Citadel MCP server
dev.citadeldb/mcp·v2.7.0·3 starsEncrypted-first embedded database with vector search and agent memory, exposed as MCP tools
3 stars462 downloads/wk
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Citadel tools
No tool declarations could be read from the package source. They show once the server is installed.
Public scan report
scanner v0.1.10 · 2026-10-03 · same rubric, same numbers if you re-run it
- Code scan15 source files scanned25/25
- –Live reliabilityno gateway calls yet and no remote to proben/a
- –Tool poisoningtools not inspected (local package is not executed); not countedn/a
- Auth qualitystatic API keys via environment variables6/15
- Maintenancelast push 6 days ago15/15
- Maintainer identitynamespace and repository owner differ; GitHub account older than a year; website matches verified namespace7/10
How Citadel compares
Against every graded Databases MCP server, from our own scans and uptime checks. Updated after each scan run.
- Safety score
- 82/100
- higher than 55% of 802 Databases servers
- GitHub stars
- 3
- more than 65% of 602 Databases servers
- Downloads a week
- 462
- more than 82% of 328 Databases servers with a package
Release history: 4 versions in the registry since 2026-09-13, latest 2026-09-28, typically one every 3 days.
Install Citadel in Claude Code, Cursor or VS Code
claude mcp add mcp -- uvx citadeldb-mcp
What the publisher says
From the Citadel repository's README, as published. We do not edit it. Read it on GitHub
Historical memory results and configurations
Quick Start
For semantic memory through MCP, install uv and pull the local embedder and optional cross-encoder reranker:
uvx citadeldb-mcp pull e5-large
uvx citadeldb-mcp pull ms-marco-minilmSet CITADELKEY to your vault passphrase (export CITADELKEY="your-passphrase" on macOS/Linux or $env:CITADEL_KEY = "your-passphrase" in PowerShell), then start:
uvx citadeldb-mcp --db memory.cdl --embedder e5-large --reranker ms-marco-minilmThe server communicates over stdio. See MCP for client configuration. Model downloads do not need a vault key; serving does.
Memory (Python)
Install the published package with pip install citadeldb. See the Python source-build and semantic-memory guide. Embedders implement embedwithcancel(texts, cancel_token) and check cancellation between bounded batches. Local Candle models require the candle-embed build feature.
Memory (Rust)
Uses citadeldb and citadeldb-mem with the candle-embed feature. This example loads e5-large and a local cross-encoder reranker. Other presets or a custom Embedder are supported.
use std::sync::Arc;
use citadel::DatabaseBuilder;
use citadel_mem::{AtomInput, CandleEmbedder, CrossEncoder, MemoryEngine, RecallQuery, RerankStrategy};
// Encrypted store (per-atom keys enable cryptographic forgetting)
let db = DatabaseBuilder::new("memory.db")
.passphrase(b"secret")
.enable_region_keys(true)
.create()?;
let mem = MemoryEngine::open(Arc::new(db))?;
let embedder = Arc::new(CandleEmbedder::e5_large("/path/to/e5-large")?);
mem.create_encrypted_region("chat", embedder)?;
mem.set_reranker(
Arc::new(CrossEncoder::ms_marco_minilm_l6("/path/to/ms-marco-minilm")?),
RerankStrategy::default(),
);
// Remember raw turns (no LLM)
mem.remember("chat", AtomInput::new("fact", "Alice's cat is named Mochi"))?;
let berlin = mem.remember("chat", AtomInput::new("fact", "Alice lives in Berlin"))?;Shortened. The full README is on GitHub.
Nothing above is checked by us. What we check is on the safety report.
Citadel: common questions
- Is Citadel MCP server safe?
- Mostly: it is graded B (82/100). Read the Citadel safety report
- How do I install Citadel?
- It runs on your machine. Copy the Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code or Claude Desktop config from the install section.
- Does Citadel need an API key?
- Yes. The registry entry asks for
CITADEL_KEY. - Is Citadel maintained?
- The last commit was 37 days ago (2026-09-28). The latest release is v2.7.0.
- What can I use instead of Citadel?
- Servers from other publishers that do the same job: CogniCore MCP server, SAME - Stateless Agent Memory Engine MCP server and Appwrite MCP server. Compare all Citadel alternatives.
- How does Citadel compare with other Databases MCP servers?
- safety score 82/100 (higher than 55% of 802 Databases servers); github stars 3 (more than 65% of 602 Databases servers); downloads a week 462 (more than 82% of 328 Databases servers with a package). Full comparison.
Alternatives to Citadel
Same job from other publishers: the closest match first, then the best rated.
- CogniCoreMemory, reflection and safety for AI agents. Hosted or local, no vector database.5.0(1)GrowingA
- SAME - Stateless Agent Memory EnginePersistent memory for AI coding agents. Local-first SQLite + vector search. 17 MCP tools.not reviewedGrowingB
- AppwriteBuild and deploy backends: auth, Postgres/MySQL/vector databases, storage, functions, hosting, CDNnot reviewedEstablishedA
- RememLocal-first automatic memory for Claude Code and Codex: capture, distill, recall from SQLite.not reviewedEstablishedB
ArcadeDB MCP ServerBuilt-in MCP server for ArcadeDB multi-model database (graph, document, vector, time-series)not reviewedGrowingB