Claude-Mem seamlessly preserves context across sessions by automatically capturing tool usage observations, generating semantic summaries, and making them available to future sessions. This enables Claude to maintain continuity of knowledge about projects even after sessions end or reconnect.
Quick Start
Install claude-mem for Grok Bot:
npx claude-mem install --ide grok-bot
Grok Bot has no host hooks, so we watch the chat log files. Default is CMEM Pro, the hosted memory. Local observer is opt-in: --provider host. Installing this plugin does not install Cursor.
Awareness push pilot (LFG + Orifice): needle observations (decision, bugfix, security_alert, sensitive) are appended as dated - YYYY-MM-DD [awareness] … lines into that bot's memory/log/YYYY-MM.md. Grok Bot already re-reads the log from disk. This does not write profile.md, user-memory, or project memory. Disable with CLAUDE_MEM_GROK_BOT_AWARENESS_ENABLED=false.
Install with a single command:
npx claude-mem install
The installer sets everything up first, then asks you to sign in to claude-mem in your browser (email magic link — no card required). Signing in provisions a memory key for your account and unlocks the claude-mem observer with a 30 Day Free Trial: memory runs off-plan, so you get up to 100% more usage from your plan. When the free trial ends, memory automatically falls back to your Anthropic plan unless you subscribe. After sign-in you pick your memory provider — the claude-mem observer, your own OpenRouter or Gemini key, or your Anthropic plan.
Prefer to skip the sign-in? Pass an explicit --provider flag, set CLAUDE_MEM_ONLINE_OPTIN=false, or run in CI/non-interactive shells — the installer completes without any account interaction.
Or install for OpenCode:
npx claude-mem install --ide opencode
This works with OpenCode 1.3.4 or later, including OpenCode 2. Restart OpenCode after installing.
Or install for T3 Code (Codex and Claude Code providers):
npx claude-mem install --ide t3code
The installer discovers T3 Code's enabled providers, registers native Claude-Mem plugins in their configured homes, and supports T3-managed Codex. Restart T3 Code, trust the provider's hooks when prompted, and start a new thread. See the T3 Code integration guide for custom server settings, status, and removal.
Restart Claude Code. Context from previous sessions will automatically appear in new sessions.
Note: Claude-Mem is also published on npm, but npm install -g claude-mem installs the SDK/library only — it does not register the plugin hooks or set up the worker service. Always install via npx claude-mem install or the /plugin commands above.
🦞 OpenClaw Gateway
Install claude-mem as a persistent memory plugin on OpenClaw gateways with a single command:
The installer handles dependencies, plugin setup, AI provider configuration, worker startup, and optional real-time observation feeds to Telegram, Discord, Slack, and more. See the OpenClaw Integration Guide for details.
Key Features:
🧠 Persistent Memory - Context survives across sessions
🔍 Smart Search (Default) - Query your project history with the three-step mem-search skill
🖥️ Local My Work - Live requests, progress, human handoffs and a saved review queue at the worker URL printed on startup. Guide. Memory, sessions and settings remain at /viewer.
👥 TeamBrain - An optional shared workspace beside My Work, with real team work lists, member attribution and linked findings. Each person chooses what to share; personal requests and review notes stay separate. Set up a team.
💻 Claude Desktop Skill - Search memory from Claude Desktop conversations
🔒 Privacy Control - Use <private> tags to exclude sensitive content from storage
⚙️ Context Configuration - Fine-grained control over what context gets injected
🤖 Automatic Operation - No manual intervention required
🔗 Citations - Reference past observations with IDs through the worker API or view all in the web viewer
Lifecycle Hooks - SessionStart, UserPromptSubmit, PreToolUse, PostToolUse, Stop, SessionEnd. Each is one shell-free command, claude-mem hook claude-code <event>, run by a small launcher that the installer puts on PATH
Smart Install - Cached dependency checker (Setup hook on claude --init / --maintenance, plus npx claude-mem install / repair)
Worker Service - Local HTTP API with web viewer UI and search endpoints, managed by Bun
Bun: JavaScript runtime and process manager (auto-installed if missing)
uv: Python package manager for vector search (auto-installed if missing)
SQLite 3: For persistent storage (bundled)
Windows Setup Notes
If you see an error like:
npm : The term 'npm' is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet
Make sure Node.js and npm are installed and added to your PATH. Download the latest Node.js installer from https://nodejs.org and restart your terminal after installation.
Claude Code hooks do not need Git Bash. Each hook runs claude-mem directly, and npx claude-mem install places that launcher at %LOCALAPPDATA%\claude-mem\bin\claude-mem.exe and adds the folder to your user Path. Restart your terminal or IDE afterwards so Claude Code picks up the new Path. If hooks report Executable not found in $PATH: "claude-mem", run npx claude-mem doctor and see Troubleshooting.
Configuration
Settings are managed in ~/.claude-mem/settings.json (auto-created with defaults on first run). Configure AI model, worker port, data directory, log level, and context injection settings.
To include observations from every harness in Claude Code and Codex SessionStart context, set "CLAUDE_MEM_SESSION_START_INCLUDE_ALL_SOURCES": "true" in that file, or enable Include all sources at session start in the viewer settings. The default is "false", which limits startup context to the current harness. The observation count limit still applies across the selected sources.
Claude-Mem supports multiple workflow modes and languages via the CLAUDE_MEM_MODE setting.
This option controls both:
The workflow behavior (e.g. code, chill, investigation)
The language used in generated observations
How to Configure
Edit your settings file at ~/.claude-mem/settings.json:
{
"CLAUDE_MEM_MODE": "code--zh"
}
Modes are defined in plugin/modes/. To see all available modes locally:
ls ~/.claude/plugins/marketplaces/thedotmack/plugin/modes/
Available Modes
Mode
Description
code
Default English mode
code--zh
Simplified Chinese mode
code--ja
Japanese mode
Language-specific modes follow the pattern code--[lang] where [lang] is the ISO 639-1 language code (e.g., zh for Chinese, ja for Japanese, es for Spanish).
Note: code--zh (Simplified Chinese) is already built-in — no additional installation or plugin update is required.
After Changing Mode
Restart Claude Code to apply the new mode configuration.
Development
See the Development Guide for build instructions, testing, and contribution workflow.
Troubleshooting
If experiencing issues, describe the problem to Claude and the troubleshoot skill will automatically diagnose and provide fixes.
Claude-Mem is licensed under the Apache License 2.0.
We chose Apache-2.0 because durable agentic memory should be easy to embed in
developer tools, local agents, MCP servers, enterprise systems, robotics stacks,
and production agent harnesses.
Built with Claude Agent SDK | Works with Claude Code | Made with TypeScript
What About CMEM?
CMEM is a token created by a 3rd party but officially embraced by the creator of Claude-Mem (Alex Newman, @thedotmack). The token acts as a community catalyst for growth and a vehicle for bringing CMEM to the developers and knowledge workers that need it most.
Official BASE CA: 0x76b1967eec0ccaeb001bbbb2b40dc4badba31ba3
What is this?Claude-Mem gives coding agents persistent memory across sessions: it captures everything your agent does, compresses it with AI, and injects the relevant context back into future sessions.
Is this a standalone app or a plugin for my agent?It is a plugin/worker system that hooks into your coding agent's lifecycle (session start, prompt submit, tool use, session end) and runs a local worker service with SQLite and a Chroma vector database behind the scenes.
What do I need running on my machine for it to work?You need Node.js 20+ and a Claude Code (or other supported agent) with plugin support; Bun and uv are auto-installed if missing, and SQLite 3 is bundled.
Does the free hosted memory provider cost anything?Sign-in unlocks the hosted 'claude-mem observer' memory for free for the first 30 days; after the trial ends it falls back to using your own Anthropic plan unless you subscribe.
Which coding agents does it support?It works with Claude Code, OpenClaw, Codex, Gemini, Hermes, Copilot, OpenCode and more, with dedicated install paths for OpenCode, Antigravity CLI, and OpenClaw gateways.
Does it run on Windows as well as Mac/Linux?Yes, it runs cross-platform; the README even includes Windows-specific setup notes about adding Node.js/npm to PATH.
Does it need a daemon running to sync memories?No daemon is required; the worker process syncs memories to the cloud on write when using Cloud Sync.
Can I keep my memory data fully local instead of using the hosted service?Yes, a local observer mode is opt-in via the --provider host flag, and you can also use your own OpenRouter/Gemini key or your Anthropic plan instead of the hosted CMEM Pro service.
How does memory search actually work under the hood?Claude-Mem exposes 4 MCP tools (search, timeline, getObservations, plus the index workflow) following a 3-layer, token-efficient pattern: search returns a compact index (~50-100 tokens/result), timeline gives chronological context, and getObservations fetches full details only for filtered IDs, saving roughly 10x tokens versus fetching everything.
Can I exclude sensitive information from being stored?Yes, the Privacy Control feature lets you use tags to exclude sensitive content from being saved into memory.
What is the CMEM token mentioned in the README?CMEM is a third-party community token embraced (but not issued) by the project's creator, acting as a community growth catalyst; it is unrelated to the core open-source software itself.
Is there a UI to view what the agent remembers?Yes, a Web Viewer UI shows a real-time memory stream at the worker URL printed on startup, and there's also a Claude Desktop skill for searching memory from desktop conversations.
Claude-Mem gives coding agents persistent memory across sessions: it captures everything your agent does, compresses it with AI, and injects the relevant context back into future sessions.