Pensieve
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Never losethe thread.

Pensieve for developers: a local MCP server that gives AI agents like Claude Code, Codex and Cursor the right context.

Pensieve keeps every thread, file and agent session in one place, so you and your coding agents always pick up with the right context.

Install for Mac See how

Free and open source · runs on your Mac

So much context.
Scattered everywhere.

Slack threads, Jira tickets, Notion docs, spreadsheets, PRs and agent sessions. Every tool adds more, and soon you can't tell where anything came from.

All your context.
One place.

Pensieve links related information into a single thread.

Retry declined card payments
Working in acme-app fix-card-retries 1 uncommitted file
20 min agoOpen
  1. Add backoff to retry.pyClaude Code session · 20 min agoholds the branch
  2. PR #412 Retry declined cardsGitHub · checks passopened from the branch
  3. PAY-142 Retry soft declinesJira · In progressin the branch name
  4. #payments Renewals failing for EU cards again?Slack · 3 repliesnames PAY-142
  5. NPayments retry specNotion · edited Tuesdayread by the agent
  6. Decline codes by issuerGoogle Sheetsread by the agent
  7. Soft decline rate up 12%Gmail · from Striperead by the agent
▶ Resume session✦ Fork sessionShip 2Discard 3
Organize Recall Deploy Share
01Threads

One task.
One thread.

Pensieve joins each agent session with its branch, PRs and tickets into one thread: where it stands, and what's left to close it. Resume the session in one click. No index and no model needed.

Open To-do Thoughts Loose ends Closed Forgotten
Retry declined cards
acme-app fix-card-retries 1 uncommitted file
▶ ResumeShip 2Discard 3✦ Fork from all 2
Add backoff to retry.py
holds the branch · 82% of the branch's lines
20 min agoOpen
Conversation snippet

YouRetries stop after the first soft decline. Add backoff.

AgentBackoff is in payments/retry.py, and the tests pass. PR #412 is open.

Data sources in session

PR#412 Retry declined cardschecks pass

ticketPAY-142 Retry soft declinesIn progress

Slack

Slack#payments: Is #412 ready for review?links PR #412

▶ Resume session✦ Fork session
Check the retry tests
review
2 h agoOpen

Sorts itself

Each thread's state comes from its PRs, branches and tickets. Quiet work becomes a loose end, so you see what to close.

Reads your tracker and Slack

Sign in to Jira, Linear or Asana. Your tickets become to-dos, and a ticket that is done closes its thread. Connect Slack, and a message that names a thread's ticket, PR or branch shows on that thread. Read-only.

Groups by branch

The sessions of one branch sit together. The one that wrote most of the branch holds it. Fork a new session from all of them.

02Native to your agent

Your agent starts on the right code.*

Connected over MCP, your coding agent asks Pensieve one question and gets the few passages that matter, with file and line. Less grepping, fewer tokens, better answers.

* In Developer mode, which adds a local index and search model. In Threads mode, your agent reads your threads over MCP.

Without Pensieve grep and read
› Why do card retries stop after a decline?
● Grep "retry" 212 matches
● Read payments/retry.py
● Read payments/gateway.py
● Read billing/invoices.py
● Read tests/test_payments.py
… still looking
Tool calls6 and counting
With Pensieve one search
› Why do card retries stop after a decline?
● pensieve · search "card retry after decline"
  payments/retry.py:42 stop on hard_decline
  Incident review.md why we changed it
● pensieve · read payments/retry.py:42
Hard declines skip the retry queue.
Tool calls2
47%
fewer tool calls
1.8 per lookup, not 3.4
23%
cheaper
$0.039 per lookup, not $0.051
29%
faster
6.8 s per lookup, not 9.5 s
90%
of tasks solved
the same as with grep alone

Latest batch, October 2026: Claude Sonnet in Claude Code, 72 held-out tasks in four real repos (504 to 34,847 files), each run twice, with and without Pensieve. Method and scripts. The terminals above are illustrative.

Works with the agents you already use

Claude Code Codex Cursor Gemini CLI Qwen Code Windsurf Claude Desktop VS Code any MCP client
03Ship or discard

Ship more,
forget less.

With many agents making many changes, work piles up on branches that never merge. Pensieve keeps every branch with work on it in view until it is shipped or discarded. Ship and Discard list the steps left, and your agent does them in Terminal. It asks before each step that leaves your Mac.

Loose ends3 branches
fix-card-retries
acme-app · 2 sessions · #412 checks pass · 3 days quiet
Ship 5Discard 4
spike-queue-v2
acme-app · 1 session · 9 uncommitted files · 6 days quiet
Ship 2Discard 3
pay-139-refund-timeout
billing-api · 1 session · PAY-139 In progress · 4 days quiet
Ship 3Discard 2

Only the steps left

The modal reads git, GitHub and your tracker, and lists only what is still to do.

You approve each step

The agent asks before each step that leaves your Mac: a push, a PR, a merge or a delete.

To-dos start in one click

Start session in worktree makes a branch and a worktree from a ticket, and starts your agent with the ticket.

04Share and ask

Share more,
silo less.

Hand a thread to a coworker, and they pick up where you left off. Ask about a topic, not a file, and Pensieve names the people who know it best.* It also shows where knowledge sits with one person, or with someone who has moved on, so your team can spread it around.*

* In Developer mode: People and Insights read the index of your repos.

Who knows about “billing retries”
MR

Maya Riverawrote most of payments/retry

62%
JO

Jonah Okaforactive this week

24%
You

You2 commits nearby

9%
billing/taxWho wrote it
Daniel Kim · moved on · 78%Priya Nair · 14%Others · 8%

Priya knows it best today. Ask her, and write down what Daniel knew.

And it stays out of your way.

Always current

A new message in a session shows on its thread at once. Uncommitted changes and every worktree count. In Developer mode, search an edited file seconds later.

Stays on your Mac

No account, no cloud. Threads mode needs no index and no model. Developer mode adds a local search model and a local index.

Get
Pensieve.

Free and open source. One command installs it, and your coding agent does the rest.

1. Install the app in Terminal

curl -fsSL https://pensieve.tools/install.sh | sh

2. Ask your agent to connect it in any coding agent

Pensieve is installed on my Mac. Run pensieve integrate recommended to connect my coding agents. Then help me set it up: recommend Threads mode to start (pensieve setup threads), and tell me how to connect my issue tracker.

Apple Silicon · macOS 14 or later · Download the app instead

Questions.

What does Pensieve index?

Threads mode, the default, indexes nothing: it reads your agent sessions, git, GitHub, your issue tracker (Jira, Linear or Asana) and, if you connect it, Slack. Developer mode also indexes the files, folders and git repos that you choose, with uncommitted changes and worktrees. With MCP connections, it also collects items such as Notion pages. You choose each source. Direct messages and private channels stay on your Mac: a thread that you share leaves them out.

Threads mode or Developer mode?

Start with Threads mode. It needs no index and no model. Developer mode adds search for your agents, the Map, People and Insights, and it runs the search model on the GPU. You can switch in Settings.

Does anything leave my Mac?

Your files, code and sessions don't. Indexing and search run on your Mac. Pensieve downloads its models and checks GitHub for updates. Pensieve is a tool that your own agent drives. If you use a cloud agent with Pensieve, what that agent reads goes to its provider.

Do I need an AI model?

No. Threads, search, agent context, ownership and knowledge gaps need no text model. Developer mode runs a local search model. Session summaries and insights come from the agent that you connect over MCP, or from an engine that you choose in Settings → Models: the built-in Qwen 3.5 9B on your Mac, a command-line agent, or a model server that you run, such as LM Studio.

How do I get my agent to use it instead of grep?

pensieve integrate recommended adds Pensieve as an MCP server to each agent on your Mac, plus a short “search before you grep” block and skills. In the benchmark, the agent used Pensieve in 143 or more of 144 runs.

Does it work on Intel Macs or Linux?

The app needs Apple Silicon. On Linux and Intel Macs, the same install command installs the backend and the browser app.

Is it free?

Yes. Pensieve is free and open source under the MIT license. The code is on GitHub.