The infrastructure layer for your thinking. One database, one AI gateway, one chat channel. Any AI you use can plug in. No middleware, no SaaS chains, no Zapier.
This isn't a notes app. It's a database with vector search and an open protocol — built so that every AI tool you use shares the same persistent memory of you. Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, Claude Code, whatever ships next month. One brain. All of them.
Open Brain was created by Nate B. Jones. Follow the Substack for updates, discussion, and the companion prompt pack. Join the Discord for real-time help and community.
ob1-philosophy.mp4
ob1-getting-started.mp4
Never built an Open Brain? Start here:
- Setup Guide — Build the full system (database, AI gateway, Slack capture, MCP server) in about 45 minutes. No coding experience needed. Or watch the video walkthrough (~27 min).
- AI-Assisted Setup — Prefer building with Cursor, Claude Code, or another AI coding tool? Point it at this repo and go. Same system, different workflow.
- Companion Prompts — Five prompts that help you migrate your memories, discover use cases, and build the capture habit.
- Then pick Extension 1 and start building.
If you hit a wall: We built a FAQ that covers the most common questions and gotchas. And if you need real-time help, we created dedicated AI assistants that know this system inside and out: a Claude Skill, a ChatGPT Custom GPT, and a Gemini GEM. Use whichever one matches the AI tool you already use.
ob1-extensions.mp4
Build these in order. Each one teaches new concepts through something you'll actually use. By the end, your agent manages your household, your schedule, your meals, your professional network, and your career — all interconnected.
| # | Extension | What You Build | Difficulty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Household Knowledge Base | Home facts your agent can recall instantly | Beginner |
| 2 | Home Maintenance Tracker | Scheduling and history for home upkeep | Beginner |
| 3 | Family Calendar | Multi-person schedule coordination | Intermediate |
| 4 | Meal Planning | Recipes, meal plans, shared grocery lists | Intermediate |
| 5 | Professional CRM | Contact tracking wired into your thoughts | Intermediate |
| 6 | Job Hunt Pipeline | Application tracking and interview pipeline | Advanced |
Extensions compound. Your CRM knows about thoughts you've captured. Your meal planner checks who's home this week. Your job hunt contacts automatically become professional network contacts. This is what happens when your agent can see across your whole system.
ob1-primitives.mp4
Some concepts show up in multiple extensions. Learn them once, apply them everywhere.
| Primitive | What It Teaches | Used By |
|---|---|---|
| Row Level Security | PostgreSQL policies for multi-user data isolation | Extensions 4, 5, 6 |
| Shared MCP Server | Giving others scoped access to parts of your brain | Extension 4 |
ob1-community.mp4
Beyond the curated learning path, the community builds and shares real tools that real people use. Every contribution below was reviewed, approved, and merged by the maintainer team. Look for the Community Contribution badge in each README.
/recipes — Import Your Data
Pull your digital life into Open Brain. Each recipe handles a specific data source — parsing, deduplication, embedding, and ingestion included.
| Recipe | What It Does | Contributor |
|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT Import | Parse ChatGPT data exports, filter trivial conversations, summarize via LLM | @matthallett1 |
| Perplexity Import | Import Perplexity AI search history and memory entries | @demarant |
| Obsidian Vault Import | Parse and import Obsidian vault notes with full metadata | @snapsynapse |
| X/Twitter Import | Import tweets, DMs, and Grok chats from X data exports | @alanshurafa |
| Instagram Import | Import DMs, comments, and captions from Instagram exports | @alanshurafa |
| Google Activity Import | Import Google Search, Gmail, Maps, YouTube, Chrome history from Takeout | @alanshurafa |
| Grok (xAI) Import | Import Grok conversation exports with MongoDB-style date handling | @alanshurafa |
| Journals/Blogger Import | Import Atom XML blog archives from Blogger/Journals | @alanshurafa |
| Email History Import | Pull your Gmail archive into searchable thoughts | @matthallett1 |
/recipes — Tools & Workflows
Standalone capabilities that make your Open Brain smarter.
| Recipe | What It Does | Contributor |
|---|---|---|
| Panning for Gold | Mine brain dumps and voice transcripts for actionable ideas — battle-tested across 13+ sessions | @jaredirish |
| Claudeception | Self-improving system that creates new skills from work sessions — skills that create other skills | @jaredirish |
| Schema-Aware Routing | LLM-powered routing that distributes unstructured text across multiple database tables | @claydunker-yalc |
| Fingerprint Dedup Backfill | Backfill content fingerprints and safely remove duplicate thoughts | @alanshurafa |
| Source Filtering | Filter thoughts by source and backfill missing metadata for early imports | @matthallett1 |
| Life Engine | Self-improving personal assistant — calendar, habits, health, proactive briefings via Telegram or Discord | @justfinethanku |
| Life Engine Video | Add-on that renders Life Engine briefings as short animated videos with voiceover | @justfinethanku |
| Daily Digest | Automated daily summary of recent thoughts delivered via email or Slack | OB1 Team |
/dashboards — Frontend Templates
Host on Vercel or Netlify, pointed at your Supabase backend. Two community-built options — pick the framework you prefer.
| Dashboard | What It Does | Contributor |
|---|---|---|
| Open Brain Dashboard | SvelteKit dashboard with MCP proxy and Supabase auth | @headcrest |
| Open Brain Dashboard (Next.js) | Full-featured Next.js dashboard — 8 pages, dark theme, smart ingest, quality auditing | @alanshurafa |
/integrations — New Connections
MCP server extensions, alternative deployment targets, and capture sources beyond Slack.
| Integration | What It Does | Contributor |
|---|---|---|
| Kubernetes Deployment | Fully self-hosted K8s deployment with PostgreSQL + pgvector — no Supabase required | @velo |
| Slack Capture | Quick-capture thoughts via Slack messages with auto-embedding and classification | Core |
| Discord Capture | Discord bot that captures messages into Open Brain, mirroring the Slack pattern | Core |
/primitives — Reusable Patterns
| Primitive | What It Does | Contributor |
|---|---|---|
| Content Fingerprint Dedup | SHA-256 deduplication for thought ingestion — prevents duplicates across all import recipes | @alanshurafa |
- Browse the category tables above or the folders in the repo
- Open the contribution's folder and read the README
- Every README has prerequisites, step-by-step instructions, expected outcomes, and troubleshooting
- Most contributions involve running SQL, deploying an edge function, or hosting frontend code — the README tells you exactly what to do
Read CONTRIBUTING.md for the full details. The short version:
- Extensions are curated — discuss with maintainers before submitting
- Primitives should be referenced by 2+ extensions to justify extraction
- Recipes, schemas, dashboards, integrations are open for community contributions
- Every PR runs through an automated review agent that checks 11 rules (file structure, no secrets, SQL safety, primitive dependencies, etc.)
- If the agent passes, a human admin reviews for quality and clarity
- Your contribution needs a README with real instructions and a
metadata.jsonwith structured info
- Discord — Real-time help, show-and-tell, contributor discussion
- Substack — Updates, deep dives, and the story behind Open Brain
Built by Nate B. Jones's team. Matt Hallett is the first community admin and repo manager. PRs are reviewed by the automated agent + human admins.
