What is Pensieve?
Pensieve is a local MCP server and Mac app for developers who work with AI coding agents such as Claude Code, Codex and Cursor. It brings agent sessions together with related branches, pull requests, tickets and connected work conversations, so developers can return to a task with its context intact. In Developer mode, agents can also search a local index of selected code and files. Pensieve is free and open source; the app requires Apple Silicon and macOS 14 or later.
Pensieve Features:
Thread Context: Pensieve links agent sessions with related branches, pull requests, tracker tickets and, when connected, Slack messages into a shared thread.
Tracker Connections: Connect Jira, Linear or Asana to bring tickets into threads as to-dos, and connect Slack to show messages that name a thread's ticket, pull request or branch.
Branch Grouping: Sessions working on the same branch are grouped together, and developers can fork a new session from the sessions associated with that branch.
Agent Search: In Developer mode, a coding agent can ask Pensieve for relevant passages from a local index, with file names and line references.
Ship and Discard: Pensieve reads git, GitHub and tracker state to list remaining steps for closing or discarding work, with approval required before actions that leave the Mac.
Team Knowledge: In Developer mode, People and Insights identify contributors associated with topics and highlight where knowledge is concentrated across selected repositories.
Pensieve Benefits:
Faster Resumption: Developers can pick up an interrupted task without first reconstructing its status from separate sessions, tickets and pull requests.
Less Repeated Searching: Agents can find relevant code passages directly, reducing the need to search through files and helping keep answers focused.
Fewer Loose Ends: A visible view of unfinished branch work makes it easier to spot changes that still need review, merging or cleanup.
Safer Actions: Approval before consequential GitHub or branch actions gives developers a chance to review what an agent is about to do.
Easier Handoffs: A coworker can take over a thread with its related work in view, reducing the context a teammate has to gather before continuing.
Use Cases:
Resume Coding Work: Return to a coding-agent session and check its associated branch, pull request and ticket before continuing an unfinished change.
Investigate a Bug: Ask a coding agent to find relevant code passages when tracing a bug across a selected local repository.
Close a Pull Request: Review the remaining commit, review, merge and ticket steps for a branch before wrapping up its work.
Track Ticket Work: Follow a ticket alongside the agent session and branch handling its implementation, with connected tracker status reflected in the thread.
Hand Off a Task: Share a work thread with a teammate so they can see its connected context and continue the task.