Elephant.md

What Elephant.md does

Elephant.md operates a markdown-native knowledge base platform designed to serve both human developers and AI coding agents. The product surface spans four access points: a command-line interface distributed via npm under the 'elephant-md' and 'tusk' commands; a VS Code Marketplace extension (Elephant.elephant-vscode) compatible with VS Code, Cursor, and Windsurf; a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that exposes document search, fetch, management, and collection operations as native tools to AI coding agents; and a public REST API at https://elephant.md/api/v1 with Bearer-token authentication and trust-tiered rate limits.

The underlying technology combines markdown-native document storage with hybrid full-text and semantic search, scoped search protections (user library by default; explicit 'scope:public' for the wider corpus), a curated Collections primitive acting as agent-consumable context packages, Burn Links for view-once or timed-expiry document sharing, Document Tracking via .elephant.json for idempotent updates, and Document Install which writes content directly into AI agent context files such as CLAUDE.md and .cursorrules. Authentication is delivered through GitHub and Google OAuth, with tokens stored in ~/.tusk/config.json. Document taxonomy spans nine categories (skills, guides, specs, standards, templates, plans, proposals, reference, runbooks) and four doc types (context, skill, command, rule).

The company pursues a product-led growth motion with horizontal segmentation across two primary personas: AI coding agents that require persistent, shareable memory and curated context packages, and human developers who need markdown document management across CLI, editor, and API surfaces. Pricing is not publicly disclosed; the platform offers free access to public documents and gates authenticated features behind login. There is no disclosed revenue, funding, headcount, or paid tier structure in the source material, and the company is a private entity headquartered in London, United Kingdom, with global self-serve distribution through npm, the VS Code Marketplace, and direct MCP configuration files.

Name

Elephant.md

Website

https://elephant.md

Company type

Private

Founded year

2016

Operating status

Operating

Short description

Elephant.md is a markdown-native knowledge base and persistent memory layer for AI coding agents and developers, distributed via an npm CLI, a VS Code extension, and a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server with integrations for Claude Code, Cursor, and Windsurf.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Knowledge Management Software

NAICS

Software Publishers (5132)

SIC

Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)

akta.pro primary industry

AI Application Enablement Platforms (Copilot/Agent Frameworks, SDKs) (HDAEANAJ)

Keywords

• Knowledge base platform
• Markdown management
• AI agent memory
• Developer documentation
• Context sharing

Headquarters

HQ city

London

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations

Revenue model

1. Platform Access: Core platform with free tier for public documents. Authenticated features require token obtained via GitHub or Google login. Revenue model not explicitly disclosed in available sources.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Elephant.md is a markdown-native knowledge base platform that lets humans and AI coding agents store, share, discover, and install documents across a CLI tool, a VS Code Extension, a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server, and a REST API. The platform supports public, unlisted, and private documents across categories such as skills, guides, specs, standards, templates, plans, proposals, reference, and runbooks, with hybrid full-text and semantic search. AI agents use it as persistent, shareable memory and to install curated Collections of documents into their context files (e.g., CLAUDE.md, .cursorrules) across Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf, and Claude Desktop.

Product overview

Elephant.md is a unified markdown-native knowledge base platform designed for both humans and AI agents. The core offering consists of the elephant.md platform with integrated tools: a CLI (elephant-md) for terminal-based document management, an MCP Server providing Model Context Protocol access for AI coding agents, a VS Code Extension for editor-based publishing, and a REST API for programmatic integration. Key features include Collections (curated document packages for context aggregation), Burn Links (self-destructing shareable documents with timed or view-once expiry), Bookmarks (document and collection subscription), and Document Install (installing docs into agent context files like CLAUDE.md). The platform offers hybrid full-text and semantic search capabilities across public documents and authenticated user libraries.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• elephant.md Core Platform

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration7 records

AI capability2 records

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Claude CodecoreTechnology or IntegrationFirst-class MCP server integration enabling Claude Code users to search, fetch, and manage documents as native tools. Configuration documented in .mcp.json format. Users can install documents into agent context (CLAUDE.md).
• Claude DesktopcoreTechnology or IntegrationMCP server integration for Claude Desktop application via claude_desktop_config.json configuration. Enables AI assistant access to elephant.md document management capabilities.
• CursorcoreTechnology or IntegrationVS Code-compatible MCP configuration enabling Cursor editor users to access elephant.md document management tools natively within their development environment.

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Emerging players

• Mem: Mem is an AI-first note-taking and knowledge management app targeting individual productivity. It shares the AI-enhanced knowledge base positioning but is consumer/professional productivity-focused rather than AI-coding-agent-focused.
• Mem0: Mem0 is an open-source memory layer for AI agents and LLMs. It competes for the AI-agent-memory use case Elephant.md targets but is more of a library/SDK vs. Elephant.md's hosted knowledge-base platform with a public corpus.
• Zep (Zep Cloud): Zep is a memory layer purpose-built for AI agents, providing long-term conversation memory and context retrieval — directly adjacent to Elephant.md's persistent-memory use case. They target AI app developers vs. Elephant.md's developer-as-end-user focus, but compete for AI-agent memory budgets.

Broad incumbents

• Confluence: Atlassian's Confluence is the enterprise wiki incumbent used by developers for documentation and runbooks — categories explicitly supported by Elephant.md. It serves a similar job-to-be-done but lacks AI-agent-native installation and the developer-CLI-first UX.
• Notion: Notion is a broad workspace/document platform with a strong developer audience and AI features (Notion AI). It overlaps with Elephant.md's human-developer document management use case but is a horizontal product without Elephant.md's AI-agent-native MCP integrations.

Direct peers

• GitBook: GitBook is a developer-focused documentation platform built around markdown and Git workflows. It overlaps with Elephant.md's documentation/guides/specs categories and developer audience, though it is more oriented toward published docs than AI-agent context packages.
• ReadMe: ReadMe is a developer hub/API documentation platform with markdown and code samples. It overlaps with Elephant.md's "specs/standards/reference" categories and developer audience, though it is more focused on API reference publishing than AI-agent context.
• Obsidian: Obsidian is a markdown-native local knowledge base with strong developer adoption and a plugin ecosystem. It is comparable on the markdown-knowledge base dimension but lacks native MCP integration, AI-agent context installation, and cloud-side sharing primitives like burn links.

Others

• Docusaurus: Docusaurus is an open-source markdown-based static site generator popular for developer documentation. It is adjacent in the markdown-knowledge-for-developers space but is self-hosted and lacks AI-agent integration and shared context-package primitives.
• Cursor: Cursor is one of Elephant.md's named integration partners (MCP-config-based). It is an AI coding IDE rather than a direct competitor, but strategic bundling decisions by Cursor could either accelerate or replace demand for a separate memory layer.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Elephant.md