Memory Vault

The Memory Vault provides persistent knowledge storage across Claude Code sessions. Capture domain knowledge, project context, session summaries, and bug fixes in structured markdown notes.

Note Types

Type	Icon	Purpose
Knowledge	brain	Domain knowledge, gotchas, corrections
Projects	building	Project context and architecture
Sessions	calendar	Work session summaries and decisions
Fixes	wrench	Bug fixes with root cause analysis

Capturing Notes

Quick Knowledge

cortex memory remember "FastAPI uses Starlette under the hood"
cortex memory remember "Uses ASGI" --topic "fastapi" --tags "python,async"

Project Context

cortex memory project "my-api" --purpose "REST API for users"
cortex memory project "auth-service" \
  --path "~/services/auth" \
  --related "user-db,redis"

Session Summaries

cortex memory capture "Added auth" --summary "Built JWT authentication"
cortex memory capture "API Refactor" \
  --summary "Refactored API endpoints" \
  --decisions "Use dependency injection|Add caching layer" \
  --implementations "Refactored auth|Added Redis cache" \
  --open "Add metrics|Write docs" \
  --project "my-api"

Bug Fixes

cortex memory fix "Token expired too fast" \
  --problem "Tokens expiring in 1 minute" \
  --cause "Wrong TTL constant" \
  --solution "Changed TTL to 3600 seconds"

Searching and Listing

# List all notes
cortex memory list

# List by type
cortex memory list knowledge
cortex memory list sessions --recent 5
cortex memory list fixes --tags "my-api"

# Search across notes
cortex memory search "asyncio"
cortex memory search "authentication" --type knowledge
cortex memory search "bug" --limit 5

# Vault statistics
cortex memory stats

Auto-Capture

Auto-capture creates session notes automatically based on session length:

# Enable auto-capture
cortex memory auto on

# Disable
cortex memory auto off

# Check status
cortex memory auto status

Auto-capture triggers when:

• Session length exceeds 5 minutes (configurable)
• Time since last capture exceeds 30 minutes
• Prompt doesn’t match exclude patterns (e.g., “explain”, “what is”)

TUI Memory View

Press M in the TUI to open the Memory Vault:

Key	Action
M	Open Memory Vault view
/	Focus search input
n or N	New note dialog
r	Refresh notes list
Enter	View selected note
O	Open note in editor
D	Delete selected note
Esc	Close view

The view shows a browsable list of notes with type icons, titles, and dates, plus a preview pane with syntax-highlighted content.

Storage

Notes are stored as markdown files with YAML frontmatter:

~/basic-memory/
├── knowledge/
│   └── fastapi-starlette.md
├── projects/
│   └── my-api-context.md
├── sessions/
│   └── 2026-02-16-auth-implementation.md
└── fixes/
    └── token-ttl-fix.md

Each note looks like:

# Token TTL Fix

tags: #fixes #auth #jwt

## Problem
Tokens expiring in 1 minute instead of 1 hour.

## Root Cause
Wrong TTL constant -- was set to 60 (seconds) instead of 3600.

## Solution
Changed TTL to 3600 seconds in config.py.

Configuration

Override the vault location:

# Environment variable
export CORTEX_MEMORY_VAULT=~/my-notes

# Or in ~/.claude/memory-config.json
{
  "vault_path": "~/basic-memory",
  "auto_capture": {
    "enabled": true,
    "min_session_length": 5,
    "exclude_patterns": ["explain", "what is", "how do"]
  }
}

Memory Keeper Agent

For automatic memory management, activate the Memory Keeper agent:

cortex agent activate memory-keeper

The agent proactively captures session context, retrieves relevant past notes, and classifies entries into the correct note type.

CLI Reference

cortex memory remember TEXT [--topic TOPIC] [--tags TAGS]
cortex memory project NAME [--path PATH] [--purpose PURPOSE] [--related PROJECTS]
cortex memory capture [TITLE] [--summary TEXT] [--decisions TEXT]
                              [--implementations TEXT] [--open TEXT] [--project NAME]
cortex memory fix TITLE [--problem TEXT] [--cause TEXT] [--solution TEXT]
                        [--files FILES] [--project NAME]
cortex memory auto [on|off|status]
cortex memory list [TYPE] [--recent N] [--tags TAGS]
cortex memory search QUERY [--type TYPE] [--limit N]
cortex memory stats