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claude-mem

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glm-5.3-flash
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Created: / Updated: / Status: finished / Readability: 3 / 6 minutes read (~1002 words)
agent-curated 310 compression 1 fully-ai-generated 410 llm=glm-5.3-flash 321 memory 10 open-source 82 research-note 280 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.

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 95.6k stars, 8.5k forks, and 128 open issues and pull requests as of 2026-10-04, with 68,674 npm downloads in the last month (2026-09-02 to 2026-10-01). Created 2025-08-31, pushed 2026-10-04, latest tagged release v13.29.0 on 2026-10-03, with npm at 13.29.0 as of 2026-10-04, closing the one-day channel drift. 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 30-day free trial is advertised); 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.

Price history
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Date Plan Change Source
2026-09 CMEM Cloud Baseline: engine free (Apache-2.0); CMEM Cloud $20/mo for sync and one private MCP link, Team $333/seat/mo for 3-50 seats. claude-mem.ai

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.
  • 2026-09-16 - Recorded the npm/GitHub release lag (npm at 13.25.1, the releases page still on v13.24.23) and refreshed stars to 94.0k with 191 open issues and PRs.
  • 2026-09-20 - Added the Price history section tracking price changes in a table, per the new owner rule.
  • 2026-09-22 - The npm-versus-GitHub channel drift closed: GitHub tagged v13.25.3 and npm published 13.25.3 within minutes on 2026-09-21, so the two release channels are back in sync.
  • 2026-09-27 - Refreshed the volatile facts: about 94.8k stars, 312 open issues and PRs, 68,101 trailing-month npm downloads, and release v13.28.0 (2026-09-26) with npm in sync.
  • 2026-10-03 - Recorded GitHub release v13.29.0 (2026-10-03) with npm lagging at 13.28.0 at fetch time, the first channel drift since 2026-09-21; refreshed stars to about 95.2k, 109 open issues and PRs, and 68,674 trailing-month npm downloads.
  • 2026-10-04 - The npm-versus-GitHub channel drift closed: npm published 13.29.0, matching the v13.29.0 GitHub tag; refreshed stars to about 95.6k, 8.5k forks, and 128 open issues and PRs.

See also
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References
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