> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.baselayer.id/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# How It Works

> The Capture, Dream, and Recall pipeline.

# How It Works

BaseLayer turns your AI conversations into a searchable knowledge graph through three stages: **Capture**, **Dream**, and **Recall**.

## Capture

BaseLayer watches your AI conversations as they happen.

**Chrome extension** for web AI: Chat with Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, OpenRouter, or Open WebUI and the extension captures each conversation automatically.

**IDE watchers** for coding tools: The desktop app monitors Cursor, Claude Code, Windsurf, GitHub Copilot, and Aider. It picks up conversations automatically. No plugins needed.

The desktop app is available on macOS (10.15+). Captured conversations are sent securely to your memory in the cloud.

## Dream

This is where raw conversations become structured knowledge.

After a conversation is captured, BaseLayer's dream engine runs in the background. It reads through what was discussed and extracts:

* **People**: colleagues, contacts, anyone mentioned by name
* **Projects**: codebases, products, initiatives you're working on
* **Organizations**: companies, teams, groups
* **Technologies**: languages, frameworks, services, infrastructure
* **Concepts**: ideas, patterns, decisions, strategies
* **Relationships**: how all of the above connect to each other

BaseLayer supports 14 entity types in total: person, place, project, plan, organization, concept, event, media, technology, goal, document, belief, habit, and product.

For example, if you told Claude: *"I'm working with Sarah on the payments migration to Stripe"*, BaseLayer would extract:

* A person named **Sarah**
* A project called **payments migration**
* A technology reference to **Stripe**
* Relationships linking them together

The dream engine is event-driven and runs in the cloud. Processing speed depends on your tier: Pro users get near-realtime extraction (roughly 2 minutes), while Free tier conversations are processed every 2 hours.

<Note>"Dreaming" is our term for the background knowledge extraction process. It happens automatically. You don't need to do anything.</Note>

## Recall

Any MCP-connected AI can search your knowledge graph.

When you connect BaseLayer to Claude, ChatGPT, or another AI tool via MCP (Model Context Protocol), that AI gains access to 11 tools:

### Querying

| Tool           | What it does                                                    |
| -------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `ask_question` | Get a synthesized prose answer from your memory, with citations |

### Searching

| Tool                    | What it does                                             |
| ----------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------- |
| `memory_search`         | Semantic search across entities and facts                |
| `get_entity`            | Fetch a full dossier on a specific entity                |
| `get_entity_relations`  | Explore connections and facts between entities           |
| `get_entity_provenance` | Trace where a piece of knowledge came from               |
| `list_entities`         | Browse all entities of a given type                      |
| `recent_conversations`  | Load recent conversation context for session orientation |
| `retrieve_evidence`     | Search raw conversation history for exact quotes         |

### Writing

| Tool            | What it does                                                      |
| --------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `record_memory` | Persist a new observation or decision to your memory              |
| `vault_fact`    | Assert a specific fact as a graph edge between two entities       |
| `update_plan`   | Create or update a persistent plan that tracks multi-step efforts |

The recommended flow: start with `ask_question` for synthesized answers, use `memory_search` when you need to browse or explore, and call `get_entity` for deep dives into specific people, projects, or concepts.

## The result

Your knowledge compounds across every AI tool you use. A conversation in ChatGPT becomes context available in Claude. A decision made in Cursor is remembered in Gemini. A preference stated once is never forgotten.

One memory. Every AI. All your knowledge.