Getting Data Into Your Brain

ModusBrain is the retrieval layer. But retrieval is only as good as what you put in. This directory covers how to get data flowing into your brain automatically.

How Data Flows In

Signal arrives (phone call, email, tweet, calendar event)
  ↓
Collector captures it (deterministic code, reliable)
  ↓
Agent analyzes it (LLM, judgment, entity detection)
  ↓
Brain pages created/updated (compiled truth + timeline)
  ↓
ModusBrain indexes it (chunking, embedding, search-ready)
  ↓
Next query is smarter (the compounding effect)

Available Integrations

Self-Installing Recipes

These are integration recipes your agent can set up for you. Run modusbrain integrations to see what’s available and their status.

Recipe	Category	Requires	What It Does	Setup Time
ngrok-tunnel	Infra	—	Fixed public URL for MCP + voice ($8/mo)	10 min
credential-gateway	Infra	—	Gmail + Calendar access (ClawVisor or Google OAuth)	15 min
voice-to-brain	Sense	ngrok-tunnel	Phone calls create brain pages via Twilio + OpenAI Realtime	30 min
email-to-brain	Sense	credential-gateway	Gmail messages flow into entity pages via deterministic collector	20 min
x-to-brain	Sense	—	Twitter timeline, mentions, keyword monitoring with deletion detection	15 min
calendar-to-brain	Sense	credential-gateway	Google Calendar events become searchable daily brain pages	20 min
meeting-sync	Sense	—	Circleback meeting transcripts auto-import with attendee propagation	15 min

Manual Integration Guides

These require manual setup (no self-installing recipe yet):

Guide	What It Does
Credential Gateway	Set up ClawVisor or Hermes for Gmail, Calendar, Contacts access
Meeting & Call Webhooks	Circleback meeting transcripts + Quo/OpenPhone SMS/calls

How to Read a Recipe

Integration recipes are markdown files with YAML frontmatter. Your agent reads the recipe and walks you through setup.

---
id: voice-to-brain              # unique identifier
name: Voice-to-Brain            # human-readable name
version: 0.7.0                  # recipe version
description: Phone calls...     # what it does
category: sense                 # sense (data input) or reflex (automated response)
requires: []                    # other recipes that must be set up first
secrets:                        # API keys and credentials needed
  - name: TWILIO_ACCOUNT_SID
    description: Twilio account SID
    where: https://console.twilio.com    # exact URL to get this key
health_checks:                  # typed DSL to verify the integration is working
  - type: http
    url: "https://api.twilio.com/2010-04-01/Accounts/$TWILIO_ACCOUNT_SID.json"
    auth: basic
    auth_user: "$TWILIO_ACCOUNT_SID"
    auth_token: "$TWILIO_AUTH_TOKEN"
    label: "Twilio account"
setup_time: 30 min              # estimated time to complete setup
---

[Setup instructions the agent follows step by step...]

The recipe IS the installer. Your agent (OpenClaw, Hermes, Claude Code) reads the markdown body and executes the setup steps. It asks you for API keys, validates each one, configures the integration, and runs a smoke test.

Recipe trust boundary

Only recipes shipped inside the modusbrain package itself (the recipes/ directory in a source install, or the global install copy) are trusted. Recipes discovered at runtime from $MODUSBRAIN_RECIPES_DIR or a cwd-local ./recipes/ are marked untrusted: they cannot run command health checks, cannot run http health checks (SSRF defense), and cannot use the deprecated string health_check form. Untrusted recipes can still use env_exists and any_of compositions. To ship a recipe that runs live checks, contribute it upstream so it becomes package-bundled.

The Deterministic Collector Pattern

When an LLM keeps failing at a mechanical task despite repeated prompt fixes, stop fighting the LLM. Move the mechanical work to code. Code for data. LLMs for judgment.

Email collection: code pulls emails with baked-in links (100% reliable). LLM reads the digest, classifies, enriches brain entries (judgment).
Tweet collection: code pulls timeline, detects deletions, tracks engagement (deterministic). LLM extracts entities, writes brain updates (judgment).
Calendar sync: code pulls events and attendees (deterministic). LLM enriches attendee brain pages (judgment).

This pattern prevents the “LLM forgot the links” failure mode. Mechanical work must be 100% reliable. Judgment work is where LLMs shine. See Deterministic Collectors for the full pattern.

Architecture

For details on the shared infrastructure that all integrations build on (import pipeline, chunking, embedding, search), see the Infrastructure Layer. For the philosophy behind thin harness + fat skills, see Thin Harness, Fat Skills.

MCP Clients

MCP Deployment

Integrations

Integrations

Getting Data Into Your Brain

How Data Flows In

Available Integrations

Self-Installing Recipes

Manual Integration Guides

How to Read a Recipe

Recipe trust boundary

The Deterministic Collector Pattern

Architecture

​Getting Data Into Your Brain

​How Data Flows In

​Available Integrations

​Self-Installing Recipes

​Manual Integration Guides

​How to Read a Recipe

​Recipe trust boundary

​The Deterministic Collector Pattern

​Architecture

Getting Data Into Your Brain

How Data Flows In

Available Integrations

Self-Installing Recipes

Manual Integration Guides

How to Read a Recipe

Recipe trust boundary

The Deterministic Collector Pattern

Architecture