OpenContext Tutorials

August 21, 2026 · View on GitHub

Welcome to the OpenContext tutorial series! These guides will help you get started with OpenContext and build production-ready applications.

Tutorial Path

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                        Your Learning Journey                          │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│                                                                       │
│  1. 📖 Getting Started                                             │
│     Install OpenContext and run your first memory API call           │
│     → 00-getting-started.md                                          │
│                                                                       │
│  2. 👤 User Guide                                                   │
│     Four verbs, temporal memory, and building memory-aware agents    │
│     → 01-user-guide.md                                               │
│                                                                       │
│  3. 🔧 Developer Guide                                              │
│     Integrate OpenContext into your application                      │
│     → 02-developer-guide.md                                          │
│                                                                       │
│  4. 🚀 Advanced Usage                                               │
│     Multi-source search, temporal queries, platforms, DeepSeek Harness plugin       │
│     → 03-advanced-usage.md                                           │
│                                                                       │
│  5. 📚 Best Practices                                                │
│     Production-ready patterns and common pitfalls                     │
│     → 04-best-practices.md                                           │
│                                                                       │
│  6. 🏗️  Real-World Use Cases                                        │
│     End-to-end scenarios: Personal assistant, Support agent, Research tracker       │
│     → use-cases/                                                     │
│                                                                       │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Quick Reference by Use Case

Core & Getting Started

You want to...	Read this
Get started in 5 minutes	Getting Started
Understand how memory works	User Guide
Understand the temporal graph model	User Guide
Write or read memory from the CLI (`add` / `search`)	Getting Started

Building Agents

You want to...	Read this
Build a memory-aware agent	User Guide
Build a Q&A agent with RAG	User Guide
Build custom agents with tools	User Guide

Search & Retrieval

You want to...	Read this
Search across memory + insights + knowledge	Advanced Usage
Use LLM reasoning to improve memory retrieval	Advanced Usage
Query as of a specific time (time-travel)	Advanced Usage
Work with the temporal graph	Advanced Usage
Add web search to your agent	Advanced Usage

Integrations & Platforms

You want to...	Read this
Add Gmail/Slack integrations	Advanced Usage
Send messages through platforms	Advanced Usage
See all supported platforms	Advanced Usage
Use with your coding agent via MCP	Getting Started

Deployment & Operations

You want to...	Read this
Use with coding agent integration	Getting Started
Run as HTTP service	Developer Guide
Deploy to production	Best Practices
Run health checks	Advanced Usage
Set up monitoring & metrics	Advanced Usage
Audit memory operations	Advanced Usage

Advanced Features

You want to...	Read this
Schedule recurring tasks with Loop	Advanced Usage
Add voice capabilities (TTS/STT)	Advanced Usage
Encrypt tokens and secrets	Advanced Usage
Optimize performance	Advanced Usage

Framework Integrations

You want to...	Read this
Use with DeepSeek Harness	Advanced Usage

Real-World Use Cases

You want to...	Read this
Build a personal memory assistant	Personal Memory Assistant
Build a customer support agent	Customer Support Agent
Build a research knowledge tracker	Research Knowledge Tracker
See all use cases	Use Cases Index

Tutorial Contents

Tutorial	Focus	Key Topics
00-getting-started.md	Quick Start	Installation, first API call, HTTP server, MCP, CLI `add` / `search`
01-user-guide.md	Core Concepts	Four verbs, temporal graph, IAgent, memory-aware agents
02-developer-guide.md	Integration	Embedding, HTTP server, MCP, backend selection
03-advanced-usage.md	Advanced Features	Multi-source search, reasoning-backed retrieval, temporal queries, platforms, DeepSeek Harness plugin
04-best-practices.md	Production	Idempotency, performance, security, deployment
Use Cases	Real-World Applications	End-to-end scenarios
05-personal-memory-assistant.md	Individual	Preferences, notes, time-travel, metadata
06-customer-support-agent.md	Multi-user	Customer profiles, history tracking, repeat detection
07-research-tracker.md	Knowledge Management	Findings, citations, evolution tracking, synthesis

Prerequisites

Before starting any tutorial:

Node.js >= 22
pnpm >= 9.0.0 (recommended) or npm/yarn

See Getting Started for platform-specific prerequisites (Windows, macOS, Linux).

Time Commitment

Tutorial	Time to Complete
Getting Started	10-15 minutes
User Guide	30-45 minutes
Developer Guide	30-45 minutes
Advanced Usage	45-60 minutes
Best Practices	20-30 minutes
Total	~2-3 hours

Getting Help

If you get stuck:

📖 Check the main project README
💬 Join our Discord
🐛 Open an issue

Contributing

Found an error or want to improve the tutorials? Contributions welcome!

Fork the repository
Edit the tutorial file
Submit a pull request

See CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines.

Next: Start with Getting Started or jump to User Guide to learn about memory and agents.