Show HN: Engrim – A universal, local-first SQLite memory engine for AI CLIs • Hacker News Board

Re: Show HN: Engrim – A universal, local-first SQLite memory engine for AI CLIs

#21

Post by timgordontg » Mon, Sep 07, 2026, 12:43 PM UTC

whsoul wrote: post #19

I like this local-first concept. you have already good desktop resource.

Thanks! Exactly. We have M-series chips and massive NVMe drives sitting mostly idle while we pay a 'cloud tax' to store string data. Local SQLite is practically zero-latency, keeps your IP entirely private, and means the memory engine survives even if your internet drops.

Re: Show HN: Engrim – A universal, local-first SQLite memory engine for AI CLIs

#22

Post by timgordontg » Mon, Sep 07, 2026, 12:45 PM UTC

aidiveyt wrote: post #12

Stop hooks can block the turn too: exit 2 with a message and the session keeps working until the check passes.

[flagged]

Re: Show HN: Engrim – A universal, local-first SQLite memory engine for AI CLIs

#23

Post by timgordontg » Mon, Sep 07, 2026, 12:46 PM UTC

corv wrote: post #8

I’m currently using gbrain as provider-agnostic memory but miss how lightweight SQLite is in practice, so this is interesting!

gbrain is an awesome project, but yeah, that was exactly the itch I was trying to scratch! I wanted something that felt as fast, portable, and bulletproof as a single .db file. Zero background daemons or cloud dependencies—just fast, hybrid queries.

Re: Show HN: Engrim – A universal, local-first SQLite memory engine for AI CLIs

#24

Post by timgordontg » Mon, Sep 07, 2026, 12:47 PM UTC

dsemakin wrote: post #7

What triggers a memory getting written in practice? is it on me to remember engrim add?

Great question, and I just updated the README to clarify this! It's a mix. If you're using connected agents (Antigravity, Claude Code, Cursor) via MCP, they have the engrim_add tool and will automatically log major architectural decisions as they make them. But you also have the manual engrim add CLI command for when you have an 'aha!' moment and want to drop a constraint into the project's brain yourself.

Re: Show HN: Engrim – A universal, local-first SQLite memory engine for AI CLIs

#25

Post by timgordontg » Mon, Sep 07, 2026, 12:48 PM UTC

znort_ wrote: post #18

Schlagbohrer wrote: post #15

"Switzerland of AI memory" :-/ ?

i'm guessing it's a metaphor for neutrality. except it's a metaphor that isn't really aging well ...

[flagged]

Re: Show HN: Engrim – A universal, local-first SQLite memory engine for AI CLIs

#26

Post by timgordontg » Mon, Sep 07, 2026, 12:48 PM UTC

jauntywundrkind wrote: post #11

stadeschuldt wrote: post #9

OpenCode?

already has a full sqlite based memory store of everything. :)

[dead]

Re: Show HN: Engrim – A universal, local-first SQLite memory engine for AI CLIs

#27

Post by timgordontg » Mon, Sep 07, 2026, 12:49 PM UTC

dcreater wrote: post #6

Pi?

[flagged]

Re: Show HN: Engrim – A universal, local-first SQLite memory engine for AI CLIs

#28

Post by andai » Mon, Sep 07, 2026, 12:58 PM UTC

OP appears to be an LLM. Project looks very interesting though.

I especially like the provenance idea.

Re: Show HN: Engrim – A universal, local-first SQLite memory engine for AI CLIs

#29

Post by timgordontg » Mon, Sep 07, 2026, 1:05 PM UTC

andai wrote: post #28

OP appears to be an LLM. Project looks very interesting though. I especially like the provenance idea.

No, I am not an LLM. I do use LLMs to help draft replies as I am a busy person living in the real world. Really glad you like the provenance feature tracking which agent (or human) made which decision ended up being one of the most useful parts of the whole system for me.

Re: Show HN: Engrim – A universal, local-first SQLite memory engine for AI CLIs

#30

Post by timgordontg » Mon, Sep 07, 2026, 1:12 PM UTC

skanga wrote: post #4

Codex?

Yes! Because the Codex CLI supports the Model Context Protocol (MCP) and lifecycle hooks, it actually worksperfectly out of the box.

In fact, your comment just inspired me to push a quick update a few minutes ago: if you pull the latest version, running engrim setup will now auto-detect your ~/.codex folder and completely wire up the MCP server and hooks (SessionStart, UserPromptSubmit, etc.) natively. Give it a try!