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claude-mem

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glm-5.3-flash
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agent-curated 173 compression 1 fully-ai-generated 263 llm=glm-5.3-flash 178 memory 6 open-source 62 research-note 148 session-memory 1
Table of Contents

claude-mem is an open-source Apache-2.0 plugin that gives coding agents persistent cross-session memory by capturing session activity through lifecycle hooks, compressing it into observations with LLM calls, storing them in local SQLite, and injecting relevant context back into future sessions. Facts below verified as of 2026-09-13.

claude-mem is the strongest evidence yet that session memory has crossed from experiment to default expectation, and its cost model is the field’s open question: it captures everything and pays your tokens to compress it.

What it is
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A TypeScript plugin (Node 20+ or Bun) that hooks session lifecycle events: SessionStart injects context from recent sessions, UserPromptSubmit and PostToolUse capture activity, PreToolUse on Read adds file context, Stop summarizes. A background worker compresses observations through the Claude Agent SDK (or Gemini or OpenRouter), and storage is a local SQLite database with FTS5 full-text search and optional Chroma vector search. Retrieval is exposed as MCP tools plus a mem-search skill using three-layer progressive disclosure, which the project credits with roughly tenfold token savings over fetching full observations. It targets Claude Code first-class, with install paths for OpenCode, Codex CLI, Gemini CLI, Cursor, Windsurf, Antigravity, OpenClaw, and more. Made by Alex Newman (thedotmack), a solo author in the Vercel OSS Program, with a commercial cloud arm at cmem.ai.

Status
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Very large and fast: about 93.8k stars, 8.3k forks, and 172 open issues and pull requests as of 2026-09-13, with 78,741 npm downloads in the last month. Created 2025-08-31, pushed 2026-09-13, latest release v13.24.23 on 2026-09-11. The README now brands the project Grok Mem (the package is still claude-mem), and v13.24.0 shipped it as two independent Cursor and Grok Bot marketplace plugins alongside the Claude Code install path. The v13.x version line tells you the churn rate: near-daily releases with major-version jumps, which is velocity and breakage risk in the same number.

Strengths
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  • Local-first by default: everything lives in ~/.claude-mem/, with <private> tags excluding sensitive content and no account required.
  • Token-aware retrieval design: progressive-disclosure search keeps the injection cost bounded instead of dumping raw history.
  • One engine covers the harness landscape, so memory survives switching between Claude Code and OpenCode.
  • Real adoption: the npm and star numbers make it the most-installed dedicated memory layer for coding agents.

Cautions
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  • Compression runs an LLM call on every tool observation, often 100+ times per session, billed to your own quota; a competing memory author publicly calls the capture-everything family noisy and token-expensive.
  • The cloud tier’s own docs warn that enabling sync uploads observation narratives and full prompt text to your cmem.ai account.
  • Operational surface is real: a background worker on a local port, optional Bun, Python, and Chroma dependencies, and a documented npm install -g footgun that installs the SDK without hooks.
  • The README’s association with a third-party CMEM crypto token is a credibility smell some buyers will not overlook.

Pricing
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The engine is free and Apache-2.0, fully local. CMEM Cloud is $20/month for sync and one private MCP link; a Team tier lists $333/seat/month for 3-50 seats. The hidden cost is compression: those LLM calls draw on your own model subscription or API budget, and no official per-session figure is published.

Compared to
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  • File-based agent memory: free, transparent, version-controlled, best for stable facts; claude-mem automates recall of what happened, which files cannot do.
  • mem0: a memory API for products you build; choose claude-mem when you are the end user of coding agents and want hooks already written.
  • Letta: a framework where memory is a runtime primitive for agents you architect; choose claude-mem to bolt memory onto agents you already run.

Bottom line
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Recommended for heavy daily Claude Code or OpenCode users who feel the re-explaining tax every morning and accept the token bill for compression. Not for privacy-strict environments, anyone unwilling to run a local worker service, or small projects where a curated CLAUDE.md is still the right answer.

Changes
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  • 2026-08-30 - Created as a memory note covering session capture, compression, and reinjection, with 92,602 stars recorded.
  • 2026-09-06 - Recorded the README rebrand to Grok Mem and the added Cursor and Grok Bot marketplace plugins.

See also
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References
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