hipocampus vs Synapse Layer — Zero-Knowledge Memory
hipocampus is a plugin bundle for AI coding tools published by kevin-hs-sohn. Marketplaces we read that list it: 1 (Claude Code: claude-plugins-community). Synapse Layer — Zero-Knowledge Memory is an MCP server published by SynapseLayer. Marketplaces we read that list it: 1 (Official MCP Registry). As of our marketplace pass on 2026-10-17. This pair was picked by a reader, not by our comparison rule, so search engines are asked not to index the page.
Where each is published
| Marketplace |  hipocampus |  Synapse Layer — Zero-Knowledge Memory |
|---|---|---|
| Claude Code: claude-plugins-community | Listed Version: 0.2.1 Forks (GitHub): 12 Stars (GitHub): 210 Not marked · First seen |
Not listed |
| Official MCP Registry | Not listed | Listed, marked deprecated Version: 1.0.7 Downloads/month (PyPI): 236 Downloads/week (PyPI): 28 Forks (GitHub): 5 Stars (GitHub): 13 Not marked · First seen |
Each figure is the marketplace's own and is never added up across marketplaces. A marketplace that publishes no figure shows none: no number is not zero.
The facts side by side
| Fact | hipocampus | Synapse Layer — Zero-Knowledge Memory |
|---|---|---|
| Marketplaces that list it | 1 | 1 |
| Stars (GitHub) (differs) | 210 (better) | 13 (worse) |
| Forks (GitHub) (differs) | 12 (better) | 5 (worse) |
| Last release | Not published | Not published |
| Where it runs (differs) | Installs as a plugin bundle | On your machine (synapse-layer) |
| Transport (differs) | Not stated | stdio |
| Tools it declares | Not published | Not published |
| Environment variables it asks for (differs) | Not published | 4, secrets among them: 1 |
| Hooks it runs (differs) | 3 | Not published |
| Parts of the bundle (differs) | 8 | Not a bundle |
| Licence (differs) | MIT | Not stated |
| Repository (differs) | github.com/kevin-hs-sohn/hipocampus | github.com/synapselayer/synapse-layer |
| Changes in the last 7 days | 0 | 0 |
| First seen | 2026-10-11 | 2026-10-11 |
Lines where the two differ have a tinted background and bold values. Where the data itself says which value is better (more marketplaces, a larger figure of the same marketplace, a fresher release, a verified mark on a marketplace that lists both), the better one is also marked green with ▲ and the worse one red with ▼. Where it runs, the transport, the tools, the settings, hooks, the bundle's parts, the licence and the week's changes are marked only as different: more or fewer is not better in itself.
What each says it does
hipocampus
Persistent memory that survives across sessions. Hipocampus gives your agent a 3-tier memory system (hot/warm/cold) with a self-compressing 5-level compaction tree. Every session, the agent auto-loads a ~3K token topic index (ROOT.md) so it knows what it knows — then retrieves specific details on demand via tree traversal or hybrid search (BM25 + vector via qmd). All memory writes happen through subagents to keep your main session clean. Zero dependencies, zero infrastructure — just markdown files.
Synapse Layer — Zero-Knowledge Memory
Zero-Knowledge Context™ & Neural Handover™ for AI Agents. The Trust Layer for AI Memory.
How to run each
hipocampus As a Claude Code plugin
/plugin marketplace add anthropics/claude-plugins-community
/plugin install hipocampus@claude-communitySynapse Layer — Zero-Knowledge Memory As a local MCP server: PyPI package
claude mcp add --env "SYNAPSE_ENCRYPTION_KEY=<YOUR_SYNAPSE_ENCRYPTION_KEY>" --transport stdio synapse-secure-memory -- uvx synapse-layerRequires: SYNAPSE_ENCRYPTION_KEY (secret)
Commands built only from what the marketplaces declare; the full set for every client is on each card.
Tools each declares
Neither one's marketplaces publish a list of tools, so there is nothing to compare.
Settings each asks for
The marketplaces of hipocampus publish no settings it asks for, so we do not compare settings.
What it can do: hipocampus · What it can do: Synapse Layer — Zero-Knowledge Memory · Compare two other plugins
Data comes from the public marketplace file https://github.com/anthropics/claude-plugins-community/blob/HEAD/.claude-plugin/marketplace.json. Data comes from the Official MCP Registry (registry.modelcontextprotocol.io), CC0 1.0. Figures come from our own regular passes over the marketplaces, last read on . We publish no contact details for plugin publishers.