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How claude-mem Works

A documentation skill that explains how claude-mem captures observations, when memory injection starts, and where your data is stored.

UtilitiesBeginner★ 90,139⑂ 7,846AI score 5/10Last updated: Aug 9, 2026

What it does

This is a reference skill that lets Claude explain the inner workings of the claude-mem plugin in plain language.

  • Observation capture: Every Read, Edit, and Bash call becomes a compressed observation, summarized at session end.
  • When injection starts: From your second session in a project, relevant memories are auto-injected into prompts. The first session seeds memory; /learn-codebase can front-load an entire repo in one ~5 minute pass.
  • Where data lives: The SQLite database, vector index, logs, and settings all sit in ~/.claude-mem locally. Nothing leaves your machine except compression calls to your configured AI provider (Claude / OpenRouter / Gemini), and npx claude-mem uninstall removes it cleanly.

Who it's for

  • New claude-mem users wondering "what is this thing actually doing?"
  • Anyone who needs to verify privacy and where code-derived data is stored
  • Team leads who must explain claude-mem adoption to colleagues

Examples

  1. Ask "how does claude-mem work?" and get the capture → session summary → auto-injection flow explained.
  2. Ask "where is my memory data stored, does it leave my machine?" and get the ~/.claude-mem answer plus the AI-provider exception.
  3. Ask "why hasn't any context been loaded yet?" and learn that injection begins in session two, or run /learn-codebase to accelerate it.

· · · Install guide · · ·

Install in the Claude app (no terminal)
  1. Download the ZIP with the button below.
  2. In Claude, open Settings → Capabilities and turn on 'Code execution and file creation'. (one time)
  3. Go to Customize → Skills → + → 'Upload a skill' and upload the ZIP.
↓ Download ZIP
Install in Claude Code

Let Claude do it — paste this into Claude Code

Install the skill I found on Claude Skill Mart.
Copy the plugin/skills/how-it-works folder from the GitHub repo thedotmack/claude-mem into my ~/.claude/skills/how-it-works/.
When it's done, tell me in one line what this skill can do.

Install with a command instead

git clone https://github.com/thedotmack/claude-mem.git && mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills/how-it-works && cp claude-mem/plugin/skills/how-it-works/SKILL.md ~/.claude/skills/how-it-works/

⚠ This is a third-party skill. Check the source repository before installing.

  1. Open your terminal.
  2. Clone the repository: git clone https://github.com/thedotmack/claude-mem.git
  3. Create the skill folder: mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills/how-it-works
  4. Copy the file: cp claude-mem/plugin/skills/how-it-works/SKILL.md ~/.claude/skills/how-it-works/
  5. (Recommended) To use the actual plugin, follow the repo README and run npx claude-mem install.
  6. Restart Claude Code and ask "how does claude-mem work?" to confirm the skill triggers.
View source on GitHub ↗License: Apache-2.0