Install Memory Vault in Claude Desktop

What you need first

Claude Desktop, installed.
Docker, which gives the docker command the server starts with.
Your own values for YOUR_DB_HOST,YOUR_DB_PORT,YOUR_DB_NAME,YOUR_DB_USER,YOUR_DB_PASSWORD.

Steps

In Claude Desktop, open Settings › Developer and choose Edit Config. It opens claude_desktop_config.json.
Add this block. If the file already has mcpServers, add only the entry inside it.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "memory-vault": {
      "command": "docker",
      "args": ["run", "-i", "--rm", "-e", "DB_HOST", "-e", "DB_PORT", "-e", "DB_NAME", "-e", "DB_USER", "-e", "DB_PASSWORD", "ghcr.io/mihaibuilds/memory-vault-mcp:1.6.1"],
      "env": { "DB_HOST": "YOUR_DB_HOST", "DB_PORT": "YOUR_DB_PORT", "DB_NAME": "YOUR_DB_NAME", "DB_USER": "YOUR_DB_USER", "DB_PASSWORD": "YOUR_DB_PASSWORD" }
    }
  }
}

Replace YOUR_DB_HOST,YOUR_DB_PORT,YOUR_DB_NAME,YOUR_DB_USER,YOUR_DB_PASSWORD with your own values.
Save the file, quit Claude Desktop completely and open it again.

Check it worked

Ask Claude Desktop: List the tools of memory-vault.

If it does not start

Cannot connect to the Docker daemon: Docker is not running. Start it, then restart Claude Desktop.
The server starts, but its tools fail: A YOUR_… placeholder is still in the config, or its value is wrong.
Nothing changes after a restart: The file is not valid JSON any more. Look for a missing comma where the block was added.

Back to Memory Vault