Your local-first memory layer for AI chats, coding agents, and project context.
ContextVault captures context from browsers and terminals, stores it locally, and exports it as portable Markdown. It helps preserve LLM conversations, coding-agent sessions, project decisions, tasks, problems, and workflow context across tools.
Landing Page · Install · Vault Terminal · Roadmap
No backend. No accounts. No tracking.
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| Browser Capture ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, Poe, DeepSeek, Copilot |
Terminal Capture Codex, Claude Code, Cursor workflows, human notes, decisions, tasks |
Local Memory IndexedDB, local Markdown, exportable archives, no backend |
ContextVault is a local-first context platform with two first-class capture surfaces:
- Browser Capture records conversations from supported LLM web apps.
- Terminal Capture records human, AI, and coding-agent work sessions from the terminal.
Both surfaces store context locally. Both can be exported. Both are designed to help you continue work without losing memory when you switch models, platforms, accounts, tools, agents, or context windows.
Captures conversations from:
- ChatGPT
- Claude
- Gemini
- Perplexity
- Poe
- DeepSeek
- Copilot
Browser Capture uses a hybrid DOM + network capture engine and exports conversations as structured Markdown or ZIP files.
Captures:
- Codex sessions
- Claude Code sessions
- Cursor workflows
- Human notes
- Decisions
- Tasks
- Problems
- Project context
Terminal Capture stores everything as local Markdown memory under .contextvault/.
AI work is powerful, but context is fragmented across too many places:
| Problem | Consequence |
|---|---|
| Switch models | Lose thread continuity |
| Hit token limits | Forced truncation |
| Change accounts | Orphaned conversations |
| Switch platforms | Context gets trapped in one tool |
| Switch coding agents | Decisions and attempts disappear |
| Work in terminals | Agent sessions are hard to preserve |
| Revisit old ideas later | No portable memory or search surface |
ContextVault fixes this by making browser conversations and terminal work sessions portable, local, and reusable.
Git tracks code.
ContextVault tracks context.
The goal is to preserve knowledge, decisions, discussions, tasks, discoveries, and agent work across tools.
Context should survive:
- model switching
- platform switching
- account switching
- agent switching
- context window limits
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Browser Capture | Captures LLM conversations from supported browser platforms |
| Terminal Capture | Captures coding-agent, human, and project-context sessions from the terminal |
| Hybrid browser engine | DOM + network capture for browser reliability |
| Local-first storage | Browser chats stay in IndexedDB; terminal sessions stay in .contextvault/ |
| Markdown export | Browser and terminal context can be exported as Markdown |
| ZIP export | Browser conversations can be exported in bulk as ZIP |
| Tags and project grouping | Organize captured browser conversations |
| Raw terminal memory | Preserve /user, /agent, /decision, /task, /problem, and /paste blocks without rewriting |
| Shared context model | Provider-agnostic context types for future browser, terminal, editor, and agent integrations |
| Private by default | No backend, no accounts, no telemetry, no external AI API calls |
Browser Capture Terminal Capture
DOM Observer + Network Monitor Vault Terminal CLI
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Stream Assembler Raw Context Events
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Capture Engine Markdown Sessions
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Background Service Worker .contextvault/
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IndexedDB Storage Local Filesystem Storage
\ /
\ /
-------- Shared Context Layer ------
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Markdown / ZIP Export
Browser key idea:
- DOM = source of truth
- Network = enhancement layer
- Stream Assembler = final message builder
Terminal key idea:
- Raw input = source of truth
- Markdown files = durable memory
- No summarization = no context loss
ContextVault is built around strict privacy principles:
| No | Yes |
|---|---|
| No backend | Everything stays local |
| No accounts | You control your own context |
| No telemetry | Export when you choose |
| No external AI APIs | Terminal capture works without calling AI services |
| No automatic cloud sync | Local files and local browser storage by default |
The .contextvault/ folder is ignored by git by default because terminal sessions may contain raw private context, paths, prompts, logs, secrets, or customer information.
npm install
npm run buildThen:
- Open
chrome://extensions - Enable Developer Mode
- Click Load unpacked
- Select the
dist/folder
docker compose up devThis runs the extension in dev mode on http://localhost:5173 with hot-reload.
After building, load dist/ into Chrome as an unpacked extension.
To run the mock test server:
docker compose --profile testing up dev test-serverThis starts both the dev server and an Nginx container serving the ChatGPT mock HTML at http://localhost:8080.
- Open ChatGPT / Claude / Gemini
- Start a conversation
- Open the extension popup
- Verify messages are captured
- Export as
.mdor.zip - Confirm clean structured output
Vault Terminal captures terminal-based human, AI, and coding-agent work sessions as raw Markdown context.
It is intentionally independent from the Chrome extension so browser adapters, popup behavior, permissions, IndexedDB storage, Markdown export, and ZIP export remain intact.
Initialize local terminal memory:
npm run vault:initStart an interactive recorder:
npm run vault:recordInside the recorder:
/source codex
/title Fix auth middleware
/user The login redirect is broken.
/agent I found the issue in middleware order.
/decision Keep auth checks in middleware and policy checks in controllers.
/task Add regression test for redirect loop.
/problem Session cookie is missing on callback.
/paste
Raw multiline content goes here.
/endpaste
/end
List saved sessions:
npm run vault:listShow the latest session or a specific session:
npm run vault:show -- latest
npm run vault:show -- <session-id>Export project memory and recent sessions:
npm run vault:exportSearch saved terminal sessions:
npm run vault:search -- auth
npm run vault:search -- "Claude Code"Vault Terminal writes local files under .contextvault/:
.contextvault/
config.json
memory.md
sessions/
exports/
- Vault Terminal is a plain Node.js CLI in
scripts/vault-terminal.mjs. - It uses only local filesystem storage.
- It writes Markdown sessions to
.contextvault/sessions/. - It writes combined exports to
.contextvault/exports/contextvault-terminal-export.md. - It preserves raw input exactly as typed for
/user,/agent,/note,/decision,/task,/problem, and/pasteblocks. - It adds a provider-agnostic context model under
src/shared/context/types.tsfor future browser, terminal, editor, or agent integrations. - It does not add backend, auth, telemetry, analytics, or external AI API calls.
- Browser Capture
- Terminal Capture MVP
- Local-first browser storage
- Local-first terminal storage
- Markdown export
- Browser ZIP export
- Terminal search
- Shared context model
- Documentation and positioning
- Browser adapter hardening
- Demo/storytelling assets
Context Engine comes before integrations. The engine is the product; integrations are adapters.
- Full-text search inside browser conversations
- Auto-tagging system
- Draft recovery
- Context normalization across browser, terminal, editor, agent, and human-note sources
- Context indexing with future
npm run vault:index - Context retrieval with future
npm run vault:retrieve -- "query" - Context composer with future
npm run vault:prepare -- "query" - Context linking between related sessions
- Context timeline
- MCP server
- VS Code extension
- Claude Code integration
- Codex integration
- Cursor integration
- Encrypted backups
- Optional self-hosted sync
- Provider UI changes may require selector updates.
- Generic browser adapter is best-effort only.
- Browser storage is local to the browser profile.
- Terminal storage is local to the repository where
.contextvault/is initialized. - Terminal capture records explicitly entered context; it does not automatically intercept every shell process.
Mohammad Ali Abdul Wahed
| GitHub | aliabdm |
| Portfolio | senior-mohammad-ali.vercel.app |
| Dev.to | @maliano63717738 |
| Medium | @aliabdm |
| X (Twitter) | @Maliano63717738 |
| Mohammad Ali Abdul Wahed |
ContextVault is a step toward Git for Context: a portable, local-first memory layer for conversations, coding agents, project decisions, and future AI workflows.