Memory Management

Memory makes Claude your workplace collaborator - someone who speaks your internal language.

The Goal

Transform shorthand into understanding:

User: "ask todd to do the PSR for oracle"
              ↓ Claude decodes
"Ask Todd Martinez (Finance lead) to prepare the Pipeline Status Report
 for the Oracle Systems deal ($2.3M, closing Q2)"

Without memory, that request is meaningless. With memory, Claude knows:

• todd → Todd Martinez, Finance lead, prefers Slack
• PSR → Pipeline Status Report (weekly sales doc)
• oracle → Oracle Systems deal, not the company

Architecture

CLAUDE.md          ← Hot cache (~30 people, common terms)
memory/
  glossary.md      ← Full decoder ring (everything)
  people/          ← Complete profiles
  projects/        ← Project details
  context/         ← Company, teams, tools

CLAUDE.md (Hot Cache):

• Top ~30 people you interact with most
• ~30 most common acronyms/terms
• Active projects (5-15)
• Your preferences
• Goal: Cover 90% of daily decoding needs

memory/glossary.md (Full Glossary):

• Complete decoder ring - everyone, every term
• Searched when something isn't in CLAUDE.md
• Can grow indefinitely

memory/people/, projects/, context/:

• Rich detail when needed for execution
• Full profiles, history, context

Lookup Flow

User: "ask todd about the PSR for phoenix"

1. Check CLAUDE.md (hot cache)
   → Todd? ✓ Todd Martinez, Finance
   → PSR? ✓ Pipeline Status Report
   → Phoenix? ✓ DB migration project

2. If not found → search memory/glossary.md
   → Full glossary has everyone/everything

3. If still not found → ask user
   → "What does X mean? I'll remember it."

This tiered approach keeps CLAUDE.md lean (~100 lines) while supporting unlimited scale in memory/.

File Locations

• Working memory: CLAUDE.md in current working directory
• Deep memory: memory/ subdirectory

Working Memory Format (CLAUDE.md)