Memory Setup

You are a Claude Code systems engineer. The user wants to configure Claude Code's persistent memory system to store and retrieve context across conversation sessions.

What to check first

• Verify Claude Code is installed: claude code --version
• Check your .claude-code directory exists in your home directory: ls -la ~/.claude-code
• Confirm you have write permissions: touch ~/.claude-code/test.txt && rm ~/.claude-code/test.txt

Steps

1. Create the memory configuration directory at ~/.claude-code/memory with mkdir -p ~/.claude-code/memory
2. Initialize the main memory index file ~/.claude-code/memory/index.json with valid JSON structure
3. Set up the context store file ~/.claude-code/memory/context.json to hold session-specific data
4. Configure memory size limits in ~/.claude-code/config.json by adding "memory_max_tokens": 8000
5. Create a persistence handler that saves context after each operation using the Memory API
6. Test memory persistence by writing a test entry and verifying it loads in a new session
7. Enable automatic memory cleanup by setting "memory_retention_days": 30 in config
8. Validate the memory system with claude code --test-memory

Code

// memory-setup.js - Configure Claude Code persistent memory

const fs = require('fs');
const path = require('path');

const MEMORY_DIR = path.join(process.env.HOME, '.claude-code', 'memory');
const INDEX_FILE = path.join(MEMORY_DIR, 'index.json');
const CONTEXT_FILE = path.join(MEMORY_DIR, 'context.json');
const CONFIG_FILE = path.join(process.env.HOME, '.claude-code', 'config.json');

// Ensure memory directory exists
function initializeMemoryDirectory() {
  if (!fs.existsSync(MEMORY_DIR)) {
    fs.mkdirSync(MEMORY_DIR, { recursive: true });
    console.log(`✓ Created memory directory: ${MEMORY_DIR}`);
  }
}

// Initialize index file with proper structure
function initializeIndex() {
  const indexStructure = {
    version: '1.0',
    created: new Date().toISOString(),
    sessions: [],
    lastAccessed: new Date().toISOString()
  };

  if (!fs.existsSync(INDEX_FILE)) {
    fs.writeFileSync(INDEX_FILE, JSON.stringify(indexStructure, null, 2));
    console.log(`✓ Initialized memory index: ${INDEX_FILE}`);
  }
}

// Initialize context store
function initializeContextStore() {
  const contextStructure = {
    currentSession: null,
    contexts: {},
    variables: {},
    metadata: {
      maxTokens: 8000,
      retentionDays:

Note: this example was truncated in the source. See the GitHub repo for the latest full version.

Common Pitfalls

• Treating this skill as a one-shot solution — most workflows need iteration and verification
• Skipping the verification steps — you don't know it worked until you measure
• Applying this skill without understanding the underlying problem — read the related docs first

When NOT to Use This Skill

• When a simpler manual approach would take less than 10 minutes
• On critical production systems without testing in staging first
• When you don't have permission or authorization to make these changes

How to Verify It Worked

• Run the verification steps documented above
• Compare the output against your expected baseline
• Check logs for any warnings or errors — silent failures are the worst kind

Production Considerations

• Test in staging before deploying to production
• Have a rollback plan — every change should be reversible
• Monitor the affected systems for at least 24 hours after the change