recap-mcp

Your AI project manager. Plain markdown. Local-first. Open source.

Recap is an MCP server that gives Claude persistent memory of your ongoing projects. Job searches, side projects, learning goals, writing efforts, anything you work on over weeks or months. Your data lives as plain markdown files in a folder you own.

Claude forgets between conversations. You spend the first five minutes of every chat re-explaining what you're working on, what you decided last time, and what's pending. Recap fixes that.

- Local-first: your workspace is a folder of markdown files. Nothing leaves your machine.
- Plain markdown: open it in VS Code, Obsidian, vim, anything.
- Open source: MIT licensed, no vendor lock-in.
- Project-shaped, not blob-shaped: structured around projects, tasks, sessions, and notes, not opaque memory dumps.
- Eleven focused tools: no kitchen sink, no bloat.
- Creates a workspace folder at~/recap-workspace/
- Adds Recap to your Claude Desktop config
- Backs up any existing Claude config to.bak

Then quit Claude Desktop, reopen it, and say "hi". Recap will guide you through your first project.

- generic(clean slate)
- job-search
- side-project
- learning
- writing
- moving

Pass--templatetoproject_create(or have Claude do it) to seed a project with starter tasks and a knowledge file.

~/recap-workspace/ ├── .recap/ │ └── config.json ├── projects/ │ └── job-search-2026/ │ ├── project.md │ ├── tasks.md │ ├── notes.md │ ├── sessions/ │ │ └── 2026-05-20.md │ └── knowledge/ │ └── starter.md └── archived/

Plain markdown with YAML frontmatter. You cancdinto it andgit initif you want version control. Open it in Obsidian if you want a nice viewer.

The workspace path defaults to~/recap-workspace/. Override it with:

export RECAP_WORKSPACE_PATH=/path/to/your/workspace

Other settings live in.recap/config.json:

{ "version": "0.1.0", "briefing": { "recent_days": 14, "max_active_projects": 5 }, "search": { "max_results": 10 } }

Runnpx recap-mcp doctorfor diagnostics.

If Claude Desktop doesn't see Recap after install:
- Make sure you fully quit Claude Desktop (not just closed the window).
- Check~/recap-workspace/exists.
- Check your Claude Desktop config hasmcpServers.recapentry.

Recap runs entirely on your machine. There is no telemetry, no analytics, no remote calls. Your projects, tasks, notes, and session logs never leave your computer.

v0.1.0. Early. Feedback and issues welcome athttps://github.com/shivam-singh-git/recap-mcp/issues.

Manages AI session handoffs and tracks next steps for projects.