Practical overview
When it fits
Use Brain.md when important project context is being lost between coding-agent sessions and should live beside the code in a reusable Markdown form.
Who it is for
- Developers who use coding agents and want project decisions and constraints to persist between sessions.
- Teams that want multiple file-reading agents to share context stored with a project's code.
Documented uses
- Initialize a repository with a BRAIN.md protocol file and a brain directory.
- Record durable project decisions, requirements and constraints as Markdown.
- Let coding agents read shared project context in later work sessions.
- Draft initial memory pages from project materials or, for a nearly empty project, through an interview.
Requirements & limits
The public repository identifies the project as open source under the Apache-2.0 license. Setup instructions document npm global installation or npx usage.
- Memory is plain Markdown stored in the project repository, not a separate hosted knowledge base.
- The toolkit supplies initialization and CLI operations; project knowledge must be seeded after initialization.
- The documented approach is agent-agnostic at the file-reading level, with Claude Code, Codex, Cursor and Pi named as examples.
- The CLI is described as a zero-dependency Node tool.
Check current requirements in the official documentation. Source-based guidance does not mean OpenViST has run or independently tested this project.
Set up project memory
Install the CLI and initialize a project with its memory structure and agent configuration links.
Before you start
- Node.js/npm or npx
- A project directory
Steps
Install with the command below, then run
brain setup -y; alternatively, run the command below.npm install -g @mindmux/brain-mdnpx @mindmux/brain-md setup -yFrom the project root, run
brain init, or use the command below with the npx setup.npx @mindmux/brain-md initSeed project knowledge as a separate next step using the brain-bootstrap skill.
Expected outcome
The project receives a BRAIN.md protocol file, an initial brain directory structure and default wiring in CLAUDE.md and AGENTS.md. Knowledge seeding remains a separate step.
Guide limitations
- The npx route does not put
brainon PATH; use npx for both setup and initialization. - The setup command initializes structure but does not populate project knowledge.
Compare options for AI coding assistance
These projects document a common task and share a project role. This is a source-based comparison, not an execution benchmark or a guarantee of interchangeability.
| Project | Documented purpose | Platform | Access and requirements |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brain.md | Initialize a repository with a BRAIN.md protocol file and a brain directory. | CLI, Self-hosted | The public repository identifies the project as open source under the Apache-2.0 license. Setup instructions document npm global installation or npx usage. |
| Continuum — pouyahasanamreji | Store project lessons so coding agents can retrieve them across conversations. | CLI, Self-hosted, Server | The repository documents local Docker Compose and bare-metal development setups. Bare-metal startup requires Node 22.12.0 or later and pnpm 10.33 or later; the Compose path skips these host prerequisites. |
| Haft | Record the problem a project is solving and the options considered. | CLI, Self-hosted |
Sources & review
Source record details
- Source availability
- Active
- Sources checked
- 14 October 2026
- Original website title
- mindmuxai/brain.md · Official homepage title · retained in its source language

