alaya-mcp

# alaya > **ālaya** (ālayavijñāna) — storehouse consciousness. The layer of mind that holds all impressions, memories, and seeds of knowledge. A FastMCP server that makes Claude Code the primary interface for a personal knowledge vault (zk or Obsidian). Full read/write/search/synthesis access — the AI is the interface, the vault is the source of truth. ## Quickstart ```bash # 1. Register with Claude Code (one command, no clone needed) claude mcp add alaya -e ALAYA_VAULT_DIR=$HOME/notes -- uvx alaya # 2. Start Claude Code — alaya connects automatically claude ``` That's it. Ask Claude to "search my notes for X" or "create a note about Y" and it works. ### Vault setup **zk vault** (requires [zk](https://github.com/zk-org/zk) CLI): ```bash brew install zk mkdir -p ~/notes && cd ~/notes && zk init ``` **Obsidian vault** — just point `ALAYA_VAULT_DIR` at any directory with a `.obsidian/` folder. No extra tools needed. ### Running from source ```bash git clone git@github.com:luke-kucing/alaya.git cd alaya && uv sync # Register with Claude Code from source claude mcp add alaya \ -e ALAYA_VAULT_DIR=$HOME/notes \ -- uv run --directory $(pwd) alaya ``` ### Running the server standalone ```bash # Via make make serve # Or directly with env var ALAYA_VAULT_DIR=~/notes uv run alaya ``` The server communicates over stdio (MCP protocol) — it's designed to be launched by Claude Code, not run in a browser. ### Running tests ```bash make test # unit tests (607+ tests, no external deps) make test-integration # integration tests (requires zk binary) make lint # ruff check ``` ## Philosophy - **The AI is the interface.** Stay in one place — a Claude Code session — and converse. Claude reads, writes, searches, and reasons across the vault. - **Frictionless capture, deliberate structure.** Inbox capture is a single sentence. Processing, linking, and filing are separate structured acts. - **Propose, then act.** Destructive or struct…