Backpack

Carry your knowledge forward. Backpack lets Claude remember what matters: your clients, your processes, your decisions. Knowledge that travels with you.

What it does

When you're working with Claude and something worth remembering comes up, Backpack saves it as a structured knowledge graph. Next time you ask, Claude already knows.

You: "We just signed Acme Corp, they're on the Enterprise tier, main contact is Sarah Chen"

Claude: [saves to backpack → clients ontology]

--- weeks later, different conversation ---

You: "What do we know about Acme Corp?"

Claude: "Acme Corp is on the Enterprise tier, main contact is Sarah Chen..."

No copy-pasting. No re-explaining. Your knowledge carries forward.

Get started

Recommended: Backpack App (free cloud account)

Sign up for a free account at app.backpackontology.com, then add Backpack to Claude Code:

claude mcp add backpack-app -s user --transport sse https://app.backpackontology.com/mcp/sse

Your knowledge syncs across devices, you can share with your team, and you get access to the web-based graph visualizer. On first run, a browser window opens for sign-in. After that, it's automatic.

Backpack Local (offline, private)

Prefer to keep everything on your machine? No account needed:

claude mcp add backpack-local -s user -- npx backpack-ontology@latest

You can always move to Backpack App later by telling Claude "sync my backpack to the cloud".

Switching from Backpack Local to Backpack App

Already using Backpack Local and want to move to the cloud? One command uploads everything:

"Sync my backpack to the cloud"

Then add the cloud MCP server and you're done.

What to say to Claude

No commands to learn. Just talk naturally.

Remember something

"Remember that Acme Corp is on the Enterprise tier, main contact is Sarah Chen"

"Add our new vendor agreement details to backpack"

"Start an ontology for our hiring process"

Find something

"What's in my backpack about Acme Corp?"

"Search backpack for anything related to compliance"

"What do we know about the deployment process?"

See the big picture

"Show me my knowledge graph"

"What's in my backpack?"

"Describe the clients ontology"

Claude will open the graph visualizer so you can explore your knowledge visually.

What people use it for

• Client management: keep track of accounts, contacts, contract details, and conversations across sessions
• Process documentation: capture how things are done so Claude can help consistently every time
• Project knowledge: architecture decisions, vendor relationships, compliance requirements
• Domain expertise: industry terminology, regulatory frameworks, best practices
• Team onboarding: new team members get Claude with your organization's context already loaded

How it works

You have one backpack. It goes everywhere with you. Inside it, you organize knowledge into ontologies, each covering a different topic (clients, processes, compliance, etc.). Within each ontology, information is stored as things connected by relationships. You don't need to think about the structure. Claude handles it automatically.

Data and privacy

Backpack Local: your data is stored as readable JSON files on your computer at ~/.local/share/backpack/ontologies/. You can inspect, edit, back up, or version-control these files directly.

Backpack App: your data is stored securely in our cloud infrastructure. See our privacy policy for details.

Telemetry: Backpack collects anonymous usage statistics (tool counts, session duration) to improve the product. No content, names, or personal data is ever collected. Opt out with DO_NOT_TRACK=1.

Reference

CLI commands

| Command | What it does | |---|---| | npx backpack-ontology@latest | Start the Backpack Local MCP server | | claude mcp add backpack-app ... --transport sse | Connect to Backpack App cloud MCP | | npx -p backpack-ontology@latest backpack-sync | Upload local ontologies to Backpack App | | npx backpack-viewer | Open the graph visualizer (http://localhost:5173) | | npx -p backpack-ontology@latest backpack-init | Reinstall auto-capture hooks if removed |

Tools

Claude uses these automatically. You don't need to call them directly.

| What Claude does | How | |---|---| | See what's in the backpack | backpack_list, backpack_describe | | Add a new ontology | backpack_create | | Find something | backpack_search, backpack_list_nodes | | Get full details on an item | backpack_get_node, backpack_get_neighbors | | Add or update knowledge | backpack_add_node, backpack_update_node, backpack_add_edge | | Bulk import | backpack_import_nodes | | Clean up | backpack_remove_node, backpack_remove_edge, backpack_delete |

Configuration

| Variable | Effect | |---|---| | XDG_DATA_HOME | Change local data location (default: ~/.local/share) | | BACKPACK_DIR | Override all Backpack directories | | DO_NOT_TRACK | Disable anonymous telemetry |

Support

Questions, feedback, or partnership inquiries: [email protected]

License

Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0.

Contributing

Issues and pull requests are welcome on GitHub.