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volcengine/OpenViking

An open-source context database for AI agents that stores knowledge, memory and skills in one viking:// filesystem that can be browsed and edited.

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What is it?

OpenViking is a context database for AI agents. Instead of storing agent memory as opaque embeddings, it organizes knowledge, memories and skills as a virtual filesystem under the viking:// scheme, so agents can navigate with commands such as ls, tree, read, write and grep, and people can open any directory to inspect or edit what the agent knows.

Each directory carries generated L0 abstracts and L1 overviews, letting agents judge relevance from short summaries before loading full L2 content. Semantic search can be scoped to a project or memory subtree. Committed sessions are archived and their extracted memories are saved as Markdown files.

The project ships a server, a CLI named ov, Python, Go and TypeScript SDKs, an HTTP API, and integrations for coding agents such as Claude Code, Codex, Cursor and OpenCode, plus frameworks like LangChain. It is licensed under AGPLv3 and can be self-hosted, or used through a Volcengine-hosted service.

Key features

  • 01Browse agent knowledge, memory and skills as a filesystem with viking:// URIs.
  • 02Generates L0 abstracts and L1 overviews per directory so agents can scan before reading.
  • 03Scopes semantic search to a directory subtree instead of a flat vector pool.
  • 04Archives sessions and saves extracted memories as editable Markdown files.
  • 05Provides a CLI, Python, Go and TypeScript SDKs and an HTTP API.

Use cases

  • Giving a coding agent memory of preferences and project context that persists across sessions.
  • Building retrieval over a project's docs and repositories with directory-scoped search.
  • Letting a team inspect and correct what an AI agent has remembered.
  • Connecting LangChain or MCP-based agents to a shared context store.

Quick start

  1. 1

    Install OpenViking with uv and run the setup wizard to configure models

    uv tool install openviking --upgrade && openviking-server init
  2. 2

    Start the server and keep its terminal open (the server runs in the foreground)

  3. 3

    With the server running, check its status using the ov CLI

    ov status

Things to know

  • Licensed under AGPL-3.0, a copyleft license that requires sharing modified source code when offered as a network service.
  • Self-hosting requires a model provider with an embedding model and a VLM, which means API keys or local models such as Ollama.
  • The agent memory plugin installer needs macOS or Linux; Windows users must use the desktop app.

In collections

Long-term memory for AI agents

Topics

#agent-memory#context-database#rag#vector-search#llm-agents#knowledge-base#filesystem#agent-context#agent-plugins#agentic-rag

FAQ

What is OpenViking?
An open-source context database for AI agents that stores knowledge, memory and skills in one viking:// filesystem that can be browsed and edited. OpenViking is a context database for AI agents. Instead of storing agent memory as opaque embeddings, it organizes knowledge, memories and skills as a virtual filesystem under the viking:// scheme, so agents can navigate with commands such as ls, tree, read, write and grep, and people can open any directory to inspect or edit what the agent knows.
Is OpenViking free to use? What license does it have?
OpenViking is open source under the AGPL-3.0 license. Check the license terms before using it in commercial products.
Is OpenViking still maintained?
Actively maintained. The last commit to OpenViking was on Nov 6, 2026.
What can I use OpenViking for?
Giving a coding agent memory of preferences and project context that persists across sessions. Building retrieval over a project's docs and repositories with directory-scoped search. Letting a team inspect and correct what an AI agent has remembered. Connecting LangChain or MCP-based agents to a shared context store.
How do I install OpenViking?
Install OpenViking with uv and run the setup wizard to configure models: uv tool install openviking --upgrade && openviking-server init Start the server and keep its terminal open (the server runs in the foreground) With the server running, check its status using the ov CLI: ov status
Where can I get OpenViking?
The source code and installation instructions are on GitHub: https://github.com/volcengine/OpenViking

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