Know what to
forget.
A memory layer for AI agents, modeled on the hippocampus. Decay by default, strength through use, provenance on every memory.
npm install -g hippo-memory Works with
- Claude Code
- Codex
- Cursor
- OpenClaw
- OpenCode
- Pi
- any MCP client
an example session
The problem
Most AI memory saves everything and searches later.
That's storage with semantic search bolted on. It's why your agent kept hitting the same deploy bug last week. And the week before.
The system saw the failure four times. It had no way to know it should remember.
How it works
Memories decay. Retrieval makes them stronger.
The thing brains have been getting right for 500 million years. Hard lessons stick because you used them. Trivia fades because you didn't.
strength = decay over time, re-strengthened on every recall
Decay by default
Every memory fades on a 7-day half-life. Persistence is earned, not assumed.
Retrieval strengthens
Use it or lose it. Each recall extends the half-life. Memories you reach for learn to survive.
Errors stick
Tag a failure once. It decays slower and resurfaces every time you walk back into that code.
Sleep consolidates
On `hippo sleep`, three or more related episodes merge into one semantic pattern. The originals decay; the pattern survives.
Receipts
Numbers, not adjectives.
every claim links to its source
Compare
Forget by default. Earn persistence through use.
Most memory systems save everything and search later. Hippo takes the opposite stance: memories decay unless they prove useful. One take among several in a fast-moving category.
A category that matured fast in 2026. See the full feature table with graph-first, agent-managed, and version-control takes.
One command. Every repo gets memory.
Zero config. SQLite under the hood, zero runtime deps, works with every CLI agent you have.
npm install -g hippo-memory hippo init --scan ~