ember-memory vs Cathedral — Persistent Memory for AI Agents
ember-memory is a plugin bundle for AI coding tools published by KindledFlameStudios. Marketplaces we read that list it: 1 (Claude Code: claude-plugins-community). Cathedral — Persistent Memory for AI Agents is an MCP server published by AILIFE1. Marketplaces we read that list it: 1 (Official MCP Registry). As of our marketplace pass on 2026-10-21. 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 |  ember-memory |  Cathedral — Persistent Memory for AI Agents |
|---|---|---|
| Claude Code: claude-plugins-community | Listed Version: 2.0.0 Forks (GitHub): 0 Stars (GitHub): 2 Not marked · First seen |
Not listed |
| Official MCP Registry | Not listed | Listed Version: 1.1.0 Downloads/month (PyPI): 138 Downloads/week (PyPI): 19 Forks (GitHub): 2 Stars (GitHub): 10 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 | ember-memory | Cathedral — Persistent Memory for AI Agents |
|---|---|---|
| Marketplaces that list it | 1 | 1 |
| Stars (GitHub) (differs) | 2 (worse) | 10 (better) |
| Forks (GitHub) (differs) | 0 (worse) | 2 (better) |
| Last release | Not published | Not published |
| Where it runs (differs) | Installs as a plugin bundle | Remote server (cathedral-ai.com/mcp) |
| Transport (differs) | Not stated | Streamable HTTP |
| Tools it declares | Not published | Not published |
| Environment variables it asks for (differs) | 1, secrets among them: 0 | 3, secrets among them: 1 |
| Hooks it runs (differs) | 1 | Not published |
| Parts of the bundle (differs) | 2 | Not a bundle |
| Licence (differs) | MIT | Not stated |
| Repository (differs) | github.com/kindledflamestudios/ember-memory | github.com/ailife1/cathedral |
| Changes in the last 7 days | 0 | 0 |
| First seen | 2026-10-11 | 2026-10-11 |
| Endpoint at the last check (differs) | no remote endpoint we check | Responded 2 days ago, requires a key |
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
ember-memory
Persistent semantic memory for Claude Code. Stores knowledge in a local ChromaDB vector database and automatically retrieves relevant context on every message using Ollama bge-m3 embeddings. Everything runs locally — no API keys, no cloud, no data leaving your machine.
Cathedral — Persistent Memory for AI Agents
Persistent memory and drift detection for AI agents across session restarts.
How to run each
ember-memory As a Claude Code plugin
/plugin marketplace add anthropics/claude-plugins-community
/plugin install ember-memory@claude-communityCathedral — Persistent Memory for AI Agents As a remote MCP server
claude mcp add --transport http cathedral-mcp https://cathedral-ai.com/mcp --header "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_CATHEDRAL_API_KEY>"Requires: CATHEDRAL_API_KEY (secret), Authorization header
Commands built only from what the marketplaces declare; the full set for every client is on each card.
Only Cathedral — Persistent Memory for AI Agents has a remote endpoint we check. How we check endpoints
Tools each declares
Neither one's marketplaces publish a list of tools, so there is nothing to compare.
Settings each asks for
Only ember-memory asks for
EMBER_AI_ID
Only Cathedral — Persistent Memory for AI Agents asks for
CATHEDRAL_API_KEY (secret)CATHEDRAL_BASE_URLCATHEDRAL_SANITISE
Settings as each marketplace publishes them. Asking for fewer is not better in itself.
What it can do: ember-memory · What it can do: Cathedral — Persistent Memory for AI Agents · 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.