Engram — A Brain for Your AI Agents

Your agent has amnesia. We gave it a hippocampus.

Other memory systems remember what you told them. Engram learns what matters and forgets what doesn't — across sessions, projects, and agents. Five memory systems, graph-based spreading activation, and consolidation cycles that turn conversations into semantic knowledge.

Published as @engram-mem/* on npm. Not affiliated with engram-sdk or engram.fyi — different project, different architecture.

Start in 30 seconds

For Claude Code users:

npm install -g @engram-mem/mcp

Add to ~/.claude/settings.json — see MCP setup.

For builders:

npm install @engram-mem/core @engram-mem/sqlite

import { createMemory } from '@engram-mem/core'
import { sqliteAdapter } from '@engram-mem/sqlite'

const memory = createMemory({ storage: sqliteAdapter() })
await memory.initialize()

await memory.ingest({ role: 'user', content: 'I prefer TypeScript strict mode' })
await memory.consolidate('light')

const { memories } = await memory.recall('What TypeScript config do I use?')
console.log(memories[0]?.content)

No API keys required. SQLite + BM25 out of the box. Upgrade to embeddings, cloud storage, or Neo4j graph when ready.

What's New in v0.4.x

Self-host story complete — bring your own infra, zero marginal cost.

Release	Highlight
v0.4.0	`@engram-mem/supabase` rebranded to `@engram-mem/postgrest`. Works against Supabase, self-hosted Postgres + PostgREST, or any PostgREST-compatible endpoint.
v0.4.1	Swapped underlying client from `supabase-js` to bare `postgrest-js` so the BYO-infra path actually works (supabase-js prepended `/rest/v1/`; bare PostgREST doesn't).
v0.4.2	npm audit clean (0 vulnerabilities). `@supabase/supabase-js` dropped from the install tree entirely.
v0.4.3	`ENGRAM_RERANK_LOCAL=true` opt-in: swap the LLM-pointwise reranker for mxbai-rerank-large-v1 via ONNX Runtime ($0 per query). `ENGRAM_INGEST_CONTEXTUAL=true` enables Anthropic-style Contextual Retrieval at ingest.
v0.4.4	Single idempotent `packages/postgrest/schema.sql` replaces the dual-track migration scheme — `psql -f schema.sql` bootstraps any database state. `ENGRAM_RERANK_LOCAL_MODEL` env var selects the mxbai variant (large / base / xsmall) for memory-constrained boxes.

LongMemEval-S benchmark (v0.3.15, May 2026) — full 500-question, single-session evaluation:

Metric	Score
R@5 (correct evidence in top-5 retrieved)	98.8%
R@10	99.6%

Beats the published Zep/Graphiti baseline (63.8%) on the same benchmark by ~35pp. The single miss across 500 questions was a visual-content query; all non-visual categories at 100%. Methodology in packages/bench/README.md.

LoCoMo retrieval baseline (legacy benchmark, 1,986 questions across 10 conversations) — 85% R@K after the v0.3.6 correction. Engram's design isn't optimized for LoCoMo's compressed-fact recall shape; LongMemEval-S is the more meaningful target.

Metric note: R@K measures retrieval recall (gold evidence present in the top-K candidates), not judge-graded answer correctness. The two are different — see CHANGELOG.md for full release context.

Why Engram

Existing context engines focus on compression and retrieval (the LCM approach). Engram models five cognitive memory systems with consolidation cycles, associative networks, intent-driven recall, and reconsolidation — mirroring how biological memory actually works.

Positioning: LCM is the best compression engine. Engram is the best cognitive engine. Choose based on whether you want an agent that remembers or an agent that learns.

Architecture

Engram implements a brain-inspired memory system with five interconnected memory systems:

INGEST → [Salience Detection, Entity Extraction, Temporal Linking]
         ↓
    ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
    │      ASSOCIATIVE NETWORK (Graph Edges)         │
    │  temporal, causal, topical, supports,          │
    │  contradicts, elaborates, derives_from, co_recalled
    │                                                 │
    │  ┌─────────────┐  ┌──────────┐  ┌────────────┐ │
    │  │  EPISODIC   │  │ SEMANTIC │  │ PROCEDURAL │ │
    │  │  (events)   │  │ (facts)  │  │ (how-to)   │ │
    │  │             │  │          │  │            │ │
    │  │ - lossless  │  │ - decays │  │ - learns   │ │
    │  │ - temporal  │  │ - scored │  │ - counts   │ │
    │  └─────────────┘  └──────────┘  └────────────┘ │
    │         ↑              ↑              ↑          │
    │         └──────────────┼──────────────┘          │
    │                   SENSORY BUFFER                 │
    │              (working memory ~100)               │
    └────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
         ↓
RECALL → [BM25/Vector Search, Association Walk, Priming, Reconsolidation]
         ↓
    CONSOLIDATION → [Light Sleep, Deep Sleep, Dream, Decay]
    (automatic or manual)

Five Memory Systems:

Sensory Buffer — Working memory. What's top-of-mind right now (~100 items, volatile)
Episodic — Raw conversation turns. Lossless ground truth. Never deleted.
Semantic — Extracted facts and concepts. Decays with confidence scores.
Procedural — Learned workflows, preferences, habits. Confidence + observation count.
Associative Network — 8 edge types linking memories to enable discovery and pattern completion

Examples

examples/demo.mjs — standalone SQLite demo, no API keys
examples/claude-code-memory.mjs — persistent memory across Claude Code sessions

npm install @engram-mem/core @engram-mem/sqlite
node examples/demo.mjs

Packages

Package	Purpose	Key Features
`@engram-mem/core`	Memory engine	5 memory systems, 4-stage recall, consolidation cycles, intent analysis, salience detection
`@engram-mem/sqlite`	Local storage	Zero-config SQLite + BM25 full-text search, zero dependencies
`@engram-mem/postgrest`	PostgREST storage	PostgreSQL + pgvector via any PostgREST endpoint (Supabase, self-hosted, EnterpriseDB cloud) — uses bare `@supabase/postgrest-js`
`@engram-mem/supabase`	Deprecated shim	Re-exports `@engram-mem/postgrest` for backward compat (will be removed in v0.5.0)
`@engram-mem/openai`	Intelligence	OpenAI embeddings, summarization, reranking, contextualization
`@engram-mem/rerank-onnx`	Local reranker	mxbai-rerank-large/base/xsmall-v1 via ONNX Runtime — zero per-query cost, opt-in via `ENGRAM_RERANK_LOCAL=true`
`@engram-mem/graph`	Neural graph	Neo4j spreading activation, community detection, pattern completion
`@engram-mem/openclaw`	Framework integration	OpenClaw ContextEngine plugin, 4 memory tools, auto-consolidation
`@engram-mem/mcp`	Claude integration	MCP server (stdio + Streamable HTTP), 13 bin CLIs, Claude Code hooks
`@engram-mem/bench`	Benchmarks	LoCoMo + LongMemEval evaluation, comparison mode, CLI runner

Core Concepts

Four-Stage Retrieval

When you call recall(query):

Recall — BM25 or vector search across all tiers
Association Walk — Follow edges to discover related memories
Priming — Boost topics from recent recalls
Reconsolidation — Bump up accessed memories' importance

Four Consolidation Cycles

Run automatically or manually:

Light Sleep — Episodes → Digests (summaries)
Deep Sleep — Digests → Semantic & Procedural memories
Dream Cycle — Extract new associations between memories
Decay Pass — Prune low-confidence items and stale edges

Upgrade Path

Level	Storage	Intelligence	Consolidation	Use Case
0	SQLite + BM25	Heuristic	Manual	Fast, local, zero-cost. Good for testing.
1	SQLite	OpenAI embeddings	Manual	Add vector search. Still fully local DB.
2	PostgREST (Supabase or self-hosted)	OpenAI embeddings	Manual	Share memory between agents over HTTP.
3	PostgREST + Neo4j graph	OpenAI + local mxbai-rerank	Auto	Full cognitive engine with $0 marginal rerank.

Pick a level. Start at 0. Upgrade anytime.

// Level 0 (included, shown above)

// Level 1: Add embeddings
import { openaiIntelligence } from '@engram-mem/openai'
const memory = createMemory({
  intelligence: openaiIntelligence({ apiKey: process.env.OPENAI_API_KEY })
})

// Level 2: PostgREST storage (Supabase OR self-hosted)
import { PostgRestStorageAdapter } from '@engram-mem/postgrest'
const memory = createMemory({
  storage: new PostgRestStorageAdapter({
    url: process.env.POSTGREST_URL,    // https://*.supabase.co  OR  http://127.0.0.1:3001
    key: process.env.POSTGREST_KEY,    // service-role JWT (or any JWT signed with your PGRST_JWT_SECRET)
  }),
  intelligence: openaiIntelligence({ apiKey: '...' })
})

// Level 3: Full cognitive engine with graph + local rerank
import { NeuralGraph } from '@engram-mem/graph'
import { createOnnxReranker } from '@engram-mem/rerank-onnx'

const onnx = createOnnxReranker()  // mxbai-rerank-large-v1 by default
const memory = createMemory({
  storage: new PostgRestStorageAdapter({ url: '...', key: '...' }),
  intelligence: {
    ...openaiIntelligence({ apiKey: '...', intentAnalysis: true }),
    rerank: onnx.rerank.bind(onnx),  // swap LLM rerank for $0 local cross-encoder
  },
  graph: new NeuralGraph({ uri: 'bolt://localhost:7687', user: 'neo4j', password: '...' }),
  consolidation: { schedule: 'auto' }
})

API Reference

createMemory(options)

Factory function. Returns a Memory instance.

interface MemoryOptions {
  storage: StorageAdapter                    // Required
  intelligence?: IntelligenceAdapter         // Optional, defaults to heuristic
  consolidation?: { schedule: 'auto' | 'manual' }  // Optional
  tokenizer?: (text: string) => number       // Optional, for token budgets
}

Memory Methods

`initialize(): Promise<void>`

Initialize storage and load sensory buffer snapshot. Must call before operations.

`ingest(message): Promise<void>`

Store a message. Auto-detects salience, extracts entities, creates temporal edges.

interface Message {
  sessionId?: string
  role: 'user' | 'assistant' | 'system'
  content: string
  metadata?: Record<string, unknown>
}

`recall(query, opts?): Promise<RecallResult>`

Intent-analyzed, association-walked, primed recall.

interface RecallResult {
  memories: RetrievedMemory[]      // Direct hits
  associations: RetrievedMemory[]  // Via graph walk
  intent: IntentResult             // Classified intent
  primed: string[]                 // Boosted topics
  estimatedTokens: number          // Token estimate for context
  formatted: string                // Ready to inject into prompt
}

`expand(memoryId): Promise<{ episodes: Episode[] }>`

Drill into a digest to see original episodes.

`consolidate(cycle?): Promise<ConsolidateResult>`

Run consolidation. Cycle: 'light' | 'deep' | 'dream' | 'decay' | 'all' (default: 'all').

`stats(): Promise<MemoryStats>`

Returns counts: episodes, digests, semantic, procedural, associations.

`forget(query, opts?): Promise<ForgetResult>`

Lossless deprioritization. Pass confirm: true to apply.

`session(sessionId?): SessionHandle`

Get or create a session-scoped handle. Auto-generates sessionId if omitted.

`dispose(): Promise<void>`

Release resources, persist sensory buffer snapshot.

MCP Server Setup (Claude Code)

Install the MCP server globally:

npm install -g @engram-mem/mcp

Add to your ~/.claude/settings.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "engram": {
      "command": "engram-mcp",
      "env": {
        "SUPABASE_URL": "https://your-project.supabase.co",
        "SUPABASE_KEY": "<service-role JWT — needs RLS bypass for writes>",
        "OPENAI_API_KEY": "sk-..."
      }
    }
  }
}

The env keys are still named SUPABASE_URL / SUPABASE_KEY for backward compatibility — but as of v0.4.0 they accept any PostgREST endpoint URL + any JWT signed with your PGRST_JWT_SECRET. Point them at hosted Supabase, self-hosted Postgres + PostgREST, or any PostgREST-compatible deployment.

Optional v0.4.x env flags for the full self-host story:

"env": {
  "NEO4J_URI": "bolt://localhost:7687",        // enables graph spreading-activation recall
  "NEO4J_USER": "neo4j",
  "NEO4J_PASSWORD": "...",

  "ENGRAM_RERANK_LOCAL": "true",                // swap LLM rerank for local ONNX cross-encoder
  "ENGRAM_RERANK_LOCAL_MODEL": "mixedbread-ai/mxbai-rerank-base-v1",   // optional: pick variant (default: large-v1, ~1-1.5GB RAM)

  "ENGRAM_INGEST_CONTEXTUAL": "true"            // Anthropic-style contextual preamble per turn
}

Project isolation (Wave 5). memory_recall and memory_ingest take an optional declarative project_id parameter — the agent passes the current project (e.g. the git repo name) to scope the call. A scoped recall returns only that project's memories plus shared (NULL) ones; every other project is excluded, enforced in both SQL and the graph traversal. Omit it for unscoped (all projects). The server itself holds no project state, so one shared HTTP server isolates correctly per request. The git/hook ingest CLIs auto-detect the project from their working directory (ENGRAM_PROJECT_ID overrides).

Available MCP tools: memory_recall, memory_ingest, memory_forget, memory_timeline, memory_overview, memory_bridges, memory_consolidation_status.

See packages/mcp/README.md for full tool schemas and troubleshooting.

Storage Adapters

Engram ships with multiple storage adapters. Choose based on your needs:

SQLite (Local, Zero-Config)

import { sqliteAdapter } from '@engram-mem/sqlite'

const memory = createMemory({
  storage: sqliteAdapter({ path: './engram.db' })
})

Best for: Development, single-agent, no infrastructure.

PostgREST (Supabase OR Self-hosted)

import { PostgRestStorageAdapter } from '@engram-mem/postgrest'

const memory = createMemory({
  storage: new PostgRestStorageAdapter({
    url: process.env.POSTGREST_URL,   // hosted Supabase URL OR self-hosted PostgREST endpoint
    key: process.env.POSTGREST_KEY    // service-role JWT (not the anon key — needs RLS bypass)
  })
})

Best for: Multi-agent systems, persistent storage, scaling. Works against hosted Supabase, self-hosted Postgres + PostgREST in Docker, or any PostgREST-compatible endpoint.

Self-host bootstrap: apply packages/postgrest/schema.sql once with psql -U postgres -d engram -f schema.sql — idempotent, re-runnable, creates all tables + functions + RLS policies from scratch.

OpenClaw Plugin

Engram is a drop-in OpenClaw ContextEngine. One command to install:

# From the packages/openclaw directory, or via remote URL:
bash install.sh

Or manually:

cd ~/.openclaw
mkdir -p engram/dist
npm init -y && npm install @engram-mem/core @engram-mem/sqlite @engram-mem/openai
# Copy compiled plugin to engram/dist/openclaw-plugin.js
# Update openclaw.json to load plugin and set context engine

Plugin Features:

Automatic message ingestion via afterTurn hook
Deep memory search via engram_search tool
Memory stats via engram_stats tool
Manual forget via engram_forget tool
Manual consolidation via engram_consolidate tool
Auto-consolidation every 100 episodes

Warning: afterTurn is called with full session history. The plugin extracts only new messages from this turn to avoid re-ingesting. Understand this contract before modifying.

Standalone Usage

Engram is framework-agnostic. Use without OpenClaw:

import { createMemory } from '@engram-mem/core'
import { sqliteAdapter } from '@engram-mem/sqlite'
import { openaiIntelligence } from '@engram-mem/openai'

const memory = createMemory({
  storage: sqliteAdapter({ path: './my-memory.db' }),
  intelligence: openaiIntelligence({ apiKey: process.env.OPENAI_API_KEY })
})

await memory.initialize()

// Your agent loop
for (const userMessage of userMessages) {
  await memory.ingest({ role: 'user', content: userMessage })

  const recalled = await memory.recall(userMessage)
  const context = recalled.formatted  // Inject into system prompt

  const response = await llm(userMessage, { system: context })
  await memory.ingest({ role: 'assistant', content: response })

  // Optional: manually consolidate periodically
  if (episodeCount % 50 === 0) {
    await memory.consolidate('light')
  }
}

await memory.dispose()

How It Works

Intent Analysis

Engram auto-classifies queries into 11 intent types:

TASK_START, TASK_CONTINUE, QUESTION, RECALL_EXPLICIT
DEBUGGING, PREFERENCE, REVIEW, CONTEXT_SWITCH
EMOTIONAL, SOCIAL, INFORMATIONAL

Each intent type has a custom retrieval strategy (which tiers to search, how much to prioritize procedural vs. semantic, whether to include associations). No manual tuning needed.

Salience Detection

Every ingested message is auto-scored for salience using 10 signal types:

Explicit keywords (prefer, important, remember)
Numbers (decisions, metrics)
Decisions and constraints
Questions and tasks
Code and technical artifacts
Emotional markers
Role changes
Repetition
and more

Higher salience = higher recall weight and slower decay.

Reconsolidation

When a memory is accessed during recall, Engram:

Increments access count
Updates last access timestamp
Reconsolidates it: boosts confidence for semantic, increments observation count for procedural

This mimics biological memory: accessing a memory makes it stronger.

Lossless Design

Memories are never deleted. Instead, they decay:

Semantic: confidence score drops to 0.05 (below retrieval floor)
Procedural: decayRate increases
Episodes: marked as consolidated but still retrievable
Edges: pruned if both endpoints fall below confidence floor

This preserves the agent's history even as old memories fade from active retrieval.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please see CONTRIBUTING.md for:

Development setup and local testing
Monorepo structure and package organization
Code style and testing conventions
Adding new storage or intelligence adapters
Pull request process

License

Licensed under the Apache License 2.0. See LICENSE file for details.

Brain-Science References

Engram's design is inspired by:

Sensory Buffer: Baddeley's working memory model (phonological loop + visuo-spatial sketchpad)
Episodic System: Hippocampus-dependent autobiographical memory
Semantic System: Cortical distributed knowledge networks
Procedural System: Striatal habit learning (implicit memory)
Associative Network: Neuromodulation and pattern completion during retrieval
Consolidation Cycles: Sleep-dependent memory consolidation (light sleep, deep sleep, REM dream, and decay)
Reconsolidation: Destabilization and restabilization of memories during recall

The 4-stage retrieval pipeline (recall → association walk → priming → reconsolidation) mirrors the temporal dynamics of a memory search in the brain.

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examples		examples
packages		packages
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CONTRIBUTING.md		CONTRIBUTING.md
LICENSE		LICENSE
README.md		README.md
SECURITY.md		SECURITY.md
package-lock.json		package-lock.json
package.json		package.json
tsconfig.base.json		tsconfig.base.json
tsconfig.json		tsconfig.json
turbo.json		turbo.json
vitest.config.ts		vitest.config.ts
vitest.workspace.ts		vitest.workspace.ts

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Engram — A Brain for Your AI Agents

Start in 30 seconds

What's New in v0.4.x

Why Engram

Architecture

Examples

Packages

Core Concepts

Four-Stage Retrieval

Four Consolidation Cycles

Upgrade Path

API Reference

createMemory(options)

Memory Methods

initialize(): Promise<void>

ingest(message): Promise<void>

recall(query, opts?): Promise<RecallResult>

expand(memoryId): Promise<{ episodes: Episode[] }>

consolidate(cycle?): Promise<ConsolidateResult>

stats(): Promise<MemoryStats>

forget(query, opts?): Promise<ForgetResult>

session(sessionId?): SessionHandle

dispose(): Promise<void>

MCP Server Setup (Claude Code)

Storage Adapters

SQLite (Local, Zero-Config)

PostgREST (Supabase OR Self-hosted)

OpenClaw Plugin

Standalone Usage

How It Works

Intent Analysis

Salience Detection

Reconsolidation

Lossless Design

Contributing

License

Brain-Science References

About

Resources

License

Contributing

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`initialize(): Promise<void>`

`ingest(message): Promise<void>`

`recall(query, opts?): Promise<RecallResult>`

`expand(memoryId): Promise<{ episodes: Episode[] }>`

`consolidate(cycle?): Promise<ConsolidateResult>`

`stats(): Promise<MemoryStats>`

`forget(query, opts?): Promise<ForgetResult>`

`session(sessionId?): SessionHandle`

`dispose(): Promise<void>`

Packages