how-it-works skill
Explain how claude-mem captures observations, when memory injection kicks in, and where data lives. Use when the user asks "how does claude-mem work?" or "what is this thing doing?".
Is the how-it-works skill safe?
Clean: nothing in its files matched our rules. We read 2 files in the folder on 2026-11-08.
No findings.
Install the how-it-works skill
A skill is a folder. Copy it into your agent's skills folder and the agent loads it when the task matches its description.
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/thedotmack/claude-mem.git /tmp/claude-mem mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills cp -r /tmp/claude-mem/plugin/skills/how-it-works ~/.claude/skills/how-it-works
In the Claude apps, zip the folder and upload it from the Skills settings. The folder on GitHub
The instructions your agent would load
SKILL.md as published, without the frontmatter. Read it on GitHub
How claude-mem works
What it does
While you work, an observer (a second agent) watches what your agent reads, edits and runs, and writes short notes about what mattered. Those notes are called observations. When a session ends, the observer writes a summary. When the next session starts, your agent gets a compact index of the observations that matter for this project and fetches full details only when it needs them.
So the next session starts where the last one left off: no re-explaining the codebase, no re-discovering decisions.
When it kicks in
Memory injection starts on your second session in a project.
The first session seeds memory as you work. To front-load a whole repo in one pass instead, run /learn-codebase (~5 minutes on a typical repo, optional).
Where data lives
Your memory lives in ~/.claude-mem on this machine: the SQLite database, vector index, logs and settings. npx claude-mem uninstall removes it.
What leaves the machine:
- What the observer reads goes to the model you chose to run it: your Claude plan unless you picked another provider (Codex, OpenRouter, Gemini, or the claude-mem observer on CMEM Pro).
- During install, cmem.ai gets only your email and optional note if you share them when the installer asks (it's optional and asked once), and a numbers-only usage summary (observation counts and token totals; no prompts, paths, or project names) when setup creates a sign-in link. Nothing else goes to cmem.ai unless you sign in and turn on something that uses it (cloud sync, CMEM Pro's hosted observer, a provider that runs through your cmem.ai account) or choose to upload your prompts during browser setup.
- Anonymous usage analytics (telemetry) are on by default. Turn them off with npx claude-mem telemetry disable, or set DONOTTRACK=1.
More skills from thedotmack/claude-mem
- AAgent Cost ReportBelievable agent cost report for any period, default the last 7 full days PT, not counting today. Measured tokens from Claude Code transcripts priced at OpenRouter list prices (ESTIMATED), measured provider spend when a sanctioned source exists, note-taker cost separate, Timing-style HTML/PDF plus report.json, line-items.csv, evidence.json.
- AAgent Cost ReportBelievable agent cost report for any period, default the last 7 full days PT, not counting today. Measured tokens from Claude Code transcripts priced at OpenRouter list prices (ESTIMATED), measured provider spend when a sanctioned source exists, note-taker cost separate, Timing-style HTML/PDF plus report.json, line-items.csv, evidence.json.
- AAgent Cost ReportBelievable agent cost report for any period, default the last 7 full days PT, not counting today. Measured tokens from Claude Code transcripts priced at OpenRouter list prices (ESTIMATED), measured provider spend when a sanctioned source exists, note-taker cost separate, Timing-style HTML/PDF plus report.json, line-items.csv, evidence.json.
- AAgent Cost ReportBelievable agent cost report for any period, default the last 7 full days PT, not counting today. Measured tokens from Claude Code transcripts priced at OpenRouter list prices (ESTIMATED), measured provider spend when a sanctioned source exists, note-taker cost separate, Timing-style HTML/PDF plus report.json, line-items.csv, evidence.json.
- AAgent Cost ReportBelievable agent cost report for any period, default the last 7 full days PT, not counting today. Measured tokens from Claude Code transcripts priced at OpenRouter list prices (ESTIMATED), measured provider spend when a sanctioned source exists, note-taker cost separate, Timing-style HTML/PDF plus report.json, line-items.csv, evidence.json.
- AbabysitWatch a pull request or review cycle until it is ready to merge. Use when asked to babysit, monitor, or keep checking PR comments, reviews, and CI until all actionable issues are resolved.
- Abackup-setupSet up, check, or restore local claude-mem database snapshots. Use when the user says "set up backups", "back up my memories", "backup status", or "restore my database".
- AbuildFully automate a coding task with make-plan, do, and babysit.
- Abuild-and-releaseFully automate building and releasing a coding task.
- Accs-alignRun the CCS Align seat's hourly breathing cycle — prove the local claude-mem worker is healthy, pull needle observations through search → timeline → get_observations, land them in a seat-owned middle cache via atomic grab → append → filter exclude-marks → replace, manage exclude marks, and walk house → project → seat rules to detect conflicts (SHADOW_HOUSE, DENY_ALLOW, DRIFT, CLOCK_HEADER) with an append-only rules-report.md. Use when asked to run CCS Align, breathe the alignment seat, refresh the middle cache, exclude or restore an observation, walk rules, check rules conflicts, or check the Worker Watch board.
- AchildhoodBabysit a shipped release after merge, publication, or deployment. Verify published packages, production behavior, installed plugins, and late CI or user reports until the observation window is clean; use babysit for PR readiness before release.
- Aclaude-mem-installUse this when setting up claude-mem on Cursor: local or remote worker, local host-login observer or remote cmem.ai inference.