setup-location-memory

Set up location memory

Four things have to be true: a Postgres to write to, the schema in it, an env file the server can find, and the MCP server registered with the agent. Check them in that order, because each one's error looks like the one before it.

1. Where the config lives

cat ~/.config/tars-location/.env

LOCATION_DATABASE_URL is required. LOCATION_GEOCODER_CONTACT has no default and nothing geocodes without it: Nominatim's usage policy asks for an address they can reach you at, and an anonymous scraper gets blocked. The rest have defaults, listed in .env.example.

If there is no database yet, a container on the same machine is enough:

docker run -d --name location-db -e POSTGRES_PASSWORD=local -p 5432:5432 postgres:16

2. The schema

tars-location migrate
tars-location status

migrate is idempotent, so running it again after an upgrade is the normal case. status prints what the archive holds per source and every gap it knows about; run it after every step below and read the counts rather than assuming.

3. Fill it

The past. Google keeps Timeline on the phone now, so a Takeout gives you settings only. The export lives at Settings > Location > Location services > Timeline > Export Timeline data, and produces one JSON file.

tars-location import ~/Downloads/location-history.json --geocode 200
tars-location detect-trips

Four export shapes are handled and every insert is on conflict do nothing, so re-importing an overlapping export is safe and adds only what is new. Geocoding is deliberately separate from the insert, because Nominatim allows one call a second and an export brings a thousand new places. Drain the rest on a timer:

tars-location enrich --geocode 25

The present. OwnTracks, in HTTP mode, with the token as the password under Authentication:

tars-location token add --label pixel
tars-location serve --port 8080

The endpoint refuses to bind anything but loopback unless you tell it there is TLS in front, because a bearer token over plain HTTP is a token in every hop's logs. Put a reverse proxy there before exposing it.