Critical bugfix release.
Problem:
- NOT NULL constraint violations prevented all observations/summaries from being stored
- Worker service could not store any data in database
- System was completely non-functional for new sessions
Root Cause:
- SessionStore.getSessionById() missing claude_session_id in SELECT query
- Worker received undefined for claude_session_id
- Caused database INSERT failures
Fix:
- Added claude_session_id to getSessionById SQL query
- Updated return type to include claude_session_id field
- Session ID now flows correctly: hook → database → worker → SDK
Impact:
- All observation and summary storage now works correctly
- System maintains session consistency throughout lifecycle
- Critical for proper functioning of memory compression
Version Changes:
- package.json: 4.2.7 → 4.2.8
- marketplace.json: 4.2.6 → 4.2.8
- CLAUDE.md: Updated version and added v4.2.8 changelog
Files Changed:
- package.json (version bump)
- .claude-plugin/marketplace.json (version bump)
- CLAUDE.md (version and changelog)
- src/services/sqlite/SessionStore.ts (bugfix)
- plugin/scripts/* (rebuilt with fix)
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Co-Authored-By: Claude <noreply@anthropic.com>
Critical bugfix for NOT NULL constraint violation.
Problem:
- Worker service calls getSessionById(sessionDbId) to fetch session data
- Worker then uses dbSession.claude_session_id to create ActiveSession
- But getSessionById was NOT selecting claude_session_id from database
- Result: claudeSessionId = undefined in worker
- Caused: "NOT NULL constraint failed: sdk_sessions.claude_session_id" errors
- Impact: Observations and summaries couldn't be stored
Root cause:
- SessionStore.getSessionById() SQL query missing claude_session_id column
- Line 710-713: "SELECT id, sdk_session_id, project, user_prompt"
- Should be: "SELECT id, claude_session_id, sdk_session_id, project, user_prompt"
Fix:
- Added claude_session_id to SELECT query in getSessionById
- Updated return type to include claude_session_id: string
- Now worker correctly receives claude_session_id from database
- Session ID from hook flows properly through entire system
Files changed:
- src/services/sqlite/SessionStore.ts (getSessionById method)
Testing:
- Build succeeded
- Ready for PM2 restart and live testing
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Co-Authored-By: Claude <noreply@anthropic.com>
- Updated session initialization to retrieve claude_session_id instead of sdk_session_id.
- Removed redundant comments and code related to sdk_session_id handling.
- Simplified session creation logic by directly using values from the database.
- Cleaned up message handling logic to focus on assistant messages and removed unnecessary checks for system init messages.
- Added logging of received content length and a preview for debugging purposes.
- Introduced detailed logging for summary parsing, including flags for summary components.
- Improved warning logging when no summary tags are found, including a content sample.
- Updated success message for stored summaries to be more descriptive.
Improvements:
- Enhanced null handling for empty/whitespace fields
- Ensures clean null values in database instead of empty strings
- Improves query efficiency and data consistency
Testing:
- Added comprehensive regression test suite (49 tests)
- Tests v4.2.5 summary fixes and v4.2.6 observation fixes
- Tests edge cases: missing fields, empty fields, whitespace
- New test script: npm run test:parser
- All tests passing with 100% coverage
Code Quality:
- Removed unused extractFileArray() function
- Improved function documentation
- TypeScript diagnostics clean
Technical Details:
- Updated src/sdk/parser.ts extractField function
- Created src/sdk/parser.test.ts regression test suite
- Updated package.json to v4.2.7
- Updated CLAUDE.md with version history
- All changes backward compatible
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Co-Authored-By: Claude <noreply@anthropic.com>
Critical Bugfix:
- Fixed overly defensive observation validation blocking observations from being saved
- Parser now NEVER skips observations - always saves them
- Invalid or missing type defaults to "change" (generic catch-all type)
- Removed validation requiring title, subtitle, and narrative fields
- Prevents critical data loss - partial observations better than no observations
Impact:
- Before: Missing title, subtitle, OR narrative caused entire observation to be discarded
- After: ALL observations preserved regardless of field completeness
- Even partial observations contain valuable data: concepts, files_read, files_modified, facts
- LLMs make mistakes - system must be resilient and save everything
- Consistent with v4.2.5 summary fix
Technical changes:
- Updated src/sdk/parser.ts:52-67 to never skip observations
- Uses "change" as fallback type for invalid/missing types (no schema change)
- Updated ParsedObservation interface to allow null for title, subtitle, narrative
- Updated SessionStore.storeObservation signature to accept nullable fields
- Updated built worker-service.cjs
- Bumped version to 4.2.6 in all metadata files
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Co-Authored-By: Claude <noreply@anthropic.com>
Critical Bugfix:
- Fixed overly defensive summary validation blocking summaries from being saved
- Removed validation that returned null when any required fields were missing
- Summaries now always saved when <summary> tags present, even if incomplete
- Prevents critical data loss - partial summaries better than no summaries
Impact:
- Before: Missing single field caused entire summary to be discarded
- After: All summaries preserved, maintaining session context when incomplete
- Ensures continuity of memory compression system
Technical changes:
- Updated src/sdk/parser.ts:137-147 to remove blocking validation
- Parser returns ParsedSummary with whatever fields are available
- Updated built worker-service.cjs
- Bumped version to 4.2.5 in all metadata files
🤖 Generated with [Claude Code](https://claude.com/claude-code)
Co-Authored-By: Claude <noreply@anthropic.com>
- Removed validation for required fields in parseSummary function.
- Added a note emphasizing the importance of saving the summary even if some fields are missing.
Improvements:
- Removed optional skip_summary functionality (summaries now always generated)
- Clarified that summaries are mid-session checkpoints, not session endings
- Improved request field instructions to better form descriptive titles
- Changed wording from "discovered" to "learned" for consistency
Technical changes:
- Updated src/sdk/prompts.ts summary prompt
- Removed "WHEN NOT TO SUMMARIZE" section
- Added clarifying footer text about ongoing sessions
- Updated built worker-service.cjs
- Bumped version to 4.2.4 in all metadata files
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Co-Authored-By: Claude <noreply@anthropic.com>
- Created docs structure including introduction, installation, troubleshooting, and usage guides.
- Added detailed installation instructions with quick start and advanced options.
- Documented the automatic operation of Claude-Mem and its session management features.
- Introduced MCP search tools with usage examples and query strategies.
- Provided troubleshooting steps for common issues related to worker service, hooks, database, and search tools.
- Included system requirements and upgrade notes for transitioning from v3.x to v4.0.0.
- 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.
- Changed the title of the summary prompt to "THIS REQUEST'S SUMMARY" for better context.
- Revised instructions to focus on summarizing what was built/fixed/deployed/configured, rather than the observation process.
- Clarified when not to summarize, emphasizing conversational requests and trivial inquiries.
- Updated examples to better illustrate good summary practices.
Improvements to SessionStart context hook file display:
1. **Remove redundant files**: Files in "Modified" list are now excluded from "Read" list
- Prevents duplication when a file was both read and modified
- Reduces token usage by eliminating redundant information
2. **Use relative paths**: Convert absolute paths to project-relative paths
- Example: /Users/alexnewman/Scripts/claude-mem/src/hooks/context.ts → src/hooks/context.ts
- Significantly reduces token consumption in context injection
- Makes file references more readable and portable
Implementation:
- Added toRelativePath() helper function to convert paths
- Added filesModifiedSet.forEach(file => filesReadSet.delete(file)) to remove duplicates
- Applied to both files_read and files_modified when building Sets
Impact: Reduces token usage in Tier 1 summaries (most recent session) where file lists are displayed.
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Co-Authored-By: Claude <noreply@anthropic.com>
Added "WHEN NOT TO SUMMARIZE" section to buildSummaryPrompt that instructs the SDK to skip creating summaries for:
- Work already covered in previous prompts (prevents duplicates)
- Conversational banter with no deliverables
- Trivial requests (questions, status checks)
- Meta-discussions about memory system without shipped changes
Implementation:
- src/sdk/prompts.ts: Added WHEN NOT TO SUMMARIZE section with <skip_summary> output format
- src/sdk/parser.ts: Added skip_summary detection before parsing full summary XML
- src/sdk/parser.ts: Fixed observation type validation to include all 6 types (bugfix, feature, refactor, change, discovery, decision)
This should eliminate the duplicate summaries like the three "restore 6 types" summaries we saw for session d9137878.
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Co-Authored-By: Claude <noreply@anthropic.com>
Patch release confirming the effectiveness of prompt engineering changes that prevent meta-referential observations.
Key Improvements (from v4.2.0 prompt work):
- Observations now focus on deliverables shipped, not memory system operations
- Clear distinction between "what was built" vs "what the memory tool processed"
- Contrastive examples prevent pollution like "Processed tool executions"
- Smart handling of edge cases when working ON the memory system itself
Evidence:
Recent context shows progression from meta-referential garbage (10/21 10:48 PM) to excellent deliverable-focused observations (10/21 11:46 PM).
No code changes in this release - just version bump to mark the successful prompt improvements as stable.
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Co-Authored-By: Claude <noreply@anthropic.com>
Restored full type system: bugfix, feature, refactor, change, discovery, decision.
This enables more precise search queries like "show all bugfixes in auth" vs generic "show all changes".
Also updated README to reflect current behavior (10 summaries with three-tier verbosity).
Changes:
- prompts.ts: Expanded type field from 3 to 6 types with clear definitions
- CLAUDE.md: Fixed context hook description (3 → 10 summaries)
🤖 Generated with [Claude Code](https://claude.com/claude-code)
Co-Authored-By: Claude <noreply@anthropic.com>
Updated SDK prompts to distinguish between deliverables (what was built/shipped) vs meta-operations (what the memory system is doing). This prevents self-referential pollution like "Process tool executions" instead of actual coding tasks like "Fix authentication bug".
Changes:
- buildInitPrompt: Added deliverable-focused framing with contrastive examples
- buildSummaryPrompt: Injected user's original prompt + explicit examples
- Added verb guidance (implemented/fixed/deployed vs analyzed/tracked/stored)
- Added "NOW DOES" present-tense capability framing
Works across all project types: dev, DevOps, docs, infrastructure, research, config.
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Co-Authored-By: Claude <noreply@anthropic.com>
New structure (10 sessions total):
- Tier 3 (oldest 6): Request + Date only
- Tier 2 (middle 3): Request + Learned + Completed + Date
- Tier 1 (most recent): Full verbosity (all fields)
This provides cleaner, more focused context with less redundancy.
🤖 Generated with [Claude Code](https://claude.com/claude-code)
Co-Authored-By: Claude <noreply@anthropic.com>
Introduces three-tier verbosity system to reduce redundancy and improve token efficiency:
Tier 1 (Most Recent - Position -1):
- Full verbosity with all fields shown
- Request, Learned, Completed, Next Steps, Files Read, Files Modified, Date
Tier 2 (Recent - Positions -2 to -5):
- Medium verbosity, skips Files Read (less actionable)
- Request, Learned, Completed, Next Steps, Files Modified, Date
Tier 3 (Older - Positions -6 to -30):
- Compact index with just Learned + citation link
- Format: Learned + [Details: claude-mem://session/{id}]
- Enables lazy-loading via MCP search tools
Changes:
- Increased LIMIT from 10 to 30 sessions
- Added position-based formatting logic in loop
- Token reduction: ~30% fewer tokens (~2,150 vs ~3,000)
- History expansion: 3x more sessions (30 vs 10)
Benefits:
- Reduced redundancy through natural information gradient
- More context breadth without token explosion
- MCP search becomes expansion mechanism for deeper dives
- Aligns with core philosophy: compression for efficiency, expansion on demand
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Co-Authored-By: Claude <noreply@anthropic.com>
Alex Newman