Agent Memory
A persistent memory space for storing knowledge that survives across conversations.
Location: .claude/skills/agent-memory/memories/
Proactive Usage
Save memories when you discover something worth preserving:
- •Research findings that took effort to uncover
- •Non-obvious patterns or gotchas in the codebase
- •Solutions to tricky problems
- •Architectural decisions and their rationale
- •In-progress work that may be resumed later
Check memories when starting related work:
- •Before investigating a problem area
- •When working on a feature you've touched before
- •When resuming work after a conversation break
Organize memories when needed:
- •Consolidate scattered memories on the same topic
- •Remove outdated or superseded information
- •Update status field when work completes, gets blocked, or is abandoned
Folder Structure
Organize memories using the following directory convention:
<scope>/<YYYY-MM-DD>_<descriptive-name>/<filename>.md
- •scope: Repository name (e.g.
taimee-rails-api) orgeneralfor cross-project / non-repository-specific memories - •YYYY-MM-DD: Date the memory was created (on the directory name)
- •descriptive-name: A concise name describing the topic (kebab-case)
- •filename: A name describing the content of the file (e.g.
finding.md,progress.md,design.md)
Guidelines:
- •Use kebab-case for all folder and file names
- •Consolidate or reorganize as the knowledge base evolves
Example:
memories/
├── taimee-rails-api/
│ ├── 2026-02-06_suspended-company-email-registration/
│ │ └── finding.md
│ └── 2026-02-10_bulk-export-performance-issue/
│ └── finding.md
└── general/
└── 2026-01-20_docker-compose-networking-tips/
└── finding.md
Frontmatter
All memories must include frontmatter with a summary field. The summary should be concise enough to determine whether to read the full content.
Summary is the decision point: Agents scan summaries via rg "^summary:" to decide which memories to read in full. Write summaries that contain enough context to make this decision - what the memory is about, the key problem or topic, and why it matters.
Required:
--- summary: "1-2 line description of what this memory contains" created: 2025-01-15 # YYYY-MM-DD format ---
Optional:
--- summary: "Worker thread memory leak during large file processing - cause and solution" created: 2025-01-15 updated: 2025-01-20 status: in-progress # in-progress | resolved | blocked | abandoned tags: [performance, worker, memory-leak] related: [src/core/file/fileProcessor.ts] ---
Search Workflow
Use summary-first approach to efficiently find relevant memories:
# 1. List categories ls .claude/skills/agent-memory/memories/ # 2. View all summaries rg "^summary:" .claude/skills/agent-memory/memories/ --no-ignore --hidden # 3. Search summaries for keyword rg "^summary:.*keyword" .claude/skills/agent-memory/memories/ --no-ignore --hidden -i # 4. Search by tag rg "^tags:.*keyword" .claude/skills/agent-memory/memories/ --no-ignore --hidden -i # 5. Full-text search (when summary search isn't enough) rg "keyword" .claude/skills/agent-memory/memories/ --no-ignore --hidden -i # 6. Read specific memory file if relevant
Note: Memory files are gitignored, so use --no-ignore and --hidden flags with ripgrep.
Operations
Save
- •Determine appropriate category for the content
- •Check if existing category fits, or create new one
- •Write file with required frontmatter (use
date +%Y-%m-%dfor current date)
mkdir -p .claude/skills/agent-memory/memories/repo-name/2025-01-15_topic-name/ # Note: Check if file exists before writing to avoid accidental overwrites cat > .claude/skills/agent-memory/memories/repo-name/2025-01-15_topic-name/finding.md << 'EOF' --- summary: "Brief description of this memory" created: 2025-01-15 --- # Title Content here... EOF
Maintain
- •Update: When information changes, update the content and add
updatedfield to frontmatter - •Delete: Remove memories that are no longer relevant
bash
trash .claude/skills/agent-memory/memories/category-name/filename.md # Remove empty category folders rmdir .claude/skills/agent-memory/memories/category-name/ 2>/dev/null || true
- •Consolidate: Merge related memories when they grow
- •Reorganize: Move memories to better-fitting categories as the knowledge base evolves
Guidelines
- •Write for resumption: Memories exist to resume work later. Capture all key points needed to continue without losing context - decisions made, reasons why, current state, and next steps.
- •Write self-contained notes: Include full context so the reader needs no prior knowledge to understand and act on the content
- •Keep summaries decisive: Reading the summary should tell you if you need the details
- •Stay current: Update or delete outdated information
- •Be practical: Save what's actually useful, not everything
Content Reference
When writing detailed memories, consider including:
- •Context: Goal, background, constraints
- •State: What's done, in progress, or blocked
- •Details: Key files, commands, code snippets
- •Next steps: What to do next, open questions
Not all memories need all sections - use what's relevant.