---
title: "Introduction"
description: "Persistent memory compression system for Claude Code"
---

# Claude-Mem

**Persistent memory compression system for Claude Code**

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

Start a new Claude Code session in the terminal and enter the following commands:

```bash
/plugin marketplace add thedotmack/claude-mem
/plugin install claude-mem
```

Restart Claude Code. Context from previous sessions will automatically appear in new sessions.

## Key Features

- 🧠 **Persistent Memory** - Context survives across sessions
- 🔍 **mem-search Skill** - Query your project history with natural language (~2,250 token savings)
- 🌐 **Web Viewer UI** - Real-time memory stream visualization at http://localhost:37777
- 🎨 **Theme Toggle** - Light, dark, and system preference themes
- 🤖 **Automatic Operation** - No manual intervention required
- 📊 **FTS5 Search** - Fast full-text search across observations
- 🔗 **Citations** - Reference past decisions with `claude-mem://` URIs

## How It Works

```
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Session Start → Inject context from last 10 sessions       │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
                            ↓
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ User Prompts → Create session, save user prompts           │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
                            ↓
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Tool Executions → Capture observations (Read, Write, etc.)  │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
                            ↓
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Worker Processes → Extract learnings via Claude Agent SDK   │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
                            ↓
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Session Ends → Generate summary, ready for next session     │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
```

**Core Components:**
1. **6 Lifecycle Hooks** - SessionStart, UserPromptSubmit, PostToolUse, Stop, SessionEnd, UserMessage
2. **Smart Install** - Cached dependency checker (pre-hook script)
3. **Worker Service** - HTTP API on port 37777 managed by PM2
4. **SQLite Database** - Stores sessions, observations, summaries with FTS5 search
5. **mem-search Skill** - Query historical context with natural language
6. **Web Viewer UI** - Real-time visualization with SSE and infinite scroll

See [Architecture Overview](architecture/overview) for details.

## System Requirements

- **Node.js**: 18.0.0 or higher
- **Claude Code**: Latest version with plugin support
- **PM2**: Process manager (bundled - no global install required)
- **SQLite 3**: For persistent storage (bundled)

## What's New in v5.5.1

**Latest Updates (v5.5.0):**
- mem-search skill enhancement with 100% effectiveness rate
- Improved scope differentiation from native conversation memory
- Enhanced concrete triggers (85% vs 44% previously)
- Comprehensive documentation reorganization (17 total files)

**Recent Updates (v5.4.0):**
- Skill-based search architecture with ~2,250 token savings per session
- Progressive disclosure with HTTP API endpoints
- Replaced MCP tools with mem-search skill for better efficiency

**Previous Updates (v5.1.2):**
- Theme toggle for light, dark, and system preferences in viewer UI
- Improved visual design with theme-aware components

## Next Steps

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Installation" icon="download" href="/installation">
    Quick start & advanced installation
  </Card>
  <Card title="Getting Started" icon="rocket" href="/usage/getting-started">
    Learn how Claude-Mem works automatically
  </Card>
  <Card title="Architecture" icon="sitemap" href="/architecture/overview">
    System components & data flow
  </Card>
  <Card title="Search Tools" icon="magnifying-glass" href="/usage/search-tools">
    Query your project history
  </Card>
</CardGroup>
