mem

mem is a deterministic, CLI-first memory sidecar for dev workflows.

It records interactions (commits, agent runs, decisions) as append-only JSONL events and maintains compacted artifacts (state.json + MEMORY.md) so humans and agents can recover context quickly and deterministically.

What mem is

• A local, append-only event log
• Deterministic compaction into a small state summary
• A set of POSIX /bin/sh tools with machine-legible outputs

What mem is not

• Not a database
• Not a background daemon
• Not an AI service or RAG system
• Not a remote sync tool

Quickstart

1. Clone with submodules:

git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/amcbstudio/mem.git

2. Install hooks in a target repo:

/path/to/mem/hooks/install.sh

3. Initialize and use:

mem init
mem add note k=v
mem sync
mem show

Data model

• .amcb/memory/events.jsonl is append-only.
• .amcb/memory/state.json and .amcb/memory/MEMORY.md are derived and deterministic.
• Schema drift is tracked in .amcb/memory/schema.fields.jsonl and .amcb/memory/drift.jsonl.

Storage location

By default, mem writes to:

.amcb/memory/
  events.jsonl
  schema.fields.jsonl
  drift.jsonl
  state.json
  MEMORY.md
  tmp/

Dependencies

• POSIX /bin/sh
• jq
• kv, jsonl, and jd (included as git submodules)

Non-goals

• No AI calls
• No network access at runtime
• No background daemons
• No remote sync