Add installation, troubleshooting, and usage documentation for Claude-Mem plugin

- Created comprehensive installation guide detailing quick start, system requirements, and advanced installation steps.
- Developed troubleshooting guide addressing common issues with worker service, hooks, database, and search tools.
- Introduced getting started documentation explaining automatic operation, session summaries, and context injection.
- Added detailed usage instructions for MCP search tools, including query examples and advanced filtering techniques.
This commit is contained in:
Alex Newman
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# Getting Started with Claude-Mem
## Automatic Operation
Claude-Mem works automatically once installed. No manual intervention required!
### The Full Cycle
1. **Start Claude Code** - Context from last 3 sessions appears automatically
2. **Work normally** - Every tool execution is captured
3. **Stop Claude** - Summary is generated and saved
4. **Next session** - Previous work appears in context
### What Gets Captured
Every time Claude uses a tool, claude-mem captures it:
- **Read** - File reads and content access
- **Write** - New file creation
- **Edit** - File modifications
- **Bash** - Command executions
- **Glob** - File pattern searches
- **Grep** - Content searches
- And all other Claude Code tools
### What Gets Processed
The worker service processes tool observations and extracts:
- **Title** - Brief description of what happened
- **Subtitle** - Additional context
- **Narrative** - Detailed explanation
- **Facts** - Key learnings as bullet points
- **Concepts** - Relevant tags and categories
- **Type** - Classification (decision, bugfix, feature, etc.)
- **Files** - Which files were read or modified
### Session Summaries
When you stop Claude (or a session ends), a summary is generated with:
- **Request** - What you asked for
- **Investigated** - What Claude explored
- **Learned** - Key discoveries and insights
- **Completed** - What was accomplished
- **Next Steps** - What to do next
### Context Injection
When you start a new Claude Code session, the SessionStart hook:
1. Queries the database for recent sessions in your project
2. Retrieves the last 10 session summaries
3. Formats them with three-tier verbosity (most recent = most detail)
4. Injects them into Claude's initial context
This means Claude "remembers" what happened in previous sessions!
## Manual Commands (Optional)
### Worker Management
v4.0+ auto-starts the worker on first session. Manual commands below are optional.
```bash
# Start worker service (optional - auto-starts automatically)
npm run worker:start
# Stop worker service
npm run worker:stop
# Restart worker service
npm run worker:restart
# View worker logs
npm run worker:logs
# Check worker status
npm run worker:status
```
### Testing
```bash
# Run all tests
npm test
# Test context injection
npm run test:context
# Verbose context test
npm run test:context:verbose
```
### Development
```bash
# Build hooks and worker
npm run build
# Build only hooks
npm run build:hooks
# Publish to NPM (maintainers only)
npm run publish:npm
```
## Viewing Stored Context
Context is stored in SQLite database at `~/.claude-mem/claude-mem.db`.
Query the database directly:
```bash
# Open database
sqlite3 ~/.claude-mem/claude-mem.db
# View recent sessions
SELECT session_id, project, created_at, status
FROM sdk_sessions
ORDER BY created_at DESC
LIMIT 10;
# View session summaries
SELECT session_id, request, completed, learned
FROM session_summaries
ORDER BY created_at DESC
LIMIT 5;
# View observations for a session
SELECT tool_name, created_at
FROM observations
WHERE session_id = 'YOUR_SESSION_ID';
```
## Understanding Verbosity Levels
Context injection uses three-tier verbosity for efficient token usage:
### Tier 1 (Most Recent Session)
- Full summary with all details
- Request, investigated, learned, completed, next_steps, notes
- ~500-1000 tokens
### Tier 2 (Sessions 2-5)
- Medium detail
- Request, learned, completed
- ~200-400 tokens
### Tier 3 (Sessions 6-10)
- Brief summary
- Request and completed only
- ~100-200 tokens
This ensures you get maximum detail for recent work while still having context from older sessions.
## Multi-Prompt Sessions
Claude-Mem supports sessions that span multiple user prompts:
- **prompt_counter**: Tracks total prompts in a session
- **prompt_number**: Identifies specific prompt within session
- **Session continuity**: Observations and summaries link across prompts
When you use `/clear`, the session doesn't end - it continues with a new prompt number. This preserves context across conversation restarts.
## Next Steps
- [MCP Search Tools](search-tools.md) - Learn how to search your project history
- [Architecture Overview](../architecture/overview.md) - Understand how it works
- [Troubleshooting](../troubleshooting.md) - Common issues and solutions
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# MCP Search Tools Usage
Once claude-mem is installed as a plugin, 7 search tools become available in your Claude Code sessions for querying project history.
## Quick Reference
| Tool | Purpose |
|-------------------------|----------------------------------------------|
| search_observations | Full-text search across observations |
| search_sessions | Full-text search across session summaries |
| search_user_prompts | Full-text search across raw user prompts |
| find_by_concept | Find observations tagged with concepts |
| find_by_file | Find observations referencing files |
| find_by_type | Find observations by type |
| get_recent_context | Get recent session context |
## Example Queries
### search_observations
Find all decisions about the build system:
```
Use search_observations to find all decisions about the build system
```
Find bugs related to authentication:
```
search_observations with query="authentication" and type="bugfix"
```
Search for refactoring work:
```
search_observations with query="refactor database" and type="refactor"
```
### search_sessions
Find what we learned about hooks:
```
Use search_sessions to find what we learned about hooks
```
Search for completed work on the API:
```
search_sessions with query="API implementation"
```
### search_user_prompts
Find when user asked about authentication:
```
search_user_prompts with query="authentication feature"
```
Trace user requests for a specific feature:
```
search_user_prompts with query="dark mode"
```
**Benefits**:
- See exactly what the user asked for (vs what was implemented)
- Detect patterns in repeated requests
- Debug miscommunications between user intent and implementation
### find_by_file
Show everything related to worker-service.ts:
```
Use find_by_file to show me everything related to worker-service.ts
```
Find all work on the database migration file:
```
find_by_file with filePath="migrations.ts"
```
### find_by_concept
Show observations tagged with 'architecture':
```
Use find_by_concept to show observations tagged with 'architecture'
```
Find all 'security' related observations:
```
find_by_concept with concept="security"
```
### find_by_type
Find all feature implementations:
```
find_by_type with type="feature"
```
Find all decisions and discoveries:
```
find_by_type with type=["decision", "discovery"]
```
### get_recent_context
Get the last 5 sessions for context:
```
get_recent_context with limit=5
```
Get recent context for debugging:
```
Use get_recent_context to show me what we've been working on
```
## Search Strategy
### 1. Start with Index Format
**Always use index format first** to get an overview:
```
search_observations with query="authentication" and format="index"
```
**Why?**
- Index format uses ~10x fewer tokens than full format
- See titles, dates, and sources to identify relevant results
- Avoid hitting MCP token limits
### 2. Review Results
Look at the index results to identify items of interest:
```
1. [decision] Implement JWT authentication
Date: 2025-10-21 14:23:45
Source: claude-mem://observation/123
2. [feature] Add user authentication endpoints
Date: 2025-10-21 13:15:22
Source: claude-mem://observation/124
3. [bugfix] Fix authentication token expiry
Date: 2025-10-20 16:45:30
Source: claude-mem://observation/125
```
### 3. Deep Dive with Full Format
Only use full format for specific items:
```
search_observations with query="JWT authentication" and format="full" and limit=3
```
### 4. Use Filters to Narrow Results
Combine filters for precise searches:
```
search_observations with query="authentication" and type="decision" and dateRange={start: "2025-10-20", end: "2025-10-21"}
```
## Advanced Filtering
### Date Ranges
Search within specific time periods:
```json
{
"dateRange": {
"start": "2025-10-01",
"end": "2025-10-31"
}
}
```
Or use epoch timestamps:
```json
{
"dateRange": {
"start": 1729449600,
"end": 1732128000
}
}
```
### Multiple Types
Search across multiple observation types:
```
find_by_type with type=["decision", "feature", "refactor"]
```
### Multiple Concepts
Search observations with specific concepts:
```
search_observations with query="database" and concepts=["architecture", "performance"]
```
### File Filtering
Search observations that touched specific files:
```
search_observations with query="refactor" and files="worker-service.ts"
```
### Project Filtering
Search within specific projects:
```
search_observations with query="authentication" and project="my-app"
```
## FTS5 Query Syntax
The `query` parameter supports SQLite FTS5 full-text search syntax:
### Simple Queries
```
"authentication" # Single word
"error handling" # Multiple words (OR)
```
### Boolean Operators
```
"error" AND "handling" # Both terms required
"bug" OR "fix" # Either term
"bug" NOT "feature" # First term, not second
```
### Phrase Searches
```
"'exact phrase'" # Exact phrase match
```
### Column Searches
```
title:"authentication" # Search specific column
narrative:"bug fix" # Search narrative field
```
## Result Metadata
All results include rich metadata:
```
## JWT authentication decision
**Type**: decision
**Date**: 2025-10-21 14:23:45
**Concepts**: authentication, security, architecture
**Files Read**: src/auth/middleware.ts, src/utils/jwt.ts
**Files Modified**: src/auth/jwt-strategy.ts
**Narrative**:
Decided to implement JWT-based authentication instead of session-based
authentication for better scalability and stateless design...
**Facts**:
• JWT tokens expire after 1 hour
• Refresh tokens stored in httpOnly cookies
• Token signing uses RS256 algorithm
• Public keys rotated every 30 days
```
## Citations
All search results include citations using the `claude-mem://` URI scheme:
- `claude-mem://observation/123` - Specific observation
- `claude-mem://session/abc-456` - Specific session
- `claude-mem://user-prompt/789` - Specific user prompt
These citations enable referencing specific historical context in your work.
## Token Management
### Token Efficiency Tips
1. **Start with index format**: ~50-100 tokens per result
2. **Use small limits**: Start with 3-5 results
3. **Apply filters**: Narrow results before searching
4. **Paginate**: Use offset to browse results in batches
### Token Estimates
| Format | Tokens per Result |
|--------|-------------------|
| Index | 50-100 |
| Full | 500-1000 |
**Example**:
- 20 results in index format: ~1,000-2,000 tokens
- 20 results in full format: ~10,000-20,000 tokens
## Common Use Cases
### 1. Debugging Issues
Find what went wrong:
```
search_observations with query="error database connection" and type="bugfix"
```
### 2. Understanding Decisions
Review architectural choices:
```
find_by_type with type="decision" and format="index"
```
Then deep dive on specific decisions:
```
search_observations with query="[DECISION TITLE]" and format="full"
```
### 3. Code Archaeology
Find when a file was modified:
```
find_by_file with filePath="worker-service.ts"
```
### 4. Feature History
Track feature development:
```
search_sessions with query="authentication feature"
search_user_prompts with query="add authentication"
```
### 5. Learning from Past Work
Review refactoring patterns:
```
find_by_type with type="refactor" and limit=10
```
### 6. Context Recovery
Restore context after time away:
```
get_recent_context with limit=5
search_sessions with query="[YOUR PROJECT NAME]" and orderBy="date_desc"
```
## Best Practices
1. **Index first, full later**: Always start with index format
2. **Small limits**: Start with 3-5 results to avoid token limits
3. **Use filters**: Narrow results before searching
4. **Specific queries**: More specific = better results
5. **Review citations**: Use citations to reference past decisions
6. **Date filtering**: Use date ranges for time-based searches
7. **Type filtering**: Use types to categorize searches
8. **Concept tags**: Use concepts for thematic searches
## Troubleshooting
### No Results Found
1. Check database has data:
```bash
sqlite3 ~/.claude-mem/claude-mem.db "SELECT COUNT(*) FROM observations;"
```
2. Try broader query:
```
search_observations with query="authentication" # Good
vs
search_observations with query="'exact JWT authentication implementation'" # Too specific
```
3. Remove filters:
```
# Start broad
search_observations with query="auth"
# Then add filters
search_observations with query="auth" and type="decision"
```
### Token Limit Errors
1. Use index format:
```
search_observations with query="..." and format="index"
```
2. Reduce limit:
```
search_observations with query="..." and limit=3
```
3. Use pagination:
```
# First page
search_observations with query="..." and limit=5 and offset=0
# Second page
search_observations with query="..." and limit=5 and offset=5
```
### Search Too Slow
1. Use more specific queries
2. Add date range filters
3. Add type/concept filters
4. Reduce result limit
## Next Steps
- [MCP Search Architecture](../architecture/mcp-search.md) - Technical details
- [Database Schema](../architecture/database.md) - Understanding the data
- [Getting Started](getting-started.md) - Automatic operation