Memory management

Memory Management

Memory makes Claude your workplace collaborator - someone who speaks your internal language.

The Goal

Transform shorthand into understanding:

User: "ask todd to do the PSR for oracle"
              ↓ Claude decodes
"Ask Todd Martinez (Finance lead) to prepare the Pipeline Status Report
 for the Oracle Systems deal ($2.3M, closing Q2)"

Without memory, that request is meaningless. With memory, Claude knows:

• todd → Todd Martinez, Finance lead, prefers Slack
• PSR → Pipeline Status Report (weekly sales doc)
• oracle → Oracle Systems deal, not the company

Architecture

CLAUDE.md          ← Hot cache (~30 people, common terms)
memory/
  glossary.md      ← Full decoder ring (everything)
  people/          ← Complete profiles
  projects/        ← Project details
  context/         ← Company, teams, tools

CLAUDE.md (Hot Cache):

• Top ~30 people you interact with most
• ~30 most common acronyms/terms
• Active projects (5-15)
• Your preferences
• Goal: Cover 90% of daily decoding needs

memory/glossary.md (Full Glossary):

• Complete decoder ring - everyone, every term
• Searched when something isn't in CLAUDE.md
• Can grow indefinitely

memory/people/, projects/, context/:

• Rich detail when needed for execution
• Full profiles, history, context

Lookup Flow

User: "ask todd about the PSR for phoenix"

1. Check CLAUDE.md (hot cache)
   → Todd? ✓ Todd Martinez, Finance
   → PSR? ✓ Pipeline Status Report
   → Phoenix? ✓ DB migration project

2. If not found → search memory/glossary.md
   → Full glossary has everyone/everything

3. If still not found → ask user
   → "What does X mean? I'll remember it."

This tiered approach keeps CLAUDE.md lean (~100 lines) while supporting unlimited scale in memory/.

File Locations

• Working memory: CLAUDE.md in current working directory
• Deep memory: memory/ subdirectory

Working Memory Format (CLAUDE.md)

Use tables for compactness. Target ~50-80 lines total.

# Memory

## Me
[Name], [Role] on [Team]. [One sentence about what I do.]

## People
| Who | Role |
|-----|------|
| **Todd** | Todd Martinez, Finance lead |
| **Sarah** | Sarah Chen, Engineering (Platform) |
| **Greg** | Greg Wilson, Sales |
→ Full list: memory/glossary.md, profiles: memory/people/

## Terms
| Term | Meaning |
|------|---------|
| PSR | Pipeline Status Report |
| P0 | Drop everything priority |
| standup | Daily 9am sync |
→ Full glossary: memory/glossary.md

## Projects
| Name | What |
|------|------|
| **Phoenix** | DB migration, Q2 launch |
| **Horizon** | Mobile app redesign |
→ Details: memory/projects/

## Preferences
- 25-min meetings with buffers
- Async-first, Slack over email
- No meetings Friday afternoons

Deep Memory Format (memory/)

memory/glossary.md - The decoder ring:

# Glossary

Workplace shorthand, acronyms, and internal language.

## Acronyms
| Term | Meaning | Context |
|------|---------|---------|
| PSR | Pipeline Status Report | Weekly sales doc |
| OKR | Objectives & Key Results | Quarterly planning |
| P0/P1/P2 | Priority levels | P0 = drop everything |

## Internal Terms
| Term | Meaning |
|------|---------|
| standup | Daily 9am sync in #engineering |
| the migration | Project Phoenix database work |
| ship it | Deploy to production |
| escalate | Loop in leadership |

## Nicknames → Full Names
| Nickname | Person |
|----------|--------|
| Todd | Todd Martinez (Finance) |
| T | Also Todd Martinez |

## Project Codenames
| Codename | Project |
|----------|---------|
| Phoenix | Database migration |
| Horizon | New mobile app |

memory/people/{name}.md:

# Todd Martinez

**Also known as:** Todd, T
**Role:** Finance Lead
**Team:** Finance
**Reports to:** CFO (Michael Chen)

## Communication
- Prefers Slack DM
- Quick responses, very direct
- Best time: mornings

## Context
- Handles all PSRs and financial reporting
- Key contact for deal approvals over $500k
- Works closely with Sales on forecasting

## Notes
- Cubs fan, likes talking baseball

memory/projects/{name}.md:

# Project Phoenix

**Codename:** Phoenix
**Also called:** "the migration"
**Status:** Active, launching Q2

## What It Is
Database migration from legacy Oracle to PostgreSQL.

## Key People
- Sarah - tech lead
- Todd - budget owner
- Greg - stakeholder (sales impact)

## Context
$1.2M budget, 6-month timeline. Critical path for Horizon project.

memory/context/company.md:

# Company Context

## Tools & Systems
| Tool | Used for | Internal name |
|------|----------|---------------|
| Slack | Communication | - |
| Asana | Engineering tasks | - |
| Salesforce | CRM | "SF" or "the CRM" |
| Notion | Docs/wiki | - |

## Teams
| Team | What they do | Key people |
|------|--------------|------------|
| Platform | Infrastructure | Sarah (lead) |
| Finance | Money stuff | Todd (lead) |
| Sales | Revenue | Greg |

## Processes
| Process | What it means |
|---------|---------------|
| Weekly sync | Monday 10am all-hands |
| Ship review | Thursday deploy approval |

How to Interact

Decoding User Input (Tiered Lookup)

Always decode shorthand before acting on requests:

1. CLAUDE.md (hot cache)     → Check first, covers 90% of cases
2. memory/glossary.md        → Full glossary if not in hot cache
3. memory/people/, projects/ → Rich detail when needed
4. Ask user                  → Unknown term? Learn it.

Example:

User: "ask todd to do the PSR for oracle"

CLAUDE.md lookup:
  "todd" → Todd Martinez, Finance ✓
  "PSR" → Pipeline Status Report ✓
  "oracle" → (not in hot cache)

memory/glossary.md lookup:
  "oracle" → Oracle Systems deal ($2.3M) ✓

Now Claude can act with full context.

Adding Memory

When user says "remember this" or "X means Y":

1. Glossary items (acronyms, terms, shorthand):

   • Add to memory/glossary.md
   • If frequently used, add to CLAUDE.md Quick Glossary

2. People:

   • Create/update memory/people/{name}.md
   • Add to CLAUDE.md Key People if important
   • Capture nicknames - critical for decoding

3. Projects:

   • Create/update memory/projects/{name}.md
   • Add to CLAUDE.md Active Projects if current
   • Capture codenames - "Phoenix", "the migration", etc.

4. Preferences: Add to CLAUDE.md Preferences section

Recalling Memory

When user asks "who is X" or "what does X mean":

1. Check CLAUDE.md first
2. Check memory/ for full detail
3. If not found: "I don't know what X means yet. Can you tell me?"

Progressive Disclosure

1. Load CLAUDE.md for quick parsing of any request
2. Dive into memory/ when you need full context for execution
3. Example: drafting an email to todd about the PSR
   • CLAUDE.md tells you Todd = Todd Martinez, PSR = Pipeline Status Report
   • memory/people/todd-martinez.md tells you he prefers Slack, is direct

Bootstrapping

Use /productivity:start to initialize by scanning your chat, calendar, email, and documents. Extracts people, projects, and starts building the glossary.

Conventions

• Bold terms in CLAUDE.md for scannability
• Keep CLAUDE.md under ~100 lines (the "hot 30" rule)
• Filenames: lowercase, hyphens (todd-martinez.md, project-phoenix.md)
• Always capture nicknames and alternate names
• Glossary tables for easy lookup
• When something's used frequently, promote it to CLAUDE.md
• When something goes stale, demote it to memory/ only

What Goes Where

Type	CLAUDE.md (Hot Cache)	memory/ (Full Storage)
Person	Top ~30 frequent contacts	glossary.md + people/{name}.md
Acronym/term	~30 most common	glossary.md (complete list)
Project	Active projects only	glossary.md + projects/{name}.md
Nickname	In Key People if top 30	glossary.md (all nicknames)
Company context	Quick reference only	context/company.md
Preferences	All preferences	-
Historical/stale	✗ Remove	✓ Keep in memory/

Promotion / Demotion

Promote to CLAUDE.md when:

• You use a term/person frequently
• It's part of active work

Demote to memory/ only when:

• Project completed
• Person no longer frequent contact
• Term rarely used

This keeps CLAUDE.md fresh and relevant.