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Claude Memory

anthropic.com

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Re: Claude Memory

#261

Post by liqilin1567 »

orliesaurus wrote: post #195

Another angle here is data stewardship and transparency... When a model keeps a running memory of interactions, where is that data going... who has access... how long is it retained... BUT if the goal is to build trust, more user‑facing controls around memory might help... such as the ability to inspect or reset what the model 'knows'... ALSO from a performance point of view, memory could be used for caching intermed…

Great points! Yes memory can be a force for trust—by enabling users to verify, correct, and audit past interactions.

Re: Claude Memory

#262

Post by te_chris »

joshmlewis wrote: post #182
DiskoHexyl wrote: post #150

CC barely manages to follow all of the instructions within a single session in a single well-defined repo. 'You are totally right, it's been 2 whole messages since the last reminder, and I totally forgot that first rule in claude.md, repeated twice and surrounded by a wall of exclamation marks'. Would be wary to trust its memories over several projects

How big is your claude.md file? I see people complain about this but I have only seen it happen in projects with very long/complex or insufficient claude.md files. I put a lot of time into crafting that file by hand for each project because it's not something it will generate well on its own with /init.

Very long OR insufficient. Ah yes, the goldilocks Claude.md

Re: Claude Memory

#263

Post by liqilin1567 »

cruffle_duffle wrote: post #124
mckn1ght wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Plan mode is the extent of it for me. It’s essentially prompting to produce a prompt, which is then used to actually execute the inference to produce code changes. It’s really upped the quality of the output IME. But I don’t have any habits around using subagents or lots of CLAUDE.md files etc. I do have some custom commands.

Cursor’s implementation of plan mode works better for me simply because it’s an editable markdown file. Claude code seems to really want to be the driver and you be the copilot. I really dislike that relationship and vastly prefer a workflow that lets me edit the LLM output rather than have it generate some plan and then piss away time and tokens fighting the model so it updates the plan how I want it. With cursor I…

Thanks for sharing, I didn't even know about this useful feature.

Re: Claude Memory

#264

Post by abustamam »

cainxinth wrote: post #23

I don't use any of these type of LLM tools which basically amount to just a prompt you leave in place. They make it harder to refine my prompts and keep track of what is causing what in the outputs. I write very precise prompts every time. Also, I try not work out a problem over the course of several prompts back and forth. The first response is always the best and I try to one shot it every time. If I don't get what…

I wish the LLMs would tell you exactly what the input was (system prompt, memory, etc, at least, the ones we have control over, not necessarily their system prompts) that resulted in the output.

Also, out of curiosity, do you use LLMs for coding? Claude Code, Cursor, etc? I think it's a good idea to limit llm conversations to one input message but it makes me wonder how that could work with code generation given that the first step is often NOT to generate code but to plan? Pipe the plan to a new conversation?

Re: Claude Memory

#265

Post by abustamam »

brookst wrote: post #172
corry wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Strong agree. For every time that I'd get a better answer if the LLM had a bit more context on me (that I didn't think to provide, but it 'knew') there seems to be a multiple of that where the 'memory' was either actually confounding or possibly confounding the best response. I'm sure OpenAI and Antropic look at the data, and I'm sure it says that for new / unsophisticated users who don't know how to prompt, that thi…

I'm pretty deep in this stuff and I find memory super useful. For instance, I can ask "what windshield wipers should I buy" and Claude (and ChatGPT and others) will remember where I live, what winter's like, the make, model, and year of my car, and give me a part number. Sure, there's more control in re-typing those details every single time. But there is also value in not having to.

I mostly find it useful as well, until it starts hallucinating memories, or using memories in an incorrect context. It may have been my fault for not managing its memories correctly but I don't expect the average non power user will be doing that.

Re: Claude Memory

#266

Post by theshrike79 »

abustamam wrote: post #264
cainxinth wrote: post #23

I don't use any of these type of LLM tools which basically amount to just a prompt you leave in place. They make it harder to refine my prompts and keep track of what is causing what in the outputs. I write very precise prompts every time. Also, I try not work out a problem over the course of several prompts back and forth. The first response is always the best and I try to one shot it every time. If I don't get what…

I wish the LLMs would tell you exactly what the input was (system prompt, memory, etc, at least, the ones we have control over, not necessarily their system prompts) that resulted in the output. Also, out of curiosity, do you use LLMs for coding? Claude Code, Cursor, etc? I think it's a good idea to limit llm conversations to one input message but it makes me wonder how that could work with code generation given that…

The basic process is that you use a "plan mode" with whatever model is good at planning. Sometimes it's the same model, but not always.

You refine your plan and go into details as much as you feel necessary.

Then you switch to act mode (letting the model access the local filesystem) and tell it to write the plan to docs/ACDC1234_feature_plan.md or whatever is your system. I personally ask them to make github issues from tasks using the `gh` command line tool.

Then you clear context, maybe switch to a coding model, tell it to read the plan and start working.

If you want to be fancy, you can ask the plan system to write down the plan "as a markdown checklist" and tell the code model to check each task from the file after it's complete.

This way you can easily reset context if you're running out and ask a fresh one to start where the previous one left off.

Re: Claude Memory

#267

Post by daniboygg »

simonw wrote: post #105

It's not 100% clear to me if I can leave memory OFF for my regular chats but turn it ON for individual projects. I don't want any memories from my general chats leaking through to my projects - in fact I don't want memories recorded from my general chats at all. I don't want project memories leaking to other projects or to my general chats.

According to the documentation https://support.claude.com/en/articles/11817273-using-claude...

> Individual project conversations (searches are limited to within each specific project).

> Each project has its own separate memory space and dedicated project summary, so the context within each of your projects is focused, relevant, and separate from other projects or non-project chats.

Each project should have its own memory and general chats should not pollute that.

According to the docs "How to search and reference past chats", you need to explicit ask for it, and it's reflected as a tool call. I'm wondering if you just can tell Claude to not look into memory in the conversation, if as they claim, it's so easy to spot Claude using this feature.

Re: Claude Memory

#268

Post by zbyforgotp »

cainxinth wrote: post #23

I don't use any of these type of LLM tools which basically amount to just a prompt you leave in place. They make it harder to refine my prompts and keep track of what is causing what in the outputs. I write very precise prompts every time. Also, I try not work out a problem over the course of several prompts back and forth. The first response is always the best and I try to one shot it every time. If I don't get what…

They should just give the user some control over this

Re: Claude Memory

#269

Post by stefs »

baq wrote: post #244
awesome_dude wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean I am telling you what has actually worked for me so far - and being a NLP the system (should) understand what that means... as should you...

LLMs literally can’t forget. If it’s in the context window, it is known regardless of what you put in the context next. That said, if the ‘pretend forget’ you’re getting works for you, great. Just remember it’s fake.

it may be possible to add - or rather, that they've already added - an mcp function that clears the context?

Re: Claude Memory

#270

Post by crimsoneer »

dingnuts wrote: post #61
torben-friis wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s a curious wording. It mentions a process of improvement being attempted but not necessarily a result.

because all the safety stuff is bullshit. it's like asking a mirror company to make mirrors that modify the image to prevent the viewer from seeing anything they don't like good fucking luck. these things are mirrors and they are not controllable. "safety" is bullshit, ESPECIALLY if real superintelligence was invented. Yeah, we're going to have guardrails that outsmart something 100x smarter than us? how's that suppo…

but... we do all drive motor vehicles, right.
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