Claude-Mem: The Viral Plugin Giving Claude Code Persistent Memory (22K+ Stars)
Claude Code just got a massive upgrade. A new plugin called claude-mem is exploding on GitHub with 22,000+ stars, solving one of the biggest pain points for AI coding assistants: they forget everything between sessions.The Problem: AI Amnesia
Every Claude Code user knows the frustration. You spend an hour getting Claude up to speed on your project architecture, coding patterns, and recent changes. Then you start a new session and... it's gone. Complete amnesia.
Claude-mem fixes this by creating a persistent memory layer that survives across sessions.
What Is Claude-Mem?
Claude-mem is a Claude Code plugin created by Alex Newman (@thedotmack) that automatically:
No manual intervention required. It just works in the background.
Key Features
| Feature | What It Does |
|---|---|
| 🧠 Persistent Memory | Context survives across sessions |
| 📊 Progressive Disclosure | Layered memory retrieval to save tokens |
| 🔍 Skill-Based Search | Natural language queries via mem-search |
| 🖥️ Web Viewer | Real-time memory stream at localhost:37777 |
| 🔒 Privacy Control | Use |
| 🔗 Citations | Reference past observations with IDs |
How It Works
Claude-mem uses 5 lifecycle hooks:
- SessionStart - Loads relevant context
- UserPromptSubmit - Tracks what you're working on
- PostToolUse - Captures Claude's actions
- Stop - Handles interruptions
- SessionEnd - Summarizes and stores the session
Under the hood, it runs a worker service on port 37777 with a web UI, SQLite database, and Chroma vector database for hybrid semantic + keyword search.
The 10x Token Savings Trick
Claude-mem's MCP tools follow a smart 3-layer workflow:
By filtering before fetching, you get ~10x token savings compared to loading everything upfront.
Installation (2 Commands)
> /plugin marketplace add thedotmack/claude-mem
> /plugin install claude-mem
Restart Claude Code. That's it.
Requirements:- Node.js 18+
- Claude Code with plugin support
- Bun and uv (auto-installed if missing)
Why It's Going Viral
The numbers tell the story:
- 22,229 stars on GitHub
- 1,500+ forks
- 174 releases (actively maintained)
- 22 contributors
Developers are calling it a game-changer for complex projects where context matters.
Beta Features: Endless Mode
The plugin includes a beta channel with experimental features like Endless Mode - a "biomimetic memory architecture" for extended sessions. Access it from Settings in the web viewer UI.
The Bigger Picture: AI Memory Is the Next Frontier
Claude-mem represents a broader trend: the race to give AI assistants persistent memory. As coding sessions get longer and projects get more complex, the AI tools that can remember context will win.
Other players in this space:
- OpenAI Memory (ChatGPT)
- Cursor's context features
- GitHub Copilot workspace memory
But claude-mem is open source, works today, and already has massive community adoption.
Should You Use It?
Yes, if:- You work on complex projects with lots of context
- You're tired of re-explaining your codebase every session
- You want Claude to actually remember your preferences and patterns
- You work on simple, isolated scripts
- You're concerned about local storage of coding history
- You need enterprise-grade security (it's still community-maintained)
Getting Started
mem-search skillThe full documentation covers configuration, troubleshooting, and advanced features.
The bottom line: Claude-mem is the plugin that makes Claude Code actually useful for real-world projects. 22K stars in weeks doesn't happen by accident. Try it. Found this useful? Check out Serenities AI for more AI development tools and insights.