Claude Code auto-memory
https://docs.claude.com/en/docs/claude-code/memory
Persistent file-based memory at ~/.claude/projects/<project>/memory/ with a MEMORY.md index plus typed memory files (user / feedback / project / reference). Loaded into context across sessions.
At a glance
- Type
- Per-project file directory
- Tier
- T1
- Section
- Claude Code memory mechanisms
- Created
- 2025-03 (Claude Code v1.0 launched Feb/Mar 2025; auto-memory feature in subsequent releases; v2.1.59+ required)
- Latest release
- not applicable — not OSS
- License
- not applicable — not OSS
- GitHub
- not applicable — no GitHub repo
- Pricing
- not applicable — not commercial
- Funding
- not applicable — not commercial
Taxonomy
- storage
- file
- retrieval
- injection
- persistence
- cross-session
- update
- append-only
- unit
- fact
- governance
- user-controllable
- conflict
- append
When to use
Optimised for: Claude-Code-native + MCP-portable memory
Anti-fit: not for non-Claude-Code clients (some are MCP-portable)
Pros & cons
Pros
Per-project automatic memory built into the runtime — no plugin install, no external store, no extra prompts.
Cons
Single-vendor lock-in to Claude Code; no inspect/edit UI for what's been auto-saved; opaque to other tools.
Claims & capabilities
Persistent file-based memory at ~/.claude/projects/<project>/memory/ with MEMORY.md index plus typed memory files (user/feedback/project/reference); loaded into context across sessions; Claude Code v2.1.59+ required; complemented by Auto Dream consolidation
Technical surface
- API surface
- not applicable — IDE feature
- Backend storage
- file (~/.claude/projects/<project>/MEMORY.md)
- Deployment
- not applicable — not a deployable product
- Embedding model
- not applicable — file feature
- Multi-tenancy
- hard-isolation (per project)
- MCP
- native (first-party) — Claude Code consumes MCP
- A2A
- not supported
- OpenTelemetry
- searched not found
Compare Claude Code auto-memory with…
Similar systems
Other claude code memory mechanisms in the catalog, ranked by inbound references.
- Official MCP Memory server T1
Knowledge-graph-based persistent memory MCP server — the canonical reference implementation. npx -y @modelcontextprotocol/server-memory ; configurable via MEMORY_FILE_PATH .
- Anthropic Auto Dream T1
Background sub-agent in Claude Code that periodically scans ~/.claude/projects/<project>/memory/ + recent JSONL transcripts via grep, prunes stale notes, deduplicates, resolves contradictions, converts relative dates to absolute timestamps, and rewrites MEMORY.md (kept under 200 lines). Triggers automatically when 24+ hours elapsed AND 5+ sessions completed; manually via /dream.
- claude-brain T2
Claude Code plugin packaging of Memvid (see Dedicated memory layers). Wraps the Memvid .mv2 single-file store as a slash-command-installable plugin so per-project memory becomes a git-committable file inside the repo.
- Claude-CursorMemoryMCP T2
FastAPI server. RBAC + API-key auth, encryption, backup/recovery, embedding pipeline with deduplication. Only server in this list with role-based access control over pgvector.
- claude-mem T1
Hooks into Claude Code's session lifecycle; compresses tool outputs into ~500-token observations via Claude's agent SDK. SQLite + FTS5 with optional Chroma vector. "Endless Mode" compresses in-flight to extend session length. Captures what the agent did , not just what the user typed.
- claude-supermemory T2
Wraps Supermemory cloud API. Team memory shared across project members, separate from personal memories. Auto-capture on session end; per-repo config.
Related systems
References (2)
- Anthropic Claude (foundation models) depends on at runtime — adjacent-infrastructure cell: requires Claude Code or MCP client; BYO storage
- Model Context Protocol (MCP spec) depends on at runtime — adjacent-infrastructure cell: requires Claude Code or MCP client; BYO storage