A persistent-memory compression system for Claude Code and other agent CLIs. Lifecycle hooks capture what the agent does during a session, an AI worker compresses those observations, and a search skill injects relevant context back into future sessions.
Deep diveClaude-Mem deep dive: what 87k stars of Claude Code memory actually costs youRead →- Storage
- SQLite database stores sessions, observations, and summaries; a Chroma vector database holds embeddings for hybrid semantic + keyword (FTS5) search. Observations are addressable by ID via a local HTTP API.
- Retrieval
- MCP search tools with progressive disclosure: a compact `search` index (~50-100 tokens/result), a `timeline` for chronological context, and `get_observations` to fetch full details only for filtered IDs — claimed ~10x token savings by filtering before fetching.
- Self-host
- Self-host: moderate
- License
- Apache-2.0
- Pricing
- Open source (Apache-2.0), free to self-host — the local SQLite-backed engine has no paid component. The optional CMEM Cloud sync layer (cmem.ai) left free early access and is now priced: CMEM Cloud Pro at $199/year for solo developers, and Team Cloud at $333 per seat per month with forward-deployed-engineer onboarding. Enterprise terms are not published. · Free + paid
- GitHub stars
- 90,288
- Last release
- 2026-08-08
- Last commit
- 2026-08-08
- First catalogued
- 2026-06-28
Strengths
- Very large community (87k+ stars, 92+ contributors) and a fast, sustained release cadence (v13.11.0, mid-July 2026)
- Works across many agent CLIs via hooks/MCP (Claude Code, Codex, Antigravity CLI, Hermes, Copilot, OpenCode, OpenClaw gateways)
- Progressive-disclosure retrieval keeps injected context token-light
Watch out
- Named for Claude Code but now multi-agent across many CLIs; the supported-agent list changes often, so verify it against the README — e.g. v13.10.0 (2026-07-04) removed the Gemini CLI host integration and added Antigravity CLI (`agy`) in its place, following Google's Gemini CLI free-tier sunset (the separate Gemini LLM/observation provider is unaffected)
- Self-reported metrics (~10x token savings, compression ratios) are vendor claims, not independently reproduced
- Independent security audits (Feb–Mar 2026) rated the local worker API HIGH risk — unauthenticated endpoints returning cleartext API keys, plus path-traversal in MCP tools. The maintainer closed the audit issue as 'not a bug,' and a brief v12.3.3 bearer-auth fix was deliberately reverted in v12.3.5 — the worker now relies solely on localhost-only binding + CORS, which is configurable to 0.0.0.0
- Docs site (docs.claude-mem.ai) is the primary architecture reference — verify storage/retrieval details there
- New optional Cloud Sync (cmem.ai Pro, shipped v13.11.0–v13.12.0, July 2026) uploads observation narratives and full prompt text to a third-party (Cloudflare Workers-hosted) sync hub under your cmem.ai account — a real privacy tradeoff for teams that chose this project for its local-only storage; opt-in only
- Cloud sync stopped being free between the 2026-07-23 and 2026-08-01 checks: what was '$0, no card required' early access is now $199/year solo, and the previously 'coming soon' Team tier landed at $333 per seat per month — a steep jump if you had built a multi-device workflow around free sync. Self-hosting remains unaffected and free
Best for
- Developers wanting drop-in persistent session memory for Claude Code and similar coding-agent CLIs
How it integrates
Benchmark results
No sourced results yet.
Sources
- CMEM Cloud pricing page — FAQ answer, verbatim: 'CMEM Cloud Pro is $199/year for solo developers. Team Cloud is $333 per seat per month with FDE onboarding.' Early-access free tier no longer offered; basis for priceTier free → free-paid (vendor)
- Monthly card re-verification — GitHub API repo metadata: 89,226 stars, license Apache-2.0 confirmed, archived=false, last commit on the default branch 2026-07-31 (third-party)
- https://github.com/thedotmack/claude-mem (vendor)
- Claude-Mem Architecture Overview — MCP tools (search, timeline, get_observations); worker HTTP port; mcp-server.cjs in plugin distribution (vendor)
- GitHub API repo metadata — 85,231 stars, 7,356 forks, pushed 2026-06-30T02:52Z, 92+ contributors visible via README badges, OpenClaw added to description (third-party)
- Claude-Mem docs — re-verified as an active, maintained Claude Code memory plugin (vendor)
- npm registry — claude-mem v13.8.1, CLI binary confirmed (third-party)
- GitHub releases — v13.9.1 (2026-06-29) latest tag (third-party)
- Security Audit issue — automated + community audits rated the unauthenticated worker HTTP API on port 37777 HIGH risk (cleartext API keys, path traversal in smart_unfold/smart_outline); maintainer closed it 2026-04-15 as 'not a bug or feature request' (third-party)
- CHANGELOG — v12.3.3 (2026-04-20) added bearer-token worker auth; v12.3.5 deliberately removed it ('no real security benefit for single-user local deployments,' relying on localhost-bind + CORS instead) (vendor)
- npm download stats — 68,157 downloads in the last 30 days, supporting genuine adoption behind the star count (third-party)
- plugin/.mcp.json — registers `mcp-search` with `"type": "stdio"`, `command: node`, args spawning `scripts/mcp-server.cjs`; docs/public/usage/claude-desktop.mdx publishes the equivalent stdio mcpServers block — confirms MCP transport is local-stdio (closes open-gap G2) (vendor)
- Release v13.10.0 (2026-07-04) — 'Antigravity CLI support, Gemini CLI removed': removed the Gemini CLI host integration (adapter, installer, IDE-detection entry, hooks, docs/tests) after Google's June 18, 2026 Gemini CLI free-tier sunset; added Antigravity CLI (`agy`) at feature parity. The separate Gemini LLM/observation provider (CLAUDE_MEM_GEMINI_API_KEY) is unaffected (vendor)
- GitHub releases — v13.11.0 (2026-07-13) latest stable tag (third-party)
- GitHub API repo metadata — 87,405 stars, pushed 2026-07-15T22:16Z (third-party)
- Docs — confirms MCP tools (search/timeline/get_observations/important_workflow) remain the primary retrieval mechanism; 'MCP tools are a thin wrapper over the local Worker HTTP API' (vendor)
- Docs — Cloud Sync (cmem.ai Pro): per-user Cloudflare-Workers sync hub, HTTP + optional WebSocket, uploads observation narratives and full prompt text to the user's cmem.ai account; requires a cmem.ai Pro sync token (vendor)
- cmem.ai — pricing: CMEM Cloud (Early Access) is $0/free, no card required; OSS engine perpetually free (Apache-2.0); 'Team' tier listed as 'Coming Soon', pricing not announced (vendor)
- CHANGELOG — v13.9.0 (2026-06-29) ships claude-mem/sdk (cmem-sdk, in-process, no HTTP worker); v13.11.0 (2026-07-13) retires standalone cloud-sync.mjs daemon in favor of worker-native sync; v13.12.0 (2026-07-22) ships two-lane Cloud Sync (Durable Object sync hub, mutation outbox, advisory WebSocket) (vendor)
- Monthly recheck — GitHub API: not archived, license Apache-2.0 confirmed, pushed 2026-07-23 (third-party)
Last verified 2026-08-01 · updated by refresh-framework-cards