# Overview
> **TL;DR** The Open Context Layer (OCL) is a user-owned system for managing and sharing context across AI agents and apps. You control the context you generate (preferences, identity, history, knowledge, intent) and decide who can access it, when, and how.
The **Open Context Layer (OCL)** is a user-owned, privacy-preserving system for managing and sharing context across AI agents, apps, and digital systems.
#### Why we're building it
The way humans interact with the internet is undergoing a once-in-a-generation transformation. Traditional search, static interfaces, and disconnected apps are giving way to fluid, conversational interactions powered by intelligent agents and large language models. In this new era (the Agentic Web), AI agents act on behalf of users, navigating digital spaces, making decisions, and personalizing services in real time.
But to be truly intelligent, agents need more than the last message. They need *context*: who you are, what you're working on, what you care about. Today, this context is fragmented across apps, owned by platforms, and lost with every session.
> OCL provides the missing foundation: **a portable, persistent, privacy-preserving context layer** that puts users back in control.
Instead of starting from scratch in every app, your preferences, memory, and intent follow you: encrypted, under your control, and shareable only with explicit consent.
OCL turns context into a first-class, programmable primitive: one that powers hyper-personalization without compromising privacy, and lets apps and agents work smarter, together.
Our vision is a world where:
* Context follows users across apps and agents
* AI assistants remember and adapt to your style and goals
* Users control who sees what, when, and how
* Personalization and privacy are balanced by design
This is the backbone of the Agentic Web: a future of AI systems aligned with individuals, not platforms.
#### How OCL works
OCL has three pieces that build on each other:
**Memory Buckets** are the underlying primitive. User-owned, encrypted containers that hold your context. You can have many (work, personal, health) and you decide what goes in each.
[**AI Context Flow**](https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/ai-context-flow-ai-memory/cfegfckldnmbdnimjgfamhjnmjpcmgnf) is the browser extension that makes memory buckets useful day-to-day. It captures context from your existing apps, websites and conversations. It allows you to organize your context, and prepares it to be shared with the AI tools you actually use.
**The Plurality MCP Server** is the bridge. It exposes your memory buckets to any AI agent that speaks the [Model Context Protocol](https://modelcontextprotocol.io) — Claude, Claude Code, ChatGPT, OpenClaw, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Lovable, LMStudio, and others — so they can read your context (with your permission) without you provide context in each new session.
#### Where to go next
* **New here?** Read [Architecture at a glance](/overview/architecture-at-a-glance.md) for a one-page overview of the system.
* **Want to try it now?** Jump to the [Quickstart](/overview/quickstart.md) — five minutes to your first context-aware agent.
* **Just interested in connecting MCP?** Jump to the relevant [guides](/the-plurality-mcp-server/connect-your-agents-via-mcp.md).
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