Claude Code and wires up the MCP configuration.
Where does Palace store context and embeddings?
All records reside in a local palace.db file. The server computes embeddings on your CPU using ONNX Runtime, keeping code and notes on your machine.
Does Palace run on Intel-based Macs?
Intel Mac architecture is unsupported due to missing ONNX Runtime binaries. Palace runs on macOS Apple Silicon, 64-bit Linux, and 64-bit Windows.
