ariel memory

a-memory

Your AI agents forget. a-memory makes them remember. 4-tier agent memory with hybrid search, a real knowledge graph, and envelope encryption — all in plain SQLite files. Zero cloud. Zero external APIs.

Also available on PyPI: pip install a-memory — optional extras: a-memory[embeddings] for real multilingual embeddings.

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Why SQLite?

Every other memory server sends your agent's data through a cloud API or requires a separate vector database.

a-memory stores everything in SQLite files on your machine.

• Zero infrastructure. No Docker, no database server, no embedding API keys.
• Zero data leaving your network. Works air-gapped.
• Layer-isolated by design. User facts and agent identity never share a namespace.
• One directory = entire memory. Back up with cp, sync with rsync.

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Why this exists

Three problems a-memory solves:

① Agent self-evolution — your AI stops repeating mistakes between sessions. It remembers decisions, errors, and corrections in a dedicated agent layer, and an hourly consolidation sweep promotes what matters into long-term facts.

② User persona persistence — your agent knows who it's talking to even after weeks of silence. Preferences, history, emotional context live in the user layer, isolated from agent identity.

③ Project continuity — project tracks per-project context: decisions with rationale and outcomes, artifact maps, a graphify-powered code index — so a fresh session picks up where the last one left off.

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Get started

pip install a-memory
a-memory          # MCP server on stdio — connect from any MCP client

Point your MCP client at it:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "a-memory": {
      "command": "a-memory"
    }
  }
}

HTTP transport with dashboard:

a-memory --transport http --port 8000 --dashboard

Or run from source:

git clone https://github.com/Cipher208/a-memory.git
cd a-memory
uv sync
uv run ariel-memory

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The five primitives

Agents see exactly five tools — one verb per intent, no tool-choice paralysis:

Primitive	Intent	What it does
think	remember	Routes content to the right layer (L4 facts / L3 episodes / wiki / graph) based on importance, emotion, and relations
dream	recall	Hybrid search across ALL layers (FTS5 + binary embeddings + wiki + graph), returns a token-budgeted digest
forget	let go	Context-aware deletion with Shadow Bin archival (exact / fuzzy / recent)
evolve	grow	Records personality/rules evolution for the agent
project	continue	Per-project identity, decision log, artifact map, code index

Quick demo — Python MCP client:

# think — routed to the right store automatically
await session.call_tool("think", {"text": "User prefers dark mode", "layer": "user"})

# dream — finds it across every store, a week later
res = await session.call_tool("dream", {"query": "dark mode preference"})
print(res["summary"])

56 fine-grained operations exist in total, grouped into coherent opt-in tiers: the 6 primitives are exposed by default; add context (recall protocol, /new session recap, smart context budget, steering hints, tool-output compression), insight (Memory Query DSL, provenance fact-blame, quality loop, reflections, stats), write (typed memory schemas, declarative rules engine, scratchpad, counterfactuals, episodes), plus wiki, brief, and review (staged mutations) — e.g. ARIEL_EXPOSE=primitives,context,insight,write,wiki,brief,review (46 tools), or everything via ARIEL_EXPOSE=all.

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Features

Category	What's inside
🧠 Memory	L1 Reflex → L2 Sessions → L3 Episodic → L4 Core, importance scoring, typed memory kinds with TTL policies, layer isolation; 56 tools including /recall protocol (multi-axis), session continuity recap (/new recovery pack), steering hints, tool-output compression + recall verification, provenance fact-blame, Memory Query DSL, typed memory schemas, a declarative rules engine, smart context budget (weighted token floors), reflections, counterfactuals, was_useful quality loop
🔍 Search	FTS5 + MIB binary embeddings + hybrid RRF ranking, multi-source merge (RAG + Wiki + Episodic + Core + Graph), ACT-R activation scoring, dream digest
🕸️ Graph	Epistemic knowledge graph + temporal timeline, typed nodes and edges, BFS traversal, 1-hop GraphRAG expansion
📁 Projects	Decision log (what/why/outcome), artifact map, graphify code index — survives between sessions
⚡ Auto-Hooks	Push-model memory: a per-agent daemon tails the conversation and ariel saves what matters on its own — importance thresholds, staged mutations (proposal → review → apply → revert), DREAM: markers, session-start inject, gap reports, compaction-aware rehydrate (drift log + salvage + one-shot rehydrate blocks). Native integrations: Hermes runs ariel as an in-process MemoryProvider plugin, MiMoCode via a fork-hooks plugin, CowAgent via code-level hooks. Wiring guide →
🎯 Skills	Skill = Memory: agent-read Markdown pages (first-class skill wiki type), progressive disclosure (wiki_list → wiki_search → wiki_read), 4KB lint cap, promotion from DREAM: skill: episodes, shared SSOT sync across agents, usage-driven reinforcement — skills guide →
🔐 Security	Envelope encryption (NaCl SecretBox = XSalsa20-Poly1305), master key chain, rate limiting
🛠️ Ops	Auto-backup cron, saga rollback pattern, Prometheus metrics, read-only replica, hourly self-maintenance (decay + consolidation + auto-VACUUM)
🌐 Wiki	FTS5-indexed markdown files — edit in Obsidian/VS Code, search from MCP, 6 analytical perspectives (wiki_summarize), schema lint on save, external-dir sync

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Architecture

graph TD
    A[LLM Agent] -->|MCP Protocol| B[mcp_server]
    B --> C{Importance Scoring}
    C --> D[L1: ReflexBuffer]
    D --> E[L2: SessionStore]
    E --> F{EmotionTrigger?}
    F -->|high emotion| G[L3: EpisodicMemory]
    F -->|normal| H[L4: CoreMemory]

    B --> I[RAG Engine]
    I --> J[FTS5 Search]
    I --> K[MIB Binary Search]
    I --> L[Hybrid RRF Ranking]

    B --> M[Wiki System]
    M --> N[.md Files]
    M --> O[SQLite Index]

    B --> P[Knowledge Graphs]
    P --> Q[Epistemic Graph]
    P --> R[Temporal Graph]

    B --> S[Project Store]
    S --> T[Decisions / Artifacts / Code Index]

    U[Hourly Sweep] -->|consolidate| G
    U -->|promote| H
    U -->|auto-VACUUM| V[(SQLite)]

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Comparison

	a-memory	mem0	letta (memgpt)	chroma
MCP native	✅ 5 primitives	❌ no MCP server	❌	❌
Layer isolation	✅ User vs Agent namespaces	❌	❌	❌
Local-only (no cloud)	✅ SQLite — 0 infra	⚠️ API or self-host Docker	❌ needs LLM API	✅ local OSS + Cloud option
Own semantic search (no API)	✅ FTS5 + MIB binary hybrid	⚠️ BM25+entity (LLM-dependent)	❌ LLM-only	⚠️ hybrid on Cloud only
Knowledge graph	✅ Typed nodes + edges + temporal timeline	⚠️ entities only	❌	❌
Envelope encryption	✅ NaCl SecretBox at rest	❌	❌	❌
Lifecycle hooks	✅ 19 names, per-layer, config-gated	limited	limited	none
Self-maintenance	✅ Hourly consolidation + auto-VACUUM	❌	❌	❌
Backup / restore	✅ Auto-cron + saga rollback	❌	❌	❌

Notes (Sep 2026): mem0 now ships a self-hosted Docker image and a managed cloud with hybrid BM25+entity search; chroma is 29k★ and added hybrid+FTS5 to its Cloud tier (OSS server remains vector-only). What still differentiates a-memory: zero-infra SQLite (no Docker), NaCl encryption at rest, layer isolation, hourly self-maintenance, and the temporal graph timeline.

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Roadmap

• 4-layer memory hierarchy with layer isolation
• Hybrid search (FTS5 + MIB binary embeddings)
• Knowledge graphs (epistemic + temporal)
• Hourly consolidation sweep + DB self-maintenance
• mcp 2.x native SDK
• Repo renamed to Cipher208/a-memory; PyPI package live (pip install a-memory)
• Temporal timeline wired end to end (think/evolve/project events + dream recent digest)
• Dream-cycle inject + auto-generated CONTEXT.md snapshot (curated context + 6 wiki perspectives + recent episodes, per-layer, per-agent)
• Phase C — auto-hooks keystone (push-model memory: per-agent conversation daemons, external event dispatcher, importance-gated auto-save, staged mutations with review/revert, dream markers, session-start inject, gap reports; guide)
• Phase D — compaction-aware rehydrate (drift log + salvage into the summarizer + one-shot rehydrate blocks; MiMoCode plugin / Hermes native MemoryProvider / CowAgent hooks — integration guide)
• Phase D — /recall protocol (multi-axis proportional recall: markers → session → semantic → expand → day; drives Hermes per-turn prefetch)
• Phase D — Skill = Memory (Markdown skills as a first-class wiki type, progressive disclosure wiki_list → wiki_search → wiki_read, 4KB lint cap, promotion pipeline, shared SSOT sync, usage-driven evolution — skills guide)
• Phase D — working memory + meta-memories (agent scratchpad re-injected at session start, deterministic reflections, smart context budget with weighted floors, counterfactual notes, was_useful quality feedback loop)
• Phase D — memory tools D1.2-D1.9 (session continuity recap + steering hints, tool-output compression + recall verification, provenance fact-blame, Memory Query DSL, typed memory schemas, declarative rules engine; coherent ARIEL_EXPOSE tiers: context / insight / write)
• Screenshot / asciinema demo in README
• LLM-assisted consolidation on top of the deterministic sweep
• Phase D remainder — memory branches / stash / versioning (D1.11/12/14), procedural memory core (D2.5), persona graph (D3.1-D3.4, separate MCP server), cross-audit + memory tiers (D3.6/D3.7)

Contributing

PRs welcome! See CONTRIBUTING.md.

License

MIT © Cipher208

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