Getting Started with Context

Context gives Claude persistent memory across conversations. Setup takes 3 minutes, and Claude will automatically remember everything important.

Quick Navigation

Step 1: Create Account & Get API Key

1 Sign Up

Create your free trial account at context.brianonai.com

2 Save Your API Key

After signup, you'll receive an API key via email. Save this securely - you'll need it in Step 3.

⚠️ Important: Your API key is like a password. Don't share it publicly.

Your API key looks like this:

FqBXEWdV01BV0gS+ABAuvXo23-5IccH2q70hVtTaxdE=

Step 2: Allow Context Domain in Claude

🔑 Critical Step - Don't Skip This!

Claude needs permission to access context.brianonai.com. Without this, Context won't work.

📱 Browser or desktop only: Changing Claude settings (allowed domains, custom instructions) must be done in a web browser at claude.ai or in desktop Claude. These settings cannot be configured in the Claude mobile app.

1 Open Claude Settings

  1. Go to claude.ai in your browser (or open desktop Claude)
  2. Click your profile icon (bottom left)
  3. Click "Settings"
  4. Go to the "Capabilities" tab

2 Enable Network Access

  1. Find "Code execution and file creation"
  2. Toggle it ON (should be blue/enabled)
  3. Find "Allow network egress"
  4. Toggle it ON

3 Add Context Domain

  1. Under "Additional allowed domains", add:
context.brianonai.com
  1. Click "Add"
✓ Done! You should now see context.brianonai.com in your allowed domains list.

Step 3: Give Claude the Instructions

Now give Claude the instructions to use Context. Copy and paste this at the start of your conversation:

Copy This Prompt

You have access to Context - a persistent memory system for our conversations. API Endpoint: https://context.brianonai.com My API Key: [YOUR_API_KEY_HERE] IMPORTANT: Before we start, please call: GET https://context.brianonai.com/context/briefing?project=getting-started Header: X-API-Key: [YOUR_API_KEY_HERE] This will load your welcome information and trial details. After you receive the briefing, confirm you can access Context and summarize my trial limits.
⚠️ Replace [YOUR_API_KEY_HERE] with your actual API key!

Example with Real API Key

Here's what it looks like with an actual key:

You have access to Context - a persistent memory system for our conversations. API Endpoint: https://context.brianonai.com My API Key: FqBXEWdV01BV0gS+ABAuvXo23-5IccH2q70hVtTaxdE= IMPORTANT: Before we start, please call: GET https://context.brianonai.com/context/briefing?project=getting-started Header: X-API-Key: FqBXEWdV01BV0gS+ABAuvXo23-5IccH2q70hVtTaxdE= This will load your welcome information and trial details. After you receive the briefing, confirm you can access Context and summarize my trial limits.

Step 4: Verify It's Working

What Should Happen

After pasting the prompt, Claude will:

  1. Call GET /context/briefing?project=getting-started with your API key
  2. Receive your welcome information and trial details
  3. Tell you about your trial (100 memories, 3 topics)
  4. Confirm Context is working
✓ Success! Claude now has persistent memory. Test it by:
  • Telling Claude something important: "Remember I prefer TypeScript"
  • Starting a NEW conversation (with the same prompt)
  • Asking: "What do you remember about my preferences?"

View Your Memories

See what Claude has saved:

You can also:

How Context Works

Automatic Memory Saving

Once set up, you don't need to do anything special. Just chat naturally, and Claude will:

Organizing with Topics

Context automatically organizes memories by topic (project). For example:

Claude detects topics automatically from your conversations. You can filter by topic in Cortex.

Explicit Commands

You can also explicitly tell Claude to use Context:

// Save something specific "Remember that I prefer dark mode" // Search past memories "What did we decide about the database?" // Get project context "Load context for the plotluck project" // Save session summary "Save a summary of this conversation"

Troubleshooting

Claude says "I don't have access to that domain"

Solution: You skipped Step 2!

  1. Go to Claude Settings → Capabilities
  2. Enable "Allow network egress"
  3. Add context.brianonai.com to allowed domains
  4. Try again in a new conversation

Claude says "API key not found"

Solution: Check your API key

  1. Go to your signup email
  2. Copy the API key exactly (including the = at the end)
  3. Replace [YOUR_API_KEY_HERE] in the prompt
  4. Start a new conversation with the corrected prompt

Manual test:

curl -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_KEY" \ https://context.brianonai.com/context/briefing?project=getting-started

If this returns JSON, your API key works.

I can't see my memories in Cortex

Possible causes:

Try asking Claude:

"Can you save a test memory for me? Save: 'This is a test memory'"

Then refresh Cortex - you should see the test memory.

Do I need to paste the prompt every time?

Yes, for now. You need to paste the Context prompt at the start of each conversation.

Tip: Save the prompt (with your API key) somewhere easy to access:

Future feature: We're working on a Chrome extension that will do this automatically!

After Your Free Trial

Trial Includes

Your 14-day trial gives you:

Paid Plan: $4.99/month

After your trial:

Need Help?

We're here to help!