# agent-memory
[](LICENSE)
[](https://github.com/xChuCx/agent-memory/actions/workflows/ci.yml)
[](go.mod)
[](#mcp-tools)
[](docs/eval/retrieval.md)
[](#agent-runtime-adapters)
[](#agent-runtime-adapters)
[](#agent-runtime-adapters)
[](#agent-runtime-adapters)
Local, **git-native** project memory for AI coding agents. One MCP call in,
structured memory updates out — current task state, decisions, conventions,
pitfalls, per-module facts. Branch-aware. Secret-safe. Byte-preserving.
**No cloud, no vector DB** — Markdown is the source of truth and git is the
sync. Three MCP tools + a full CLI.
Why it's different: memory is **plain Markdown committed to your repo**, so
you can read and `git diff` it; durable changes **stage for human review**
(`review --diff` → `apply`) instead of landing silently; and secrets/PII are
**scanned out** before anything is written. See [ROADMAP.md](ROADMAP.md) for
where this is headed (system-level / multi-repo memory).
## Demo
An agent records a durable decision; it **stages** for review; you see the
exact **diff**, **apply** it, and a later **`fetch`** surfaces it — local,
git-native, reviewable, secret-safe. The clip is reproducible:
[`docs/demo/demo.sh`](docs/demo/demo.sh) is the runnable flow and
[`docs/demo/demo.tape`](docs/demo/demo.tape) renders the gif with
[`vhs`](https://github.com/charmbracelet/vhs) — see [docs/demo/](docs/demo/).
## How it compares
| Capability | AGENTS.md / CLAUDE.md | Vendor memory (e.g. Claude) | Vector / DB memory (mem0, Zep) | **agent-memory** |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plain-text, git-versioned source of truth | ✓ flat file | ✗ vendor-managed | ✗ DB / cloud | **✓ Markdown in your repo** |
| Structured, section-level updates | ✗ | ✗ | ~ | **✓** |
| Human review gate (see the diff first) | ✗ free edit | ✗ | ✗ | **✓ stage → `review --diff` → apply** |
| Vendor-neutral (MCP — any agent) | ~ broad convention | ✗ one vendor | ~ varies | **✓ Claude · Cursor · Codex · Gemini** |
| Secret / PII scan on write | ✗ | ✗ | ~ varies | **✓** |
| Team merge for concurrent edits | ✗ text conflicts | ✗ | ✗ | **✓ section merge driver** |
| Runs fully local (no cloud) | ✓ | ✗ | ~ varies | **✓** |
| Verifiable Task Protocol (VTP-1) & Machine Receipts | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | **✓ 5-phase cryptographic lifecycle + Clause B disjoint seat** |
These are general characterizations and the tools evolve fast — see something
inaccurate? [Open an issue](https://github.com/xChuCx/agent-memory/issues) and
I'll fix the row. agent-memory is complementary to instruction files like
`AGENTS.md`/`CLAUDE.md` (it even installs one): those say *how to behave*;
agent-memory is the *durable, searchable, reviewed knowledge* behind it.
## Status
**Release 0.6.1** — the **Swarm Audit Hardening & Metamorphic Rebase** release:
bridges durable memory with verifiable autonomous execution and strict fail-closed security invariants:
- **Astra Pro Audit Hardening (AM-001..AM-008)** — Category-enforced approval routing (`DecideRoutingWithCategory`),
whole-file pre-state CAS (`proposal.PreHashes`), polarity/negation qualifier preservation in Jaccard dedup (`criticalQualifiers`),
idempotent pure read-only `fetch_context`, and canonical 3-way merge deletion semantics.
- **Metamorphic Rebase & Drift Detection (`internal/memory/rebase.go`)** — Detects whole-file pre-hash drift during rebase,
preventing silent clobber when adjacent sections are concurrently edited, verified by metamorphic composition tests.
- **Control-Plane Manifest Isolation** — Enforces fail-closed protection of `.agent-memory/meta/manifest.yaml` against
direct modification, symlink bypass, or path traversal attacks.
- **RFC 8785 (JCS) Determinism (`internal/vtp`)** — Strict JSON Canonicalization Scheme compliance
passing all 26 official RFC 8785 Appendix B test vectors, ECMAScript float formatting (`1e+21`),
lone surrogate rejection, and recursive UTF-8 validation.
- **Fail-Closed Cross-Process SQLite NonceStore (`internal/memory/nonce.go`)** — Persistent
repo-scoped store using the `withDB` pattern to eliminate Windows file descriptor locks,
providing zero-drift atomic validation and auto-sweeping expired nonces.
- **Two-Phase Staging & Compound Rollback (`internal/memory/staging.go`)** — Strict path traversal
sanitization (`ValidateStagingID`, `agentfs.ValidateMemoryPath`), symlink containment, and
atomic multi-file rollback reporting `RollbackIncomplete` compound errors on partial failure.
- **VTP-1 Strict Assertion Identification & Dual-Oracle Settlement (`internal/vtp`)** — Mandatory
identifiable `AssertionResults` matching declared assertion IDs, verifier key binding validation,
and Workpool/0 Clause B disjoint seat enforcement.
It builds on **0.6.0** (anti-ornamental SAR-008 grounding nonces, SAR-007 byte preservation), **0.5.4** (VTP-1 initial protocol engine),
**0.5.0** (federation, referenced landscape stores), and **0.4** (section merge driver).
See [CHANGELOG.md](CHANGELOG.md) for the full changelist.
| Document | Purpose |
|---|---|
| [ROADMAP.md](ROADMAP.md) | Where the project is going, principles, and non-goals. |
| [CHANGELOG.md](CHANGELOG.md) | Per-release feature list and known limitations. |
| [Design Doc v0.4.1](agent-memory-design-doc-v0.4.1.md) | Canonical design this binary implements. |
| [Implementation Plan](agent-memory-implementation-plan.md) | Historical MVP build log (M0–M8); see ROADMAP for what's next. |
| [Retrieval eval](docs/eval/retrieval.md) | Offline recall/MRR/nDCG benchmark of `fetch` (method + numbers). |
| [Patterns](docs/patterns/) | Reusable design patterns documented per subsystem. |
| [Spikes](docs/spikes/) | Pre-M1 spike outcomes (byte-preserving engine, MCP SDK, flock, FTS5). |
## Quick start
**Install — download a prebuilt binary** (recommended): grab the archive
for your OS/arch from the [latest release](https://github.com/xChuCx/agent-memory/releases/latest),
extract it, and put `agent-memory` on your `PATH`. No toolchain needed.
```bash
# npx (no Go, no manual download): fetches the verified release binary on
# first run and caches it — also usable straight from an MCP client config.
npx -y @xchucx/agent-memory --help
# Go toolchain alternative (Go 1.25+)
go install github.com/xChuCx/agent-memory/cmd/agent-memory@latest
# from source
go build -o agent-memory ./cmd/agent-memory
```
Homebrew, Scoop, and winget packages are planned. agent-memory is also
listed on the [MCP Registry](https://registry.modelcontextprotocol.io/).
Then, inside the repo you want to give a memory:
```bash
# Scaffold .agent-memory/ in a repo
agent-memory init --name my-project
# Install the Claude Code skill + register the project MCP server
# (writes .claude/skills/agent-memory/SKILL.md and merges .mcp.json)
agent-memory install claude
# Verify (prints the release tag, the go-install version, or dev+vcs locally)
agent-memory version
# Read context
agent-memory fetch # bootstrap pack
agent-memory fetch "auth" # FTS query
# Start MCP server (your agent spawns this automatically once configured)
agent-memory mcp
```
`install claude` registers the MCP server for you: it merges a project-scoped
`.mcp.json` at the repo root that runs `agent-memory mcp --root ${CLAUDE_PROJECT_DIR:-.}`.
Claude Code expands `CLAUDE_PROJECT_DIR` to the repo at spawn, so the server
always serves **this** repo — the config is portable across clones and (by
Claude Code's scope precedence, local > project > user) overrides any stray
user-scoped server. Commit `.mcp.json` so your team shares it.
> ⚠️ **Do not** register a single **user-scoped** server with a hardcoded root
> (`claude mcp add -s user agent-memory -- agent-memory mcp --root /some/repo`):
> it serves *every* project from that one repo, so memory you write in project B
> silently lands in project A. Per-project registration (what `install` writes)
> is the correct model; `agent-memory doctor` flags a mis-rooted registration.
The server resolves its repo from `--root`, then `$CLAUDE_PROJECT_DIR`, then the
working directory. Other runtimes (Cursor, Gemini CLI, anything reading
`AGENTS.md`) use the same server — install their adapter (see below).
## Adopt on an existing project
`init` scaffolds empty memory. To seed it from a real codebase, let your
coding agent do the analysis — that's the whole point. After `init` +
`install ` + registering the MCP server (above), **restart the
agent** so the `memory.*` tools load, then paste the prompt below.
What happens: the agent reads the repo and calls `memory.propose_update`.
Working notes and pitfalls apply immediately; durable categories
(conventions, decisions, modules) **stage for your review** — inspect each
with `agent-memory review --diff` and land it with `agent-memory apply`
(or `reject`). Nothing durable is written without your approval.
````text
You now have agent-memory MCP tools (memory.fetch_context,
memory.propose_update, memory.status) backed by this repository's
.agent-memory/ store. Bootstrap the project's memory from the codebase.
1. Call memory.fetch_context with an empty query to see the current
(mostly empty) state and the conventions/decisions/pitfalls/modules
layout.
2. Analyze THIS repository — read the build files, CI config, entry
points, and the main packages/modules. Identify:
- build / test / run / lint commands and the toolchain;
- conventions: code style, branching, commit rules, review practices;
- architecture: the major modules/components and what each is for;
- durable decisions: notable choices and WHY (only ones that are real
and stable — not speculation);
- pitfalls: footguns, sharp edges, "don't do X because Y" you can infer
from the code, tests, or docs.
3. Persist what you found via memory.propose_update, choosing the intent
per kind:
- update_conventions → conventions.md (build/test/style/workflow)
- refresh_module → modules/.md (one per major component)
- record_decision → decisions.md (Date / Status / Confidence +
sources; type ∈ file|test|user, NOT external)
- add_pitfall → pitfalls.md
- update_shared → local/current.shared.md (a short "current
state / where things stand" summary)
Rules:
- Cite provenance: pass sources as file references you actually read
(e.g. {"type":"file","ref":"internal/auth/session.go"}). Use
confidence=confirmed for facts from code, inferred for deductions.
- Every section needs a unique "" anchor; keep entries
concise — this is working knowledge, not a wiki. Decisions need
**Date**, **Status** (active|superseded|deprecated|proposed), and
**Confidence** fields.
- NEVER put secrets, tokens, or credentials in memory (the server will
reject them anyway).
- Work in a few focused passes (conventions + architecture first, then
modules, then decisions/pitfalls). Report what you proposed and what
staged for review.
````
No MCP server handy? The agent (or you) can use the CLI instead — same
validation/secret-scan/routing pipeline:
```bash
agent-memory propose --intent update_conventions --op append_section \
--path conventions.md --heading "Build & test" --heading-level 2 \
--source file:Makefile --confidence confirmed \
--content-file - <<'MD'
## Build & test
Run `go build ./...` and `go test ./...`. ...
MD
# add --apply to land it immediately (you are the reviewer);
# or omit it and review the staged proposal with `review --diff` + `apply`.
```
## Build
Requires Go 1.25+ (the MCP SDK transitively requires it).
```bash
go build -o agent-memory ./cmd/agent-memory # binary
go test ./... # unit + integration tests
go test -tags=e2e ./internal/e2e/... # end-to-end smoke (linux/macos)
go test -race ./internal/... # race detector
```
`make` targets are equivalent to the `go` commands above; see the
`Makefile` if you prefer that style.
## CLI
```bash
agent-memory init [--root DIR] [--name NAME] [--force]
# Create the .agent-memory/ scaffold.
agent-memory status [--root DIR] [--json]
# Project state: version, file counts per category, lock metadata.
agent-memory doctor [--root DIR]
# Diagnostic layout checks. Advisory; exits 0 even with findings.
agent-memory digest [--root DIR] [--verify SHA256] [--json]
# Compute or verify deterministic SHA-256 Merkle root of active memory.
# CRLF-normalized; cryptographic receipt for VTP-1 or swarm audit.
agent-memory fetch [QUERY] [--scope X,Y] [--budget N]
[--exclude-archive] [--json] [--root DIR]
# Return a budgeted Markdown context pack.
agent-memory mcp [--root DIR]
# Start the MCP server (stdio). Exposes memory.fetch_context and
# memory.propose_update.
agent-memory propose --intent INTENT --op OP --path PATH [op flags...]
[--content STR | --content-file FILE|-] [--source type:ref]
[--confidence C] [--apply] [--from-json FILE|-] [--json]
# Create a proposal WITHOUT an MCP server, through the same
# validate / secret-scan / route pipeline. --from-json takes a full
# multi-op ProposeRequest; --apply immediately lands a result that
# would otherwise stage (you are the reviewer).
agent-memory review [STAGING_ID] [--diff] [--show] [--json] [--root DIR]
# List staged proposals or inspect one. --diff shows a unified diff
# of each staged file vs the current on-disk version.
agent-memory apply STAGING_ID [--json] [--root DIR]
# Re-validate drift and apply a staged proposal.
agent-memory reject STAGING_ID [--json] [--root DIR]
# Discard a staged proposal.
agent-memory rebase STAGING_ID [--force] [--json] [--root DIR]
# Re-plan a staged proposal against the current disk state
# after target_drift. --force is required for soft drifts
# (acknowledges accepting the new base as planning input).
# review / apply / reject / rebase accept a full STAGING_ID, any unique
# prefix (Git-style), or --latest for the most recently staged proposal:
# agent-memory apply 20260527 # unique prefix
# agent-memory apply --latest # newest staged proposal
agent-memory install [--user-global] [--force] [--json]
# Materialise agent-runtime adapter assets.
# Supported: claude, cursor, agents, gemini.
agent-memory merge-driver --install [--root DIR]
# Register the section-aware git merge driver so a team's concurrent
# edits to .agent-memory/ files union by @id instead of conflicting.
# Run once per clone. (git invokes the bare `merge-driver %O %A %B %P`
# form itself during a merge.)
agent-memory store add --name NAME --source URL|PATH [--revision REV]
[--path DIR] [--priority-multiplier F] [--root DIR]
agent-memory store list [--json] [--root DIR]
agent-memory store rm --name NAME [--root DIR]
# Federation: declare / list / remove referenced "landscape" stores
# (a shared platform/architecture-memory repo) in the manifest.
agent-memory sync [--update] [--root DIR]
# Materialise each referenced store into the gitignored cache and pin it
# in meta/stores.lock (committed). --update moves a pin forward.
agent-memory rebuild-index [--root DIR] [--clobber] [--no-assign-ids] [--json]
# Recreate the FTS5 shadow index from canonical Markdown files.
# Use for SQLite corruption, schema changes, or after manual .md edits.
agent-memory sweep [--root DIR] [--ttl DURATION] [--dry-run] [--json]
# Remove staged proposals past the manifest's staging.ttl_seconds.
# Each removal also writes a ttl_expired entry to meta/rejection-log.jsonl.
agent-memory vtp digest [--json]
# Compute canonical SAR-002 LF-normalized SHA-256 digest of a target file.
agent-memory vtp verify --receipt FILE [--spec FILE] [--stdout FILE]
[--diff FILE] [--exit-code N] [--verifier ID]
[--disjoint] [--json]
# Verify a TaskReceipt execution proof against stdout/diff digests, exit code,
# and enforce Workpool/0 Clause B (disjoint seat isolation).
agent-memory vtp settle --verify FILE [--spec FILE] --payer ID --payee ID
--seq N [--json]
# Emit a canonical TaskSettle artifact from a passed verification, enforcing
# that Clause B disjoint verification was satisfied.
agent-memory version
# Print binary version and exit.
```
## MCP tools
Exposed by `agent-memory mcp` over stdio JSON-RPC:
| Tool | Purpose |
|------|---------|
| `memory.fetch_context` | Read a budgeted Markdown context pack. |
| `memory.propose_update` | Submit structured edits (apply or stage). |
| `memory.status` | Report memory health: file counts, staged proposals (with drift), security/git/lock posture. |
## Federated memory (landscape stores)
A repository's `.agent-memory/` knows only itself. **Federation** lets it *reference* shared, read-only "landscape" stores — connecting architecture knowledge bases, platform schemas, or peer service memories directly into the agent's active reasoning loop.
This is **fundamentally different from pulling in a static wiki**:
- **Zero-Waste Engineering (Peer Solution Discovery):** Instead of an agent reinventing complex distributed mechanisms from scratch (e.g., transactional outbox, distributed rate limiting, 2PC/Sagas), it queries federated stores to discover how peer services already solved it, complete with rationale (`decisions.md`) and known production traps (`pitfalls.md`).
- **Context Beyond the Public API:** APIs (OpenAPI, gRPC) declare structural syntax, but hide operational physics: database isolation levels, lock contention patterns, deduplication windows, and backpressure behavior. Federated memory surfaces these hidden operational boundaries.
- **Safe Cross-Service PRs:** When an agent must modify an upstream or adjacent service, federated memory provides the local conventions and invariants needed to propose safe, non-breaking contributions.
### Quickstart with `arch-wiki`
Connect the public, canonical Architecture Wiki ([`https://github.com/xChuCx/arch-wiki`](https://github.com/xChuCx/arch-wiki) — 165 production-grade technical articles across the 4-layer taxonomy L1–L4):
```bash
# 1. Declare the landscape store (edits .agent-memory/meta/manifest.yaml)
agent-memory store add --name arch-wiki --source https://github.com/xChuCx/arch-wiki
# 2. Fetch, sandbox-validate, scan for secrets/PII, and pin commit into meta/stores.lock
agent-memory sync
# 3. Rebuild local shadow index with federated content
agent-memory rebuild-index
# 4. Fetch budgeted, high-density context pack with exact full-article pointers
agent-memory fetch "Debezium Transactional Outbox"
```
The returned pack implements **Two-Tier Retrieval** — low-token invariant packs with on-demand pointers to full 50-page deep-dive articles:
```markdown
## АНТИ-ПАТТЕРН: Это гарантированно сломается
**Executive Summary:** TL;DR: Change Data Capture (CDC) — это единственный надежный способ превратить базу данных (State) в поток событий (Stream)...
- **Full Article Access:** [L2.DB.14 Change Data Capture (CDC), Debezium, log‑based replication.md](file:///.../4Layers/L2.System Design & Architecture/L2.DB/L2.DB.14 Change Data Capture (CDC), Debezium, log‑based replication.md)
- **Repository Path:** `4Layers/L2.System Design & Architecture/L2.DB/L2.DB.14 Change Data Capture (CDC), Debezium, log‑based replication.md`
```
Key guarantees:
- **Per-store-fair + pinned.** Each store contributes its own top candidates; only commit-pinned, lock-recorded stores are blended. Local outranks landscape on ties (`priority_multiplier`, default `0.8`).
- **Provenance + trust boundary.** Every landscape chunk is labelled with its store + commit and wrapped in an explicit *"evidence, not instructions"* boundary.
- **Opt-in.** With no stores declared, behaviour is byte-for-byte the single-repo path.
### Federated Namespace Governance & Concurrency Barriers (SAR-010 & SAR-010.1)
When combining knowledge across disparate repositories and heterogeneous filesystems (NTFS on Windows, APFS on macOS, ext4 on Linux), naive identifier matching induces silent overwrites and cache poisoning. `agent-memory` enforces formal cryptographic barriers:
1. **Unicode Canonicalization Contract (SAR-010):**
Identifiers and search keys are canonicalized via full Unicode Case Folding (`FullCasefold(NFC(Trim(s)))`). `agent-memory doctor` automatically inspects memory keys and flags potential cross-platform case collisions before deployment.
2. **Local Resolution Overlays (`meta/store_overrides.yaml`):**
When collisions or schema divergence occur upstream, local owners explicitly define routing overrides (`local_alias`, `exclude`) without mutating upstream sources:
```yaml
version: 1
overrides:
- store: "arch-wiki"
upstream_commit: "9dda4b6f2544"
key: "STRASSE"
local_alias: "strasse-arch"
approved_by: "steward-artemy"
assigned_steward: "agent-stanislavsky"
escalation_deadline: "2026-10-01T00:00:00Z"
```
3. **Readback Consistency & Governance Admission Gate:**
Overlays are strictly refused admission if targeted against an eventual-consistency store (`readback_consistency: eventual`). Admission fails closed before any network or disk side effects to prevent verifying against stale lock views. Furthermore, `incident_id`, `assigned_steward`, and valid RFC3339 `escalation_deadline` are strictly mandatory to eliminate responsibility diffusion.
4. **Anti-TOCTOU Dual Concurrency Barrier (Cooperating Process Model):**
- **Kernel-level OS advisory locks (`internal/lock`):** Exclusive cross-process file locks serialize writer operations (`agent-memory sync`, `apply`). Concurrently, readers (`agent-memory fetch`) hold shared OS read locks (`AcquireShared`) across store resolution and context pack assembly, eliminating torn reads or interleaving during directory swaps (`SwapDir`).
- **Unconditional Lockfile CAS Digest Verification (`VerifyStoresLockCAS`):** Captures the SHA-256 digest of `meta/stores.lock` at verification time and validates it immediately before writes (even when the file was initially absent), preventing concurrent check/use races and interleaved creations among cooperating participants.
- **Contract Boundary:** This dual barrier guarantees strict serializability for all cooperating processes participating in the locking protocol: held advisory locks serialize execution windows, while digest verification detects changes prior to verification. It is explicitly bounded against non-cooperating external writers that bypass OS advisory locks.
5. **Read-Set Write-Skew Verification (`ReadSections` CAS):**
Staged proposals capture the hashes of all sections read during proposal synthesis (`proposal.ReadSections`). Both `agent-memory rebase` and `agent-memory apply` validate that read-set sections have not drifted prior to applying mutations, preventing silent write-skew anomalies when concurrent sessions update interdependent memory sections.
6. **Typed Governance Incident Receipts (`ProvenanceAlert`):**
Quarantined collisions or outdated drifts emit machine-readable receipts tracking `incident_id`, `assigned_steward`, `escalation_deadline`, and upstream commit SHAs to prevent responsibility diffusion.
Patterns: [federation-stores.md](docs/patterns/federation-stores.md), [multi-store-fetch.md](docs/patterns/multi-store-fetch.md), [sar-010-unicode-canonicalization-contract.md](docs/sar/sar-010-unicode-canonicalization-contract.md).
## Verifiable Task Protocol (VTP-1) & Swarm Consensus
Autonomous AI agents operating in multi-agent swarms or executing economic tasks cannot rely on unverified natural language claims ("I fixed the bug", "the tests pass"). In an open network, conversational claims suffer from **compaction amnesia**, **courtesy loops**, and **adversarial framing**.
**VTP-1 (Verifiable Task Protocol)** transforms task execution into an end-to-end, machine-verifiable 5-phase cryptographic lifecycle:
> [!WARNING]
> **VTP-1 Status: Experimental / Security Hardening in Progress**
> While deterministic digest verification, assertion checks, and cross-task settlement bindings are cryptographically enforced, Clause B disjoint seat verification currently relies on identity string inequality (`worker != verifier != creator`). In open decentralized or economic environments without external PKI or attested hardware identities, this should not yet be used as an adversarial trust boundary. Cryptographic account attestation is actively in development.
```
[TASK-SPEC] ──> [TASK-CLAIM] ──> [TASK-RECEIPT] ──> [TASK-VERIFY] ──> [TASK-SETTLE]
Creator Worker Worker Independent Dual-Oracle
Bounty/Oracle TTL/IdemKey Stdout/Diff SHA Disjoint Seat Payout / Mint
```
| Phase | Structure | Role & Machine Invariants |
|---|---|---|
| **Phase 1: SPEC** | `TaskSpec` | Declarative requirements, oracle type (`execution@1`, `rule_kb@1`), target repo/commit, and bounty. |
| **Phase 2: CLAIM** | `TaskClaim` | Worker stakes an idempotency key and sequence-based TTL preventing concurrent race conditions. |
| **Phase 3: RECEIPT** | `TaskReceipt` | Deterministic execution proof capturing CRLF-normalized (SAR-002) SHA-256 digests of stdout, diff hunks, and process exit code. |
| **Phase 4: VERIFY** | `TaskVerify` | Independent evaluation enforcing **Workpool/0 Clause B** (`is_disjoint_seat == true`): verification **must** execute on an isolated machine/seat (e.g. keyless sandbox vs host with secrets). |
| **Phase 5: SETTLE** | `TaskSettle` | Deterministic settlement payload bound to the verified receipt reference for ledger minting (e.g. Grain consensus) or escrow release. |
### Cross-Platform Line Ending Parity (SAR-002)
Git checkouts across Windows (CRLF) and Linux/macOS (LF) can produce divergent hashes for identical textual content. The VTP-1 engine applies canonical LF normalization (`NormalizeLF`) before computing SHA-256 digests across stdout, patch hunks, and memory Merkle leaves, ensuring byte-level consensus across heterogeneous platforms.
### CLI Workflow for Autonomous Agents
```bash
# 1. Compute canonical normalized digest for an output log or diff patch
agent-memory vtp digest ./artifacts/stdout.log --json
# 2. Verify a worker's TaskReceipt against live execution output
agent-memory vtp verify --receipt receipt.json --spec spec.json \
--stdout stdout.log --diff patch.diff \
--verifier @orca-agent --disjoint --json > verify.json
# 3. Settle verified task into a settlement artifact (fails closed if Clause B violated)
agent-memory vtp settle --verify verify.json --spec spec.json \
--payer @creator --payee @worker --seq 14500 --json > settle.json
```
## Evidence (measured)
Three layers, honest about scope — **retrieval → continuity → behaviour**.
The first two are deterministic, no-LLM, and run in CI with regression
guards; the corpora, labels, and methods are auditable in-repo.
**1 · Retrieval quality.** Does `fetch` return the *right* sections? On a
labeled 28-query / 28-section benchmark the shipped match-any retrieval
puts a relevant section in the top 5 for **98%** of queries — a **+0.91
recall lift** over the prior match-all behaviour.
| Config | recall@5 | hit@1 | MRR |
|---|---|---|---|
| match-all (AND) — prior | 0.07 | 0.07 | 0.07 |
| **match-any (OR) — shipped** | **0.98** | **0.96** | **0.97** |
→ method + caveats: [docs/eval/retrieval.md](docs/eval/retrieval.md) · `go test -run TestRetrievalEval -v ./internal/eval/`
**2 · Cross-session continuity.** Does a lesson recorded in one session
survive into the next? Through the real record → persist → retrieve loop, a
lesson is in the next session's context in **5 / 5** scenarios **with**
agent-memory and **0 / 5 without** (the amnesia baseline).
→ [docs/eval/continuity.md](docs/eval/continuity.md) · `go test -run TestMemoryContinuity -v ./internal/eval/`
**3 · Behavioural (task-success).** Does the agent *act* on it — fewer
repeated mistakes? That needs an LLM in the loop, so it ships as a runnable
A/B harness ("groundhog-day", with vs without memory) you run with your own
model: [eval/behavioural/](eval/behavioural/). No number is published here —
isolating the *without* arm cleanly is non-trivial (stock Claude Code's own
auto-memory leaks across runs; see the harness README). Not in CI by design.
## Agent-runtime adapters
`agent-memory install ` drops a worked instruction file at the
location each runtime reads from:
| Adapter | Target file | Notes |
|---------|------------|-------|
| `claude` | `.claude/skills/agent-memory/SKILL.md` | Claude Code skill format. `--user-global` writes to `~/.claude/skills/`. |
| `cursor` | `.cursor/rules/agent-memory.mdc` | Cursor MDC rule with description-based matching. `--user-global` writes to `~/.cursor/rules/`. |
| `agents` | `AGENTS.md` (repo root) | Industry-broad convention. Read by OpenAI Codex CLI, Cursor's agent mode, Sourcegraph Cody, etc. Project-local only. |
| `gemini` | `GEMINI.md` (repo root) | Gemini CLI long-term project context. Project-local only. |
Each file teaches the runtime when to call `memory.fetch_context` and
`memory.propose_update`, the intent vocabulary, provenance rules, and
debugging reject reasons. The same behavioural model across all four;
each adapter just wraps it in the runtime's native format.
## Architecture (at a glance)
```
.agent-memory/
├── meta/
│ ├── manifest.yaml operational settings (budgets, approval, security)
│ ├── schema.yaml per-category file/glob, section schema, provenance
│ ├── index.sqlite FTS5 shadow index (regenerable)
│ ├── lock OS-level advisory lock (flock)
│ └── lock.info informational metadata sidecar
├── conventions.md project conventions
├── decisions.md durable architectural decisions
├── pitfalls.md known footguns
├── index.md server-managed memory index summary
├── modules/.md per-module facts
├── archive/-*.md write-once archived entries
├── local/
│ ├── current.shared.md cross-branch working notes
│ └── current..md branch-scoped working notes
├── sessions/.md per-day session logs
└── staging// pending human-review proposals
├── proposal.json
├── target-checksums.json
└── files/
```
## Layout
```
cmd/agent-memory/ CLI and MCP binary entry point
internal/
adapters/ agent runtime adapters (Claude, Cursor, Codex, Gemini)
bench/ retrieval & FTS5 benchmark harness
cli/ cobra subcommands (init, fetch, propose, digest, vtp, etc.)
config/ schema/ YAML loaders (manifest.yaml + schema.yaml)
e2e/ release smoke test suite (-tags=e2e)
eval/ offline retrieval and continuity benchmarks
fs/ atomic file swap and path sanitization
git/ branch resolution and repo inspection
index/ FTS5 incremental shadow index
lock/ flock-based cross-process advisory lock
logging/ structured slog logging with level filtering
markdown/ byte-preserving section-level Markdown engine
mcp/ stdio JSON-RPC 2.0 Model Context Protocol server
memory/ operations, staging pipeline, security scanner, Merkle tree
vtp/ Verifiable Task Protocol (VTP-1) engine & Clause B verifier
spikes/ pre-M1 architectural spikes (S1-S4)
docs/
patterns/ reusable architecture patterns (SAR, Merkle, federation)
eval/ retrieval and continuity benchmark methods and logs
spikes/ spike outcome write-ups
.github/workflows/ CI & CD release workflows (goreleaser)
agent-memory-design-doc-v0.4.1.md canonical design specification
agent-memory-implementation-plan.md MVP and federation build log
CHANGELOG.md per-release feature list and upgrade notes
```
## Releases
Tag-driven via [goreleaser](https://goreleaser.com/). Pushing a `v*`
tag triggers
[`.github/workflows/release.yml`](.github/workflows/release.yml),
which builds the binary matrix and publishes a GitHub Release with
archives attached.
Matrix per release:
- `linux_amd64`, `linux_arm64`
- `darwin_amd64`, `darwin_arm64`
- `windows_amd64`, `windows_arm64`
Each archive contains the `agent-memory` binary, `README.md`, and
`CHANGELOG.md`. A sibling `agent-memory__checksums.txt`
provides SHA-256 hashes.
```bash
# Verify a downloaded archive
sha256sum -c agent-memory_0.2.0_checksums.txt
```
Local dry-run of the release pipeline (requires `goreleaser`
installed):
```bash
goreleaser check # parse + validate .goreleaser.yml
goreleaser release --snapshot --clean # full build with no upload
```
Source builds always identify as `dev`:
```
$ go build -o agent-memory ./cmd/agent-memory
$ ./agent-memory version
dev
```
Release builds via goreleaser stamp the actual tag through
`-ldflags='-X .../cli.ProgramVersion=v0.X.Y'`.
## License
[Apache License 2.0](LICENSE). You may use, modify, and distribute this
software under its terms; it includes an express patent grant. Contributions
are accepted under the same license (see [CONTRIBUTING.md](CONTRIBUTING.md)).