claude-mem/CLAUDE.md

/* To @claude: be vigilant about only leaving evergreen context in this file, claude-mem handles working context separately. */

Claude-Mem: AI Development Instructions

What This Project Is

Claude-mem is a Claude Code plugin providing persistent memory across sessions. It captures tool usage, compresses observations using the Claude Agent SDK, and injects relevant context into future sessions.

Architecture

5 Lifecycle Hooks: SessionStart → UserPromptSubmit → PostToolUse → Summary → SessionEnd

Hooks (src/hooks/*.ts) - TypeScript → ESM, built to plugin/scripts/*-hook.js

Worker Service (src/services/worker-service.ts) - Express API on port 37777, Bun-managed, handles AI processing asynchronously

Database (src/services/sqlite/) - SQLite3 at ~/.claude-mem/claude-mem.db with FTS5 full-text search

Search Skill (plugin/skills/mem-search/SKILL.md) - HTTP API for searching past work, auto-invoked when users ask about history

Chroma (src/services/sync/ChromaSync.ts) - Vector embeddings for semantic search

Viewer UI (src/ui/viewer/) - React interface at http://localhost:37777, built to plugin/ui/viewer.html

Privacy Tags

Dual-Tag System for meta-observation control:

• <private>content</private> - User-level privacy control (manual, prevents storage)
• <claude-mem-context>content</claude-mem-context> - System-level tag (auto-injected observations, prevents recursive storage)

Implementation: Tag stripping happens at hook layer (edge processing) before data reaches worker/database. See src/utils/tag-stripping.ts for shared utilities.

Build Commands

npm run build-and-sync        # Build, sync to marketplace, restart worker

Viewer UI: http://localhost:37777

Configuration

Settings are managed in ~/.claude-mem/settings.json. The file is auto-created with defaults on first run.

Core Settings:

• CLAUDE_MEM_MODEL - Model for observations/summaries (default: claude-sonnet-4-5)
• CLAUDE_MEM_CONTEXT_OBSERVATIONS - Observations injected at SessionStart
• CLAUDE_MEM_WORKER_PORT - Worker service port (default: 37777)
• CLAUDE_MEM_WORKER_HOST - Worker bind address (default: 127.0.0.1, use 0.0.0.0 for remote access)

System Configuration:

• CLAUDE_MEM_DATA_DIR - Data directory location (default: ~/.claude-mem)
• CLAUDE_MEM_LOG_LEVEL - Log verbosity: DEBUG, INFO, WARN, ERROR, SILENT (default: INFO)

File Locations

• Source: <project-root>/src/
• Built Plugin: <project-root>/plugin/
• Installed Plugin: ~/.claude/plugins/marketplaces/thedotmack/
• Database: ~/.claude-mem/claude-mem.db
• Chroma: ~/.claude-mem/chroma/

Requirements

• Bun (all platforms - auto-installed if missing)
• uv (all platforms - auto-installed if missing, provides Python for Chroma)
• Node.js (build tools only)

Documentation

Public Docs: https://docs.claude-mem.ai (Mintlify) Source: docs/public/ - MDX files, edit docs.json for navigation Deploy: Auto-deploys from GitHub on push to main

Pro Features Architecture

Claude-mem is designed with a clean separation between open-source core functionality and optional Pro features.

Open-Source Core (this repository):

• All worker API endpoints on localhost:37777 remain fully open and accessible
• Pro features are headless - no proprietary UI elements in this codebase
• Pro integration points are minimal: settings for license keys, tunnel provisioning logic
• The architecture ensures Pro features extend rather than replace core functionality

Pro Features (coming soon, external):

• Enhanced UI (Memory Stream) connects to the same localhost:37777 endpoints as the open viewer
• Additional features like advanced filtering, timeline scrubbing, and search tools
• Access gated by license validation, not by modifying core endpoints
• Users without Pro licenses continue using the full open-source viewer UI without limitation

This architecture preserves the open-source nature of the project while enabling sustainable development through optional paid features.

Important

No need to edit the changelog ever, it's generated automatically.