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vshulcz/deja-vu

Analysis updated 2026-05-18

444GoAudience · developerComplexity · 2/5LicenseSetup · easy

TLDR

deja gives AI coding agents a searchable memory by indexing the session histories they already write locally, so past fixes are not repeated.

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((deja-vu))
    What it does
      Indexes agent histories
      Fast local search
      MCP recall tool
    Tech stack
      Go
      MCP
      SSH
      SQLite
    Use cases
      Recall past fixes
      Sync across machines
      Handoff between agents
    Privacy
      Redacts secrets
      Forget with tombstones
      Fully local
    Audience
      Developers
    License
      MIT

Code map

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What do people build with it?

USE CASE 1

Search months of past coding agent sessions in milliseconds to find a prior fix.

USE CASE 2

Let a coding agent recall earlier debugging work automatically through MCP.

USE CASE 3

Sync your agent memory between machines over SSH with no cloud involved.

USE CASE 4

Hand off live context from one coding agent to another mid task.

What is it built with?

GoMCPSSHSQLite

How does it compare?

vshulcz/deja-vumitchellh/panicwrapnetflix/go-expect
Stars444453473
LanguageGoGoGo
Last pushed2024-04-052024-06-15
MaintenanceDormantDormant
Setup difficultyeasyeasymoderate
Complexity2/52/53/5
Audiencedeveloperdeveloperdeveloper

Figures from each repo's GitHub metadata at analysis time.

How do you get it running?

Difficulty · easy Time to first run · 5min

opencode and Cursor IDE indexing shell out to the sqlite3 CLI, which most systems already have installed.

Use freely for any purpose, including commercial use, as long as you keep the copyright notice.

In plain English

deja-vu, or deja, is a command line tool written in Go that gives your AI coding assistants a memory. Tools like Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, and similar coding agents already write every conversation to local files on your computer, building up gigabytes of past debugging sessions and design decisions that you normally cannot search. deja reads those existing histories and turns them into a searchable memory layer, working retroactively on months of sessions from before you even installed it. At its core, deja lets you search across all your past agent sessions in milliseconds, even over gigabytes of history. It also exposes a recall tool through MCP, a protocol coding agents can call directly, so an agent can check whether a problem was already solved in a previous session instead of re debugging it from scratch, even if that earlier session happened in a different tool. There is a session start hook that can automatically surface relevant memory before you even ask, ranked by which files you are currently working on. Beyond search, deja can sync your memory between machines over SSH without any cloud service involved, hand off context from one agent to another mid task, distill a messy session into a clean curated note with a status like accepted or stale, and share a sanitized digest of a session with a colleague. A policy file controls trust scopes, deciding exactly what memory is allowed to activate in search, MCP, or auto recall, and whether it applies locally, to imported data, or per remote peer. Privacy is treated carefully. API keys, JWTs, and private keys are stripped out automatically at the time content is indexed. A forget command removes matching sessions and records a tombstone so they cannot be silently restored later, and exclusion patterns let you keep entire projects out of the index in the first place. deja ships as a single dependency free binary with no models to download and no background services to run, nothing leaves your machine unless you explicitly sync or share it. It can be installed through a shell script, Go, npm, or Homebrew, and it automatically wires itself into whichever supported coding agents it finds on your system. The project is released under the MIT license.

Copy-paste prompts

Prompt 1
Show me how to install deja and wire it into all the coding agents on my machine.
Prompt 2
Explain how deja's MCP recall tool lets an agent check past sessions before debugging.
Prompt 3
Walk me through setting up policy.json trust scopes to control what memory activates where.
Prompt 4
Help me use deja promote to turn a messy session into a curated note.

Frequently asked questions

What is deja-vu?

deja gives AI coding agents a searchable memory by indexing the session histories they already write locally, so past fixes are not repeated.

What language is deja-vu written in?

Mainly Go. The stack also includes Go, MCP, SSH.

What license does deja-vu use?

Use freely for any purpose, including commercial use, as long as you keep the copyright notice.

How hard is deja-vu to set up?

Setup difficulty is rated easy, with roughly 5min to a first successful run.

Who is deja-vu for?

Mainly developer.

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