[HN Gopher] Show HN: Cursor IDE now remembers your coding prefs ...
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Show HN: Cursor IDE now remembers your coding prefs using MCP
Hi, I'm Daniel from Zep. I've integrated the Cursor IDE with
Graphiti, our open-source temporal knowledge graph framework, to
provide Cursor with persistent memory across sessions. The goal was
simple: help Cursor remember your coding preferences, standards,
and project specs, so you don't have to constantly remind it.
Before this integration, Cursor (an AI-assisted IDE many of us
already use daily) lacked a robust way to persist user context. To
solve this, I used Graphiti's Model Context Protocol (MCP) server,
which allows structured data exchange between the IDE and
Graphiti's temporal knowledge graph. Key points of how this works:
- Custom entities like 'Requirement', 'Preference', and 'Procedure'
precisely capture coding standards and project specs. - Real-time
updates let Cursor adapt instantly--if you change frameworks or
update standards, the memory updates immediately. - Persistent
retrieval ensures Cursor always recalls your latest preferences and
project decisions, across new agent sessions, projects, and even
after restarting the IDE. I'd love your feedback--particularly on
the approach and how it fits your workflow. Here's a detailed
write-up: https://www.getzep.com/blog/cursor-adding-memory-with-
graphi... GitHub Repo: https://github.com/getzep/graphiti -Daniel
Author : roseway4
Score : 79 points
Date : 2025-03-28 14:44 UTC (8 hours ago)
| jasonjmcghee wrote:
| What's the advantage over the built-in solution? (and before it,
| .cursorrules)
|
| https://docs.cursor.com/context/rules-for-ai
| striking wrote:
| You add some additional instructions to the Cursor rules here:
| https://github.com/getzep/graphiti/tree/main/mcp_server#inte...
|
| I think the difference is that Cursor doesn't update its rules
| automatically as you work, while this might?
| roseway4 wrote:
| Correct. The Graphiti MCP server, with the help of the agent,
| stores and retrieves preferences and requirements
| automatically without requiring rule changes.
| randall wrote:
| is this cursor specific or can i integrate with other
| things if im insane?
| roseway4 wrote:
| Totally not Cursor-specific. Any MCP Client can be used.
| You may want to use different entity types that make more
| sense for your use case: https://github.com/getzep/graphi
| ti/blob/dbe21a1975b0747cd450...
| rahimnathwani wrote:
| But you could tell cursor to update its rules automatically,
| no?
| dan_voronov wrote:
| .cursorrules and other files that are added as system
| instructions in Cursor are just files, meaning the agent can
| edit them easely - you can tell it from the chat to add
| something to a rule and it will do it.
|
| You are also wrong that it cannot do this automatically: if
| you add to the system instruction to record all important
| decisions in .cursorrules, it will record them there.
| automatically
| adenta wrote:
| This is exciting!
|
| Glancing through the article, I can't tell, is this Cursor
| specific? Some of us are raw dogging VS Code with
| https://cline.bot, which supports MCP servers:
| https://cline.bot/mcp-marketplace.
|
| Would love to try this out in Cline!
| striking wrote:
| The actual MCP server is linked in the blog, I'll save you some
| scrolling by pasting it here:
| https://github.com/getzep/graphiti/tree/main/mcp_server
| roseway4 wrote:
| The MCP server will work with any MCP client.
| zman0225 wrote:
| This is so exciting!!!
| roseway4 wrote:
| Thank you!
| mellosouls wrote:
| This looks interesting but somewhat complicated or not obvious
| how to get going in a classic "Show HN" style.
|
| The requirement for an OpenAI key may also be a little off-
| putting, or at least, could do with some indication of realistic
| costs; most Cursor users will likely need a significant
| motivation to add to the subscription they already have.
|
| Don't get me wrong, this could be a really worthwhile addition to
| the LLM coding toolset but I think it needs some work on the
| presentation as to how to get quickly up and running.
| roseway4 wrote:
| Graphiti uses OpenAI (or other LLMs) to build the knowledge
| graph. Setting up the MCP server is fairly straight forward:
| https://github.com/getzep/graphiti/tree/main/mcp_server
|
| There's also a Docker Compose setup:
| https://github.com/getzep/graphiti/tree/main/mcp_server#runn...
|
| The Cursor MCP setup is also simple:
|
| ```{ "mcpServers": { "Graphiti": { "url":
| "http://localhost:8000/sse" } } }```
| jasonjmcghee wrote:
| How complex is the system? Can a local model or the agent
| itself be used instead?
| stosssik wrote:
| Looks super interesting. I hadn't heard of Graphiti before, but
| the idea of giving Cursor some kind of persistent, structured
| memory across sessions definitely sounds useful.
| roseway4 wrote:
| You can read more about using Graphiti in your own projects
| here: https://help.getzep.com/graphiti/graphiti/overview
| octernion wrote:
| not obvious to me why this is an improvement of having the agent
| just update the rule files directly itself; i have it do that to
| my various AI-targeted readme files and it works great.
| roseway4 wrote:
| Graphiti MCP can recall more than just preferences and coding
| styles. Application specifications and evolution of these may
| be stored. For any non-trivial application, config files would
| likely be a misfit for this use ase.
| octernion wrote:
| i store those in my rules files - really all the knowledge i
| would pass onto another engineer (incl. AI). not sure i
| follow why you would avoid putting that into AI-readable
| files in your repo like i do now.
| bbertelsen wrote:
| One of the big problems I have with cursor is that it ignores the
| rules frequently. For example, working in the front-end it will
| sometimes totally ignore all the components that I have
| explicitly told it to use. Would this... fix that?
| eightysixfour wrote:
| This would help, but you can also use a more aggressive
| approach to cursor rules: https://ghuntley.com/stdlib/
|
| Using file pattern matching and automatic attachment makes it
| much, much more sticky in my experience.
| kelleyperry wrote:
| I actually had Claude Desktop with the file system MCP write
| me out a pretty nice suite of rules directly in the
| .cursor/rules folder.
| bfeynman wrote:
| The over engineering here is commendable for something that
| provides most likely marginal value whilst still needing more api
| calls to summarize everything you do.
| zachlatta wrote:
| Come on. You don't need to be a bully. This person worked hard
| on their thing.
| pizzafeelsright wrote:
| You've described my job for the last few years.
| roseway4 wrote:
| We built Graphiti's MCP server for many different use cases.
| It's a great enhancement to Cursor, but may not offer
| significant value for your use case. No offense taken.
| Garlef wrote:
| It's there some way to control what gets updated in the database
| and how and when?
|
| For example I'd like to be in control of the archtectural
| patterns and not let the LLM drive this.
| Garlef wrote:
| Oh I see: I could define my own entities similar to what your
| did for your integration and then let the agents interact with
| them through the MCP?
|
| For example ("architecture pattern" - auch as the dependency
| rule from clean architecture, "development areas" such as
| frontend, backend)
| roseway4 wrote:
| Correct. You can provide more granular Entity Types: https://
| github.com/getzep/graphiti/blob/dbe21a1975b0747cd450...
| randall wrote:
| sweet!!
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