Memory
Memory stores facts and preferences that persist across sessions. Unlike conversation history (which is session-specific), memory captures knowledge that agents should always have access to.
Why Use Memory?
- Persistence — Facts survive sessions and restarts
- Automatic retrieval — Relevant memories are injected into context
- Organizational knowledge — Capture policies, preferences, and facts
- No repetition — Tell agents once, they remember forever
Store a Memory
ayo memory store "Our SLA requires response within 4 hours for urgent tickets"
Now any agent working on tickets can access this information automatically.
How Memory Works
When you send a prompt, ayo searches memory for relevant facts and includes them in the agent's context. This happens automatically—you don't need to explicitly reference memories.
# You've stored these memories:
ayo memory store "Use formal tone with enterprise customers"
ayo memory store "Our return policy is 30 days"
ayo memory store "Primary contact for Acme Corp is [email protected]"
# When you ask about Acme Corp:
ayo @support "Draft response to Acme Corp complaint"
# The agent automatically retrieves:
# - "Use formal tone with enterprise customers"
# - "Primary contact for Acme Corp is [email protected]"
# - "Our return policy is 30 days" (if relevant)
List Memories
ayo memory list
Search Memories
ayo memory search "SLA"
Delete a Memory
ayo memory delete <memory-id>
Good Uses for Memory
- Policies — SLAs, return policies, approval thresholds
- Preferences — Tone, formatting, naming conventions
- Facts — Contact info, account details, domain knowledge
- Corrections — "Always spell it 'ayo' in lowercase"
Example: Building Organizational Knowledge
# Company policies
ayo memory store "Expenses over $500 require manager approval"
ayo memory store "All external communications must include legal disclaimer"
ayo memory store "Use they/them pronouns when gender is unknown"
# Product knowledge
ayo memory store "Pro plan includes unlimited agents, Basic is limited to 3"
ayo memory store "API rate limit is 1000 requests per minute"
# Team preferences
ayo memory store "Weekly reports are due by 5pm Friday"
ayo memory store "Use Slack for urgent issues, email for non-urgent"
Memory vs Skills
| Memory | Skills |
|---|---|
| Facts and preferences | Instructions and procedures |
| Retrieved semantically | Assigned explicitly to agents |
| Global across all agents | Per-agent configuration |
| Small, discrete facts | Longer, structured instructions |
Best Practices
- Be specific — "SLA is 4 hours" not "We have an SLA"
- Be concise — One fact per memory
- Update, don't accumulate — Delete outdated memories
- Review periodically — Audit memories for accuracy