Claude-Mem is a persistent memory compression system designed to maintain context across multiple AI agent sessions. Built primarily for Claude Code, the JavaScript-based project captures everything an agent does during sessions, compresses it using AI, and injects relevant context back into future sessions. The system works with Claude Code, OpenClaw, Codex, Gemini, Hermes, Copilot, OpenCode, and other AI platforms.
The core functionality revolves around five lifecycle hooks that trigger at key moments: SessionStart, UserPromptSubmit, PostToolUse, Stop, and SessionEnd, along with a smart install pre-hook script. These hooks feed into a worker service running on port 37777 that manages an HTTP API and web viewer UI. The system uses SQLite as its primary database for storing sessions, observations, and summaries, while Chroma vector database handles hybrid semantic and keyword search for intelligent context retrieval. A mem-search skill enables natural language queries of project history with progressive disclosure, allowing users to retrieve context with visible token cost information.
Key features include persistent memory that survives across sessions, a web viewer UI accessible at localhost:37777 for real-time memory streams, a Claude Desktop skill for searching memory from conversations, privacy controls via private tags to exclude sensitive content, and automatic operation requiring no manual intervention. The system provides citations for past observations with IDs accessible through the web viewer API, and includes a beta channel for experimental features like Endless Mode.
According to GitGenius tracking data, the repository has grown from 7419 to 7420 forks since July 4, 2026. The project maintains strong engagement with a median issue and pull request response latency of 0.8 hours and a mean latency of 45.0 hours across 1669 tracked items. The most active issue labels are bug with 426 occurrences, consolidated with 138, and feature-request with 135. Primary contributor thedotmack has logged 3885 events, with Copilot contributing 62 events and alessandropcostabr contributing 24 events. The repository shares overlapping contributors with microsoft/vscode, microsoft/typescript, and rust-lang/rust.
Installation is straightforward through npx claude-mem install or via the plugin marketplace inside Claude Code. The project emphasizes that npm install only provides the SDK library without registering plugin hooks or setting up the worker service. For OpenClaw gateways, a single command handles dependencies, plugin setup, AI provider configuration, worker startup, and optional real-time observation feeds to platforms like Telegram, Discord, and Slack.
The documentation is comprehensive, covering installation, usage guides, search tools, beta features, context engineering principles, progressive disclosure philosophy, and detailed architecture documentation including hooks reference, worker service details, database schema, and search architecture. Configuration options and development guidelines are also provided. The project is licensed under Apache 2.0, requires Node.js 20.0.0 or higher, and is part of the Vercel Open Source Program. README translations are available in 28 languages, reflecting the project's international reach and community engagement.
