Install Ricord in Claude Desktop
Three commands, one config-block check, and a 30-second smoke test. Persistent AI memory wired into Claude Desktop in under 60 seconds.
Prerequisites
- Claude Desktop installed (Mac, Windows, or Linux).
bunon your PATH (install Bun if you don't have it — it's a one-liner).- A Ricord account. If you don't have one, sign up first.
Step 1 — Install the Ricord CLI
bun add -g ricord
Verify it landed:
ricord --version # → ricord vX.Y.Z
Step 2 — Log in
ricord login
A browser tab opens. Sign in with the same account you used at ricord.ai. The CLI stores your API key in your OS keychain — you won't see it again, and you don't need to.
Step 3 — Wire into Claude Desktop
ricord install
This finds Claude Desktop's config file at:
- macOS:
~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json - Windows:
%APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json - Linux:
~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
...and adds a ricord entry undermcpServers. If you already have other MCP servers installed (filesystem, GitHub, etc.), they are left untouched.
The block it adds looks like this:
{
"mcpServers": {
"ricord": {
"command": "ricord",
"args": ["mcp"]
}
}
}Step 4 — Restart Claude Desktop
Fully quit Claude Desktop (Cmd-Q on macOS, not just close the window) and re-open it. The MCP server only loads at startup.
When Claude Desktop comes back, you should see a hammer icon in the chat input bar indicating MCP tools are available. Click it — you'll see Ricord's 13 tools listed:ricord_save, ricord_recall, ricord_get_context, and so on.
Step 5 — 30-second smoke test
Open a new chat. Type:
Remember that I prefer Postgres over MySQL.
Claude calls ricord_save. You'll see the tool call appear inline.
Now close this chat and open a fresh one. Type:
Which database do I prefer?
Claude calls ricord_recall, gets the stored fact back, and answers. If you see "Postgres" — the install is good.
What to expect over the next week
- Day 1: Claude calls
ricord_savewhen you say "remember" explicitly, andricord_recallwhen you ask a callback question. - Day 3: Claude starts calling
ricord_get_contextproactively at the start of new chats. The recall happens before you ask for it. - Day 7: Open the dashboard — wiki pages have populated for the entities you've discussed. Backlinks, aliases auto-merged, conflicts resolved.
Troubleshooting
The hammer icon doesn't appear after restart. Check that claude_desktop_config.json is valid JSON — a single trailing comma will silently disable all MCP servers. Run cat <path-from-step-3> | jq . to verify.
Claude says it can't recall after a restart. Make sure you fully quit Claude Desktop (Cmd-Q / right-click → Quit) and re-opened it. Closing the window only puts it in the dock; the MCP server stays at its previous config.
Tool calls fail with auth errors. Re-run ricord login. Your token may have rotated; the CLI writes a fresh one to the OS keychain.
You see the wiki dashboard but no pages. Background indexing runs every ~10 minutes. Pages appear after the first batch. If empty after an hour, ping support — there may be a stuck ingest job.
Same install, other clients
The Ricord CLI auto-detects other MCP-compatible clients on the same machine. If you also have Cursor / Claude Code / Codex installed, ricord install wires them all at once. Same memory, different surfaces.