# Memory

> Resume past coding sessions, recall team decisions, and review or correct what Estelle remembers across supported agents.

Memory carries useful context between coding sessions. With Estelle's plugin or hooks installed, supported Claude Code, Codex, Kimi Code, Grok Build and Cursor sessions appear under **Sessions**, and decisions, conventions, fixes, and other useful details can be saved for later work. A new session can start from that record instead of reconstructing it from old transcripts.

Use memory when you return to a task, switch coding agents, ask what the team decided, or need to correct a saved conclusion.

## What is saved

- **Sessions**: reported coding-agent activity, including the work done, repositories touched, and session diary.
- **Memories**: durable decisions, conventions, fixes, and other knowledge saved from that work, with their sources where available.
- **Sources**: original material behind the memory, including indexed repository content and session records.

Hook capture can be bounded or incomplete; acknowledged entries are not a promise of complete local transcript history. A saved memory describes what was learned or decided. It is not proof that the current code is unchanged; check the indexed source when current behavior matters.

## Resume from your coding agent

Your agent uses Estelle's MCP tools for memory. Ask it to resume or recall in plain language, or let the plugin guide it.

| Tool | When to use it |
|---|---|
| `estelle_resume` | At the start of a session or after a gap. Omit `session_id` for the most recent session; add `task` and, when useful, `repo` to focus the briefing. |
| `list_sessions` | Find earlier work by text, subject, repository, time, or thread. Use the returned cursor for another page. |
| `get_session` | Open the stored diary for one session using its `id`; only acknowledged entries are available. |
| `memory_chat` | Ask “what did we decide about X?” and receive a cited answer from stored memory. Include `repo` on a multi-repository account to avoid ambiguity. |
| `estelle_checkpoint` | Save a session before ending it or exhausting context when the host supplies the transcript. |
| `estelle_activity` | Save the client's activity on a host without a transcript hook. |
| `edit_memory` | Correct a stored memory. The previous value remains available. |

If `memory_chat` cannot support an answer from stored memory, it reports that the answer is not grounded and gives the reason. That is not evidence that the event never happened; it means the saved material could not answer the question.

## Find and edit memories in Atlas

### Open the relevant memory

Open **Atlas**. Memories tied to a specific topic appear at the end of that page under **What Estelle remembers about this**. Other memories are on the Overview under **Decisions & memories**. Older Memories links open the corresponding part of Atlas.

### Browse the full library

Choose **Review or edit memories** to open **Saved memories**. On the **Memory library** tab, choose **Knowledge**, **Events**, or **All**, then search or narrow by category.

### Correct or restore a memory

Open the memory and choose **Edit**. Change its title or text and choose **Save changes**. The original sources and earlier version are kept. Choose **Revert last edit** to restore the previous version.

**Distil sessions** reviews recent sessions and saves useful new memories. The result reports how many sessions were read and how many memories were added, including when there was nothing new to add.

## Inspect or remove a source

Open **Saved memories → Sources held** and choose a repository. The list shows the original material held for that scope and says when the returned list is capped rather than complete.

Choose **Forget** beside a source and then **Confirm forget** to remove it. Choose **Keep** to cancel.

## Export memory and learned state

Open **Settings → Preferences → Your data** and choose **Request export**.

- A smaller workspace downloads as one JSON file.
- A larger workspace downloads as NDJSON in checked parts.
- The download is offered only after every required part arrives. Cancelling or a failed part produces no partial archive.

## Limits

- Sessions appear only when a plugin, hook, or Estelle-run session reports them. An unreported local session cannot be recalled.
- Codex hooks must be trusted before they can capture sessions.
- Memory relationships are recorded relationships; matching names alone do not prove that two items are connected.
- Some library, source, and Atlas views show a bounded page at a time. Read the count or cap notice before treating a view as complete.

## Related

- [Sessions](https://docs.fatelabs.ca/sessions): Inspect the coding sessions that feed memory.
- [Atlas](https://docs.fatelabs.ca/atlas): Read memories beside the code they describe.
- [MCP server](https://docs.fatelabs.ca/mcp): Connect an agent to resume and recall tools.