FabledGrimoire/README.md

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<h1 align="center">Fabled Grimoire</h1>

<p align="center">A self-hosted system of record for the work you do with Claude Code.</p>

Claude records what it learned, decided and built in Grimoire, and that record reaches the next session, so a solution is recalled instead of reinvented. Notes, tasks, plans, rules, lessons and reusable code live in one place. Claude reaches them through a built-in MCP endpoint and the bundled Claude Code plugin, and people read and edit the same records in the web UI. There is no language model inside Grimoire: Claude is the only assistant.

## Deploy

You need Docker with Compose. Save this as `docker-compose.yml` (it is the [`docker-compose.yml`](docker-compose.yml) in this repository), then run `docker compose up -d` beside it:

```yaml
# Fabled Grimoire: the app and its database.
#   docker compose up -d
# Then open http://localhost:5000. The first account registered becomes admin.
#
# Keep both volumes. app_data holds the instance's own SECRET_KEY, which seals
# saved credentials; pgdata holds everything else.

services:
  app:
    image: git.fabledsword.com/bvandeusen/fabledgrimoire:latest
    ports:
      - "5000:5000"
    environment:
      DATABASE_URL: "postgresql+asyncpg://${POSTGRES_USER:-grimoire}:${POSTGRES_PASSWORD:-grimoire}@db:5432/${POSTGRES_DB:-grimoire}"
      LOG_LEVEL: "${LOG_LEVEL:-INFO}"
      # Behind an HTTPS reverse proxy:
      # BASE_URL: "https://grimoire.example.com"
      # SECURE_COOKIES: "true"
      # TRUST_PROXY_HEADERS: "true"
    volumes:
      - app_data:/data
    depends_on:
      - db
    restart: unless-stopped

  db:
    # Postgres 17 with the vector extension Grimoire needs.
    image: pgvector/pgvector:pg17
    stop_grace_period: 120s
    volumes:
      - pgdata:/var/lib/postgresql/data
    environment:
      POSTGRES_USER: ${POSTGRES_USER:-grimoire}
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: ${POSTGRES_PASSWORD:-grimoire}
      POSTGRES_DB: ${POSTGRES_DB:-grimoire}
    restart: unless-stopped

volumes:
  app_data:
  pgdata:
```

Open `http://localhost:5000`. The first account you register becomes the admin.

Nothing has to be set first. On its first start Grimoire makes its own `SECRET_KEY` and keeps it in the `app_data` volume, so restarts, reboots and updates all use the same key.

To connect Claude, create an API key under **Settings → MCP Access**, then in Claude Code:

```
/plugin marketplace add https://git.fabledsword.com/bvandeusen/FabledGrimoire.git
/plugin install grimoire@grimoire-plugin
```

The plugin asks for your Grimoire URL and the API key. Settings → MCP Access shows the exact commands for your instance.

## Configuration

Everything is optional. Set these in the environment or in a `.env` file beside the compose file:

| Variable | When | What it does |
|----------|------|--------------|
| `BASE_URL` | Behind a proxy | The public URL, used in email links and SSO redirects |
| `SECURE_COOKIES` | Over HTTPS | `true` when Grimoire is served over HTTPS |
| `TRUST_PROXY_HEADERS` | Behind a proxy | `true` to read the client address from the proxy's headers |
| `POSTGRES_PASSWORD` | Before the first start | The database password (defaults to `grimoire`; the database is reachable only inside the compose network). Postgres takes it once, when the volume is created |
| `SECRET_KEY` | Rarely | A key you manage yourself, instead of the one Grimoire keeps. It wins over the kept key; remove it to go back |

Everything else (registration, email, SSO, git forge connections, retrieval tuning, backups) is in **Settings**, or listed in [Configuration](docs/configuration.md).

## Setup pitfalls

- **Keep both volumes.** `pgdata` holds everything Grimoire stores. `app_data` holds the instance's key, and forge tokens and the backup bucket's secret are sealed under it. If the key is lost, Settings asks you to enter those credentials again; nothing else is lost.
- **The embedding model downloads on first use**, into the `app_data` volume. Without internet access, semantic search falls back to keyword search until the model is in place.
- **Behind a reverse proxy, turn off response buffering** for `/mcp`, because MCP responses stream. [Configuration](docs/configuration.md#behind-a-reverse-proxy) has an Nginx example.

## Updating and backups

```bash
docker compose pull
docker compose up -d
```

Database migrations run when the app starts, and the key stays in its volume. Claude Code updates the plugin from its marketplace; run `/reload-plugins` after an update.

**Settings → Data → Scheduled backups** writes a daily backup of the database to a folder or an S3-compatible bucket, and `python -m grimoire.restore` brings a fresh instance back from one. See [Backups](docs/backups.md).

## Features

**Working with Claude**
- Claude enters a project and gets a short primer: its goal, current plans, open tasks and areas.
- Your rules reach Claude when its work matches them, or at a moment of work such as finishing a task or pushing code.
- Before Claude writes a file or runs a command, the plugin shows it the rules, lessons and reusable code that may apply.
- Stored procedures, such as a drift audit, become Claude Code skills.

**Recording the work**
- Notes in a Markdown editor, with wikilinks, tags and version history.
- Tasks, issues and time-boxed investigations, with work logs that the next session reads first.
- Plans as milestones: a design plus ordered steps.
- Lessons learned the hard way, linked to the rules they illustrate.
- Duplicate checks, so a new record that matches an existing one updates it instead.

**Reusing code**
- Snippets of reusable code, each with when to reach for it and where it lives in the repo.
- With a git forge connected, Grimoire tracks every function and style in your repos and shows which ones are still unaccounted for.
- Ideas shared across projects on the same platform, with each project's answer recorded.
- Design systems with tokens, inheritance and a generated stylesheet.

**For people**
- A web UI to browse, search and edit everything, plus a graph of how notes connect.
- Sharing with users and groups, as viewer, editor or admin.
- Email and password sign-in, optional SSO through OIDC, and invite links.
- Personal export to Markdown or JSON, and admin backup and restore.

The full list is in [Features](docs/features.md).

## Troubleshooting

| What you see | Why | Fix |
|--------------|-----|-----|
| `SECRET_KEY is set to the public placeholder` at startup | `SECURE_COOKIES=true` while `SECRET_KEY` is `dev-secret-change-me` | Remove `SECRET_KEY`, or set a real one |
| Settings asks for forge tokens or the backup secret again | The instance's key changed: the `app_data` volume was replaced, or `SECRET_KEY` was set or removed | Enter them again, or restore the previous key |
| `Can't locate revision identified by '…'` at startup | An older image is running against a database a newer one has already migrated | Run the newer image; migrations only move forward |
| The plugin's tools are missing in Claude Code | The plugin isn't installed, or Claude Code hasn't reloaded it | `/plugin` to install or update it, then `/reload-plugins` |
| Search finds only exact words | The embedding model hasn't downloaded yet | Give the app internet access once, or wait for the first download to finish |

## Development

```bash
docker compose -f docker-compose.dev.yml up --build
```

[Development](docs/development.md) covers checks, migrations, the plugin and CI. [Architecture](docs/architecture.md) describes how it is built, and the [API reference](docs/api-reference.md) lists every REST endpoint.

## Licence

Fabled Grimoire is free software under the [GNU Affero General Public License v3.0 only](LICENSE) (`AGPL-3.0-only`). If you run a modified version for other people over a network, the licence requires you to offer them its source.