What does Pensieve search?
Your files and folders (Documents, Desktop, Downloads and any folder you add), your git repositories including uncommitted changes and worktrees, and your Claude Code, Codex and Qwen Code sessions. Obsidian vaults too, and optionally Apple Notes. Everything is indexed and searched on your Mac.
How does Pensieve help my agent?
Without it, a coding agent often greps the repo and reads many whole files to find what matters, and every file it reads costs tokens. With Pensieve connected over MCP, the agent asks one question and gets back the most relevant passages with their file and line, so it starts on the right code in fewer tool calls. In our benchmark that made each lookup 18% cheaper and 21% faster; see the measured results above.
Does Pensieve make Claude Code cheaper?
In our benchmark, Claude Code with Pensieve found the right file in 131 of 144 runs, against 123 with grep alone, with 43% fewer tool calls. Each lookup cost 18% less overall, and 6–28% less in each of four repos from 504 to 34,847 files. The benchmark scripts are open source, so you can run them on your own code.
How do I get my agent to use Pensieve instead of grep?
Agents grep by habit. The install prompt runs pensieve integrate recommended, which adds a short “search before you grep” section to the instructions files of Claude Code, Codex and Gemini CLI, plus a search skill and two hooks for Claude Code. You can also switch these on in Settings → Agents. With it, the agent used Pensieve in all 144 runs of our latest benchmark.
Which agents work with Pensieve?
Any MCP client. pensieve integrate recommended connects Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Gemini CLI, Windsurf, Claude Desktop and VS Code for you. Other agents can use pensieve mcp over stdio, or HTTP. Optional skills also suggest which teammates know an area and help plan new code around what already exists.
How does it find knowledge gaps?
Pensieve reads git blame and recent commit history for each area of a repo. Areas where most lines were written by people with no recent commits there are flagged, along with how many active people know the area and who among them knows it best.
Does anything leave my Mac?
Your files, code and sessions don't. Indexing and search run on your Mac. Pensieve only downloads its models and checks GitHub for updates, which you can turn off. The exception is if you choose Claude Code or Codex to write optional AI insights; those are labelled Cloud. The built-in model, a local server like LM Studio, or no AI at all keep everything local.
Do I need an AI model?
No. Search, agent context, ownership and knowledge gaps all work without one. AI insights are optional: choose the built-in Qwen 3.5 9B, LM Studio, Claude Code, Codex, or leave it off.
Is Pensieve free?
Yes. It's free and open source under the MIT license. The code is on GitHub.
Why does macOS ask before opening it?
The app isn't notarized yet. If macOS blocks it, open System Settings → Privacy & Security and click Open Anyway. You only do this once.
Does it work on Intel Macs or Linux?
The app needs Apple Silicon. On Linux and Intel Macs, the same prompt installs the backend and the browser visualizer. An Intel Mac also gets the search panel if the Xcode command-line tools are installed.
How do I uninstall it?
First run pensieve integrate all --remove to disconnect your agents. Then quit Pensieve, drag it to the Trash, and delete ~/.pensieve, ~/.local/share/uv/tools/pensieve and ~/.local/bin/pensieve. Its models are in ~/.cache/huggingface.