Memory Bank for Agents

🚀 Overview

Memory Bank for Agents is a modern command-line interface that initializes AI-ready development environments with comprehensive documentation systems, cursor rules, and memory management tools. Perfect for Web (TypeScript/React/Next.js), Lua (Love2D game development), and Java (Spring Boot) development workflows.

✨ Features

• 🎯 AI-Ready Setup: Pre-configured environments optimized for AI agent collaboration
• 📚 Memory Management: Structured documentation system for project knowledge retention
• ⚡ Cursor Integration: Custom .cursorrules for enhanced IDE experience
• 🛠️ Multi-Platform Support: TypeScript/React/Next.js, Lua/Love2D, and Java/Spring Boot development
• 🔧 Custom Development Guides: Extend with your own proprietary development practices
• 📋 SPEC-Driven Development: Systematic feature development workflow
• 🔧 Zero-Configuration: Works out of the box with sensible defaults

📦 Installation

Global Installation (Recommended)

npm install -g @zacfermanis/memory-bank

One-time Usage

npx init-memory-bank

🎮 Usage

Supported Development Environments

Memory Bank for Agents supports built-in and custom development environments:

Built-in Environments

• 🌐 Web Development - TypeScript, React, Next.js, and modern web technologies
• 🎮 Lua Development - Lua programming language and Love2D game framework
• ☕ Java Development - Java programming language and Spring Boot framework

Custom Development Guides

• 🔧 Custom Guides - Your own proprietary development practices and company-specific guidelines
• 🏢 Company Standards - Internal coding standards, architecture patterns, and best practices
• 🎯 Team Workflows - Custom development workflows and team-specific processes

Each environment comes with:

• Customized development guidelines and best practices
• Technology-specific architecture patterns
• Optimized .cursorrules for AI collaboration
• Comprehensive documentation templates

Quick Start

1. Navigate to your project directory:

   cd your-project

2. Run Memory Bank for Agents:

   npx init-memory-bank

3. Choose your development environment:

   • 🌐 Web - TypeScript/React/Next.js development
   • 🎮 Lua - Lua/Love2D game development
   • ☕ Java - Java/Spring Boot development

Interactive Setup

Memory Bank for Agents will guide you through an interactive setup process:

🚀 Memory Bank Initializer
==========================

📝 Available development guides:
   1. 📦 Lua - For Lua/Love2D game development
   2. 📦 Web - For TypeScript/React/Next.js development
   3. 📦 Java - For Java/Spring Boot development
   4. 🔧 Company React (Custom) - Internal React standards
   5. 🔧 Microservices (Custom) - Microservice architecture patterns

? What type of memory bank would you like to install?
  ❯ Lua - For Lua/Love2D game development
    Web - For TypeScript/React/Next.js development
    Java - For Java/Spring Boot development
    Company React (Custom) - Internal React standards
    Microservices (Custom) - Microservice architecture patterns

📁 Project Structure

After initialization, your project will have the following structure:

your-project/
├── .memory-bank/           # AI memory and documentation system
│   └── developmentGuide.md # Development guidelines and best practices (copied from selected guide)
├── .specs/                 # Feature specifications and requirements (empty directory)
└── .cursorrules           # IDE configuration for AI collaboration (copied from selected guide if available)

Memory Bank for Agents creates the foundation structure by copying the selected development guide's files. You can then expand the Memory Bank system by creating additional documentation files as needed.

🔧 Development Setup

🧠 Creating Memory Bank Files

After installation, you can create the complete Memory Bank documentation system by running this command in your AI agent:

initialize memory bank

This will create all the necessary Memory Bank files:

• projectBrief.md - Project foundation and goals
• productContext.md - Product vision and user experience
• activeContext.md - Current work focus and decisions
• systemPatterns.md - Architecture and technical patterns
• techContext.md - Technology stack and setup
• progress.md - Project status and milestones

📋 SPEC-Driven Feature Development

After initializing your Memory Bank, you can use the SPEC-driven design process to systematically develop new features. When you want to create a new feature, use this prompt with your AI agent:

using the SPEC driven design process, create a new feature that: [describe your feature]

For example:

using the SPEC driven design process, create a new feature that: allows users to export their memory bank data to JSON format

The SPEC process will guide you through:

1. Requirements Phase - Define user stories and acceptance criteria
2. Design Phase - Create architecture and component design
3. Tasks Phase - Break down implementation into actionable tasks

This ensures systematic, well-documented feature development that integrates seamlessly with your Memory Bank system.

Example Memory Bank Structure (simulates an initialized repo with 1 feature):

your-project/
├── .memory-bank/           # AI memory and documentation system
│   ├── projectBrief.md     # Project foundation and goals
│   ├── productContext.md   # Product vision and user experience
│   ├── activeContext.md    # Current work focus and decisions
│   ├── systemPatterns.md   # Architecture and technical patterns
│   ├── techContext.md      # Technology stack and setup
│   ├── progress.md         # Project status and milestones
│   └── developmentGuide.md # Development guidelines and best practices
├── .specs/                 # Feature specifications and requirements
│   └── {feature-name}/     # Individual feature documentation
│       ├── requirements.md # User stories and acceptance criteria
│       ├── design.md       # Architecture and component design
│       └── tasks.md        # Implementation tasks and checklist
└── .cursorrules           # IDE configuration for AI collaboration

🧠 Memory Bank System

Core Components

• Project Brief: Foundation document defining core requirements and goals
• Product Context: User experience goals and problem-solving approach
• Active Context: Current work focus, recent changes, and next steps
• System Patterns: Architecture decisions and technical patterns
• Tech Context: Technology stack, dependencies, and development setup
• Progress Tracking: What works, what's left to build, and known issues

Memory-Driven Development

The Memory Bank system ensures:

• Consistent Context: AI agents maintain project understanding across sessions
• Knowledge Retention: Important decisions and patterns are preserved
• Efficient Onboarding: New team members can quickly understand project state
• Quality Assurance: Systematic documentation prevents knowledge loss

🔧 Custom Development Guides

Memory Bank for Agents supports custom development guides, allowing you to extend the tool with your own proprietary development practices, company standards, and team-specific workflows.

Setting Up Custom Guides

1. Configure Custom Guides:

   npx memory-bank-configure

2. Set Custom Guides Folder: The configuration tool will prompt you to specify a folder where your custom guides are stored.

3. Create Custom Guide Structure:

   ~/custom-dev-guides/
   ├── company-react/
   │   ├── developmentGuide.md
   │   └── .cursorrules (optional)
   ├── microservices/
   │   ├── developmentGuide.md
   │   └── .cursorrules (optional)
   └── legacy-java/
       ├── developmentGuide.md
       └── .cursorrules (optional)

Custom Guide File Structure

Each custom guide folder must contain:

• developmentGuide.md (required) - Your development guidelines and best practices
• .cursorrules (optional) - Custom cursor rules for your development environment

Example Custom Guide

~/custom-dev-guides/company-react/developmentGuide.md:

# Company React Development Guide

## Overview
This guide contains our company's React development standards and best practices.

## Coding Standards
- Use functional components with hooks
- Follow our naming conventions
- Implement our testing patterns

## Architecture Patterns
- Component composition over inheritance
- Custom hooks for business logic
- Context for state management

## Best Practices
- Write self-documenting code
- Use TypeScript for all components
- Follow our Git workflow

Managing Custom Guides

Use the configuration command to manage your custom guides:

npx memory-bank-configure

Available Options:

• Set custom guides folder location
• Manage menu item names and organization
• View current configuration
• Reset to default settings

Custom Guide Benefits

• 🏢 Company Standards: Maintain consistent development practices across teams
• 🎯 Team Workflows: Share team-specific processes and conventions
• 📚 Knowledge Sharing: Preserve institutional knowledge and best practices
• 🔧 Tool Integration: Seamlessly integrate with existing development tools
• 📈 Scalability: Easily add new guides as your organization grows

🔧 Development

Prerequisites

• Node.js 16.0.0 or higher
• npm or yarn package manager

Local Development Setup

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/zacfermanis/memory-banks.git
cd memory-banks

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Build the project
npm run build

# Run tests
npm test

# Run in development mode (watch mode)
npm run dev

# Run linting
npm run lint

# Run tests with coverage
npm run test:coverage

Available Scripts

| Script | Description | |--------|-------------| | npm run build | Compile TypeScript to JavaScript | | npm run dev | Watch mode for development | | npm test | Run test suite | | npm run test:watch | Run tests in watch mode | | npm run test:coverage | Run tests with coverage report | | npm run lint | Run ESLint for code quality | | npm run lint:fix | Fix ESLint issues automatically | | npm run clean | Remove build artifacts |

🧪 Testing

The project includes comprehensive test coverage:

# Run all tests
npm test

# Run tests with coverage
npm run test:coverage

# Run tests in watch mode
npm run test:watch

📋 Contributing

We welcome contributions! Please see our Contributing Guidelines for details.

Development Workflow

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch
3. Make your changes
4. Add tests for new functionality
5. Ensure all tests pass
6. Submit a pull request

📄 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

🤝 Support

• Issues: GitHub Issues
• Discussions: GitHub Discussions
• Email: [email protected]

🙏 Acknowledgments

This project was primarily inspired by the innovative system prompts and AI collaboration approaches developed by:

• Cline - Whose sophisticated system prompt engineering and AI agent memory management techniques provided the foundational concepts for the Memory Bank system
• AWS Kiro - Whose advanced AI development workflows and documentation strategies influenced the SPEC-driven development process and project structure

Additional inspiration came from:

• The Cursor IDE team for their innovative approach to AI-assisted development
• The broader AI development community for pushing the boundaries of human-AI collaboration

Built with ❤️ for the AI development community, this tool aims to bridge the gap between AI capabilities and human development workflows.