sayou — Claude Code MCP server: a versioned context store
A file-based workspace where an AI agent keeps notes, settings and research between sessions as versioned markdown files.
claude mcp add sayou -- uvx sayouWhat sayou does
sayou hands the agent a workspace of markdown files carrying YAML frontmatter. Writes are append-only: each edit becomes a new version, the previous one stays, and you can diff any two of them. Reads take a token_budget, so a long file comes back as summaries with pointers to sections instead of the whole thing.
The server exposes 11 MCP tools — write, read, list, full-text and frontmatter search, glob, grep, soft delete, version history, a key-value store with optional TTL, file links for a knowledge graph, and chunk access. A twelfth, workspace_semantic_search, appears only when SAYOU_EMBEDDING_PROVIDER is set.
Two install routes exist. The Claude plugin ships lifecycle hooks plus the /ws, /save and /recall skills, and pulls in sayou itself on first run if it is missing. Installing through pip gives you the MCP tools alone, with no hooks or skills. Python 3.11 or newer is required either way. Run sayou status to confirm: it prints the workspace path, the database location and how many tools registered.
What it helps with
- keep research findings alive after the session that produced them ends
- locate a note by its frontmatter metadata instead of its filename
- diff two versions of a document and see exactly what changed
- park agent settings in a key-value store with an expiry
- link files together into a knowledge graph
Example prompts for the agent
- Search for anything tagged status: draft
- Show me the diff between versions of
research/competitor-pricing.md
How to install sayou
Platform CLI
claude mcp add sayou -- uvx sayouuvx runs the command named after the package; if the README names another one, use uvx --from sayou <command>
Platform CLI
codex mcp add sayou -- uvx sayouuvx runs the command named after the package; if the README names another one, use uvx --from sayou <command>
Config file
{
"mcpServers": {
"sayou": {
"command": "uvx",
"args": [
"sayou"
]
}
}
}uvx runs the command named after the package; if the README names another one, use uvx --from sayou <command>
Config file
{
"servers": {
"sayou": {
"type": "stdio",
"command": "uvx",
"args": [
"sayou"
]
}
}
}uvx runs the command named after the package; if the README names another one, use uvx --from sayou <command>
Platform CLI
gemini mcp add sayou uvx sayouuvx runs the command named after the package; if the README names another one, use uvx --from sayou <command>
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 sayou
How do I install sayou in Claude Code?
Run claude plugin install sayou@pixell-global from the terminal. That installs the plugin with its hooks and skills; sayou itself is installed automatically on first run.
What does sayou do?
It stores agent context as versioned markdown files with frontmatter and serves them through 11 MCP tools covering writes, reads, search, version history and key-value pairs.
What is needed for semantic search?
The workspace_semantic_search tool only works when the SAYOU_EMBEDDING_PROVIDER environment variable is set. Without it the other tools still work.
