name: agent-recall description: >- Persistent compounding memory for AI agents. 5 default MCP tools: session_start, session_end, remember, recall, check. Full surface: 6 tools with --full (adds check_action); 13 tools with AR_EXTRAS=1 --full. Two-verb model: inhale (session_start) and exhale (session_end). Correction-first memory with decision trail tracking, watch_for warnings, palace rooms with salience scoring, cross-project insight matching, same-day journal merging, ambient recall hooks. Local markdown only. Zero cloud, zero telemetry, Obsidian-compatible. Optional Supabase backend: when configured via ar setup supabase, recall() uses pgvector cosine similarity on OpenAI/Voyage embeddings instead of keyword search — same API, semantic understanding. Gracefully degrades to local search if not configured. origin: community version: 3.4.30 author: Goldentrii platform: clawhub install: mcp: command: npx args: ["-y", "agent-recall-mcp"] transport: stdio env: {} security: network: none credentials: none filesystem: read-write ~/.agent-recall/ only telemetry: none cloud: none tags:

• memory
• persistence
• multi-session
• mcp
• cross-project
• feedback-loop
• intelligent-distance
• auto-naming
• knowledge-graph
• obsidian trigger:
• "save"
• "save session"
• "/arsave"
• "/arstart"
• "remember this"
• "recall"
• "what did we do last time"
• "load context"
• "start session"
• "end session"
• "checkpoint"
• "保存"
• "记住"
• "上次做了什么"
• "加载上下文" skip:
• "don't save"
• "skip memory"
• "no need"
• "不用记"
• "算了"

AgentRecall v3.5.1 — Usage Guide

AgentRecall is a persistent memory system. Default surface: 5 tools (two verbs + three essentials). Full surface: 6 tools via npx agent-recall-mcp --full (adds check_action); 13 tools with AR_EXTRAS=1 npx agent-recall-mcp --full. This guide describes how and when to use them.

Two-verb model: session_start (inhale — load context) and session_end (exhale — save and compound). Everything else is available but secondary; most agents never need more than the default 5. See Automaticity Law below.

Setup

AgentRecall requires the MCP server to be running. If tool calls fail with "unknown tool", the human needs to install it first.

Visual setup guide (all 13 clients, copy-paste prompts): open warroom/install.html from the repo, or the GitHub raw link in a browser.

Installation (human runs once)

Claude Code:

claude mcp add --scope user agent-recall -- npx -y agent-recall-mcp

Cursor (.cursor/mcp.json):

{ "mcpServers": { "agent-recall": { "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "agent-recall-mcp"] } } }

VS Code / GitHub Copilot (.vscode/mcp.json):

{ "servers": { "agent-recall": { "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "agent-recall-mcp"] } } }

Windsurf (~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json):

{ "mcpServers": { "agent-recall": { "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "agent-recall-mcp"] } } }

Codex:

codex mcp add agent-recall -- npx -y agent-recall-mcp

Hermes Agent (~/.hermes/config.yaml):

mcp_servers:
  agent-recall:
    command: npx
    args: ["-y", "agent-recall-mcp"]

Roo Code (.roo/mcp.json):

{ "mcpServers": { "agent-recall": { "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "agent-recall-mcp"] } } }

Any MCP-compatible agent:

command: npx
args: ["-y", "agent-recall-mcp"]
transport: stdio

Tools

AgentRecall's default surface provides 5 tools. Start the server with --full to add check_action (6 tools); set AR_EXTRAS=1 together with --full to also enable the quarantined extras (13 tools).

Default tools (always available): session_start, session_end, remember, recall, check

Full-mode only (--full): check_action

Extras (AR_EXTRAS=1 --full, quarantined in the 2026-07-05 purity census): pipeline_open, pipeline_close, pipeline_list, pipeline_current, pipeline_show, register_rule, digest

Default tools

session_start

When: Beginning of a session, to load prior context.

What it returns:

• project — detected project name
• identity — who the user is (1-2 lines)
• insights — top 5 awareness insights (title + confirmation count + severity)
• active_rooms — top 5 palace rooms by salience (with staleness flag + last_updated) (Palace = your project's long-term knowledge store, organized into topic rooms like "architecture", "goals", "blockers". Salience = relevance score 0-1 based on recency, access frequency, and connections. Rooms with stale=true haven't been updated in 7+ days.)
• cross_project — insights from other projects matching current context
• recent — today/yesterday journal briefs
• watch_for — predictive warnings from past correction patterns + decision calibration
• corrections — P0 behavioral rules (max 10, always loaded, never expire)
• resume — structured re-entry briefing: last_date, last_trajectory, sessions_count

How to use the response:

1. Read identity to calibrate your tone and approach
2. Read insights — these are battle-tested lessons. Follow them.
3. Read watch_for — these are patterns where you've been wrong before on this project. Adjust your approach.
4. Read recent to understand where the last session left off
5. Present a brief to the human: project name, last session summary, relevant insights

Example call:

session_start({ project: "auto" })

remember

When: You learn something worth keeping. A decision, a bug fix, an insight, a session note.

What it does: Auto-classifies your content and routes it to the right store:

• Bug fix / lesson → knowledge store
• Architecture / decision → palace room
• Cross-project pattern → awareness system
• Session activity → journal

You do NOT need to decide where it goes. Just describe what to remember.

How to use:

remember({
  content: "We decided to use GraphQL instead of REST because the frontend needs flexible queries",
  context: "architecture decision"    // optional hint, improves routing
})

Returns: routed_to (which store), classification (content type), auto_name (semantic slug generated)

recall

When: You need to find something from past sessions. A decision, a pattern, a lesson.

What it does: Searches ALL stores at once using Reciprocal Rank Fusion (RRF) — each source (palace, journal, insights) ranks internally, then positions merge so no single source dominates. Journal entries decay fast via Ebbinghaus curve (S=2 days); palace entries are near-permanent (S=9999). Returns ranked results with stable IDs.

How to use:

recall({ query: "authentication design", limit: 5 })

Feedback: After using results, rate them. Ratings use a Bayesian Beta model — the mathematically optimal estimate of true usefulness:

recall({
  query: "auth patterns",
  feedback: [
    { id: "abc123", useful: true },   // Beta(2,1) → ×1.33 next time
    { id: "def456", useful: false }   // Beta(1,2) → ×0.67 next time
  ]
})

Feedback is query-aware — rating something "useless" for one query doesn't penalize it for unrelated queries.

session_end

When: End of session, after work is done.

What it does in one call:

• Writes daily journal entry
• Updates awareness with new insights (merge or add)
• Consolidates decisions/goals into palace rooms
• Archives demoted insights (preserved, not deleted)

How to use:

session_end({
  summary: "Built auth module with JWT refresh rotation. Fixed CORS bug.",
  insights: [
    {
      title: "JWT refresh tokens need httpOnly cookies — localStorage is vulnerable",
      evidence: "XSS attack vector discovered during security review",
      applies_when: ["auth", "jwt", "security", "cookies"],
      severity: "critical"
    }
  ],
  trajectory: "Next: add rate limiting to API endpoints"
})

Rules for insights:

• 1-3 per session. Quality over quantity.
• Must be reusable. "Fixed a bug" is NOT an insight. "API returns null when session expires — always null-check auth responses" IS an insight.
• applies_when keywords determine when this insight surfaces in future sessions across ALL projects.

Return fields:

• journal_written — boolean, true if journal entry was saved
• awareness_updated — boolean, true if any insight was stored
• palace_consolidated — boolean, true if palace rooms were updated
• insights_processed — number of insights accepted
• quality_warnings — advisory warnings if insights are too short, lack evidence, or use event-verb phrasing (never blocks saves)
• card — formatted save summary (box-drawing card)
• merge_suggestions — array of similar recent entries (optional)

check

When: Before executing a complex task where you might misunderstand the human's intent. Also for tracking decision quality over time.

What it does:

• Records your understanding of the goal
• Returns watch_for — patterns from past corrections on this project
• Returns similar_past_deltas — times you misunderstood similar goals before
• After human responds, record the correction for future agents
• Optionally tracks decision trails with prior/posterior/evidence for calibrated judgment

Two-call pattern (correction tracking):

Call 1 — before work:

check({
  goal: "Build REST API for user management",
  confidence: "medium",
  assumptions: ["User wants REST, not GraphQL", "CRUD endpoints", "PostgreSQL backend"]
})

Read the watch_for response. If it says "You've been corrected on API style 3 times", ASK the human before proceeding.

Call 2 — after human corrects (if they do):

check({
  goal: "Build REST API for user management",
  confidence: "high",
  human_correction: "Actually wants GraphQL, not REST",
  delta: "API style preference — assumed REST, human prefers GraphQL"
})

This feeds the predictive system. Future agents on this project will get warnings.

Decision trail (Bayesian-inspired calibration):

For major decisions, track confidence and outcome to calibrate judgment over time:

check({
  goal: "Use GraphQL instead of REST",
  confidence: "medium",
  prior: 0.7,                    // initial confidence (0-1)
  evidence: [
    { factor: "Frontend needs flexible queries", direction: "supports", weight: 0.2 },
    { factor: "No GraphQL experience on team", direction: "weakens", weight: 0.3 }
  ],
  posterior: 0.55,               // updated confidence after evidence
  outcome: "rejected"            // final result: "confirmed", "rejected", "partial", or free text
})

When outcome is provided, the decision trail is persisted to the palace decisions room. After 3+ closed decisions, session_start surfaces calibration warnings: "Your priors average 0.8 but outcomes average 0.5 — you're overconfident."

Returns: recorded, watch_for, similar_past_deltas, decision_id (when outcome provided), decision_trail_saved, calibration_note

Full-mode tools (npx agent-recall-mcp --full)

Most agents never need these — the default 5 tools carry all compounding memory value. The 2026-07-05 purity census (owner-approved) stripped the MCP full surface to check_action; the former pipeline/rule/digest tools are quarantined behind AR_EXTRAS=1, and everything else moved to the ar CLI.

check_action

When: Right before a risky or hard-to-reverse action — publish, push, deploy, delete, credential exposure, external send.

What it does: Pre-action safety matcher — checks the described action against active corrections and rules, and returns matching warnings before you act.

check_action({ action_description: "npm publish agent-recall-mcp" })

Extras (AR_EXTRAS=1 npx agent-recall-mcp --full)

Quarantined in the purity census for near-zero organic use; core logic is intact and the tools re-register when the env var is set:

• pipeline_open / pipeline_close / pipeline_list / pipeline_current / pipeline_show — project narrative spine (phases with reflection fields)
• register_rule — save an IF-THEN behavior policy
• digest — context cache (store / recall / read / invalidate pre-computed analysis)

Removed from the MCP surface (CLI remains)

memory_query, skill_write, skill_recall, skill_list, dashboard_export, session_end_reflect, project_board, project_status, bootstrap_scan, and bootstrap_import were removed from the MCP surface in the 2026-07-05 purity census. Their CLI paths remain intact. First-time bootstrap now runs through the CLI:

ar bootstrap                    # scan and show what's available
ar bootstrap --dry-run          # preview what would be imported
ar bootstrap --import           # import all new projects
ar bootstrap --import --project my-app  # import one project

Bootstrap scan is read-only (never writes to your machine or to AgentRecall); import only writes to ~/.agent-recall/, skips .env, credentials, .pem, and .key files, and never double-imports projects already in AgentRecall.

Session Flow

Start of session

1. session_start()           → load context, read insights and warnings
2. Present brief to human    → "Last session: X. Insights: Y. Ready."
3. check() if task is complex → verify understanding before work

During work

4. remember() when you learn something   → auto-routes to right store
                                           (stores: journal for daily activity, palace rooms for persistent decisions, awareness for cross-project insights)
5. recall() when you need past context   → searches everything
6. check() before major decisions        → verify understanding

End of session

7. check() with corrections if any       → record what human corrected
8. session_end()                          → save journal + insights + consolidation
9. Done — all data saved locally (only push to git if user explicitly asks)

How Memory Compounds

Each layer feeds the next. The system gets better the more you use it.

SAVE: remember("JWT needs httpOnly cookies")
  → Auto-named: "lesson-jwt-httponly-cookies-security"
  → Indexed in palace + insights
  → Auto-linked to "architecture" room (keyword overlap)
  → Salience scored: recency(0.30) + access(0.25) + connections(0.20) + ...

RECALL: recall("cookie security") — 3 sessions later, different project
  → Finds the JWT insight via keyword match + graph edge traversal
  → Agent rates it useful → feedback boosts future ranking
  → Next recall on similar query → this result surfaces higher

COMPOUND: After 10 sessions
  → 200-line awareness contains cross-validated insights
  → watch_for warns about past mistakes before they repeat
  → Corrections auto-promote to awareness at 3+ occurrences
  → Graph connects related memories across rooms automatically

Best Practices

1. Call session_start at the beginning. Insights from past sessions prevent repeated mistakes.
2. Call session_end when done. If the session produced decisions, insights, or corrections, save them.
3. Insights should be reusable. Write them for a future agent who has never seen this project.
4. Match the human's language. If they write in Chinese, save in Chinese.
5. Don't over-save. 1-3 insights per session. 1-2 remember calls during work. More is noise.
6. Rate your recall results. Feedback makes future retrievals better.
7. Use check for ambiguous tasks. 5 seconds of verification beats 30 minutes of wrong work.
8. Read watch_for warnings. If session_start or check returns warnings, adjust your approach.
9. Run bootstrap on first install. If /arstatus shows no projects, ar bootstrap --import (CLI) discovers what's already on your machine and imports it in seconds.
10. Check active_rooms in session_start. Palace rooms with high salience contain your project's most important decisions and patterns. Rooms marked stale may need updating.

Storage

All data is local markdown + JSON at ~/.agent-recall/. No cloud, no telemetry, no API keys.

~/.agent-recall/
  awareness.md                              # 200-line compounding document (global)
  awareness-state.json                      # Structured awareness data
  awareness-archive.json                    # Demoted insights (preserved, not deleted)
  insights-index.json                       # Cross-project insight matching
  feedback-log.json                         # Retrieval quality ratings
  projects/<name>/
    journal/YYYY-MM-DD.md                   # Daily journals (legacy)
    journal/YYYY-MM-DD--arsave--NL--slug.md # Smart-named journals (auto-save)
    palace/rooms/<room>/                    # Persistent knowledge rooms
    palace/rooms/decisions/                 # Decision trail records (prior/posterior/outcome)
    palace/identity.md                      # Project intention + goals
    palace/graph.json                       # Memory connection edges
    alignment-log.json                      # Correction history for watch_for
    digest/                                 # Pre-digested context summaries

Obsidian-compatible. Open palace/ as a vault to see the knowledge graph.

Platform Compatibility

All platforms use the same tools. No platform-specific behavior.

Why 5 Default Tools

The Automaticity Law (measured on the live corpus — 44 projects, 221 journals, 81 corrections, 2026-06-12): push channels (session_start, session_end, correction hooks, ambient recall) showed repeated behavior-changing usage across weeks of real agent sessions. Pull channels — check_action, skill_recall, pipeline_*, memory_query — had zero organic calls, including from the agent that built them.

Every extra tool in the default surface burns tool-definition tokens every session for zero behavioral return. The two-verb model (inhale = session_start, exhale = session_end) carries all compounding memory value. Everything else is available via --full for agents and workflows that explicitly need it.

Corollary: wire before write — a primitive without an automatic trigger will not be used.

Security & Privacy

• Zero network: No outbound HTTP requests, no telemetry, no analytics, no cloud sync. All operations are local filesystem reads/writes.
• Zero credentials: No API keys, tokens, or environment variables required.
• Scoped filesystem access: Reads/writes only to ~/.agent-recall/ (configurable via --root flag). Does not access files outside this directory unless the agent explicitly passes project-specific paths.
• No code execution: The MCP server does not execute arbitrary code, run shell commands, or spawn child processes.
• Transparent storage: All data is human-readable markdown and JSON. Inspect it anytime: ls ~/.agent-recall/ or open it as an Obsidian vault.
• Open source: Full source at github.com/Goldentrii/AgentRecall-X. MIT license.

English · 中文

claude mcp add --scope user agent-recall -- npx -y agent-recall-mcp

1. Install

claude mcp add --scope user agent-recall -- npx -y agent-recall-mcp

Other MCP clients: { "mcpServers": { "agent-recall": { "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "agent-recall-mcp"] } } }

2. Tell your human, in one breath

"I installed AgentRecall. From now on, when you correct me, I save it as a rule on your disk — plain markdown in ~/.agent-recall/, nothing leaves the machine. Next session I load those rules before I start, so you shouldn't have to say the same thing twice. Say 'save' anytime and I'll checkpoint."

3. Run this loop yourself

On session start                  → call session_start (before you act)
When the human corrects you       → call remember with type "correction" — saying "noted" is not saving
Before publish/push/deploy/delete → call check with action_description; obey verdict "blocked"
When past context would help      → call recall
On "save" / "remember" / exit     → call session_end

4. Don't

• Don't claim you'll remember something without calling a tool.
• Don't paste the whole memory back to the human — surface only what changes the next action.
• Don't store secrets, tokens or credentials.

Contents

• The problem · What it does · The session loop · MCP tools
• The nature of memory — 5 layers · How memory compounds · The math
• Measured, not promised · Compared to other memory tools
• Install · Optional extras · Architecture · Platforms · Community · Links

The problem

You tell your agent "don't bump the version without asking." It apologizes, fixes it, and the session ends. Next week a fresh session does it again — the correction lived in a chat log nobody reads.

AgentRecall turns that sentence into a structured, persistent rule, puts it in front of the next agent before it acts, and records whether the mistake came back.

── session 3 ─────────────────────────────────────────────
you   › no — never bump the version without asking me first
agent › remember(type: "correction")
        ✓ saved · severity p0 · applies_when: [release, npm]

── session 9 · new agent, no chat history ───────────────
session_start › project "my-app" · 1 critical correction
                watch_for: version bump → ask the owner first
you   › ship the fix
agent › Fix is merged. Want me to bump to 1.4.1, or leave the version?
        outcome recorded: heeded

Illustrative transcript.

What it does

AgentRecall is two things:

1. A governed corrections ledger. Every correction ("not that version", "put this section first", "ask before you assume") becomes a structured record — severity, evidence, applies_when, retraction, outcome — that persists across sessions, projects and agent restarts. Export format: corrections-export/v1, scrubbed on egress.
2. A measurement instrument. Each correction accumulates retrieved_count, and every time the agent meets the same situation the outcome is logged as heeded or recurred. No public benchmark measures that step; we built the harness first and publish what it finds, including the unflattering numbers.

The session loop

flowchart LR
    A([session start]) --> B["/arstart · session_start<br/>load rules + context"]
    B --> C{work}
    C -->|need past knowledge| D["/arrecall · recall"]
    D --> C
    C -->|corrected| R["remember<br/>type: correction"]
    R --> L[(corrections<br/>ledger)]
    C -->|risky action| K["check"]
    L -.-> K
    C --> E["/arsave · session_end<br/>journal + compound"]
    E --> F([session end])
    L -. watch_for .-> B
    F -. every K sessions .-> G["/arreflect<br/>consolidate"]
    G -.-> A

Without /arstart, a fresh agent has zero orientation. Without /arsave, nothing compounds.

MCP tools

Five tools ship by default. Each description is written for the agent and says when to call it.

List what your install exposes: npx -y agent-recall-mcp --list-tools.

[!IMPORTANT] The Automaticity Law — why only 5. Memory only compounds if it fires without being asked. Across 44 projects and weeks of real use, the pull tools (recall, memory_query) saw zero organic calls — including from the agent that built them. Push channels (session_start, session_end, correction hooks) are what change behavior. Every extra default tool costs definition tokens every session for no return. (Self-measured on the owner's store, 2026-06-12.)

So on Claude Code, wire the hooks — the loop then runs without agent discipline:

ar hook-start        SessionStart      load context, show watch_for warnings
ar hook-correction   UserPromptSubmit  capture corrections silently
ar hook-ambient      UserPromptSubmit  inject relevant memories (≥2-word overlap floor)
ar hook-save         U