Based on everything explored in the source code, here's the full technical recipe behind Claude Code's memory architecture: [shared by claude code] Claude Code’s memory system is actually insanely well-designed. It isn't like “store everything” but constrained, structured and self-healing memory. The architecture is doing a few very non-obvious things: > Memory = index, not storage + MEMORY.md is always loaded, but it’s just pointers (~150 chars/line) + actual knowledge lives outside, fetched only when needed > 3-layer design (bandwidth aware) + index (always) + topic files (on-demand) + transcripts (never read, only grep’d) > Strict write discipline + write to file → then update index + never dump content into the index + prevents entropy / context pollution > Background “memory rewriting” (autoDream) + merges, dedupes, removes contradictions + converts vague → absolute + aggressively prunes + memory is continuously edited, not appended > Staleness is first-class + if memory ≠ reality → memory is wrong + code-derived facts are never stored + index is forcibly truncated > Isolation matters + consolidation runs in a forked subagent + limited tools → prevents corruption of main context > Retrieval is skeptical, not blind + memory is a hint, not truth + model must verify before using > What they don’t store is the real insight + no debugging logs, no code structure, no PR history + if it’s derivable, don’t persist it