Claude Code Memory System — AutoDream Memory Consolidation

Claude "dreams" -- silently reviewing recent sessions in the background to consolidate, update, and prune memories, much like the human brain organizes memories during sleep.

AutoDream · Trigger Conditions · Consolidation Process · Security · UI · Configuration · Comparison · Source Code

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1. What Is AutoDream?

AutoDream is Claude Code's background memory consolidation mechanism, internally codenamed "Dream: Memory Consolidation".

Core metaphor:

Human	Claude Code
Jotting down notes throughout the day	extractMemories -- extracts new memories after each conversation
Organizing the notebook while sleeping	autoDream -- periodically reviews multiple sessions to consolidate all memories

When you're inactive (default interval: 24 hours with 5 accumulated sessions), Claude silently launches a "dreaming" sub-agent (forked subagent) in the background. It reviews all recent session transcripts and consolidates scattered memories into structured, deduplicated, up-to-date persistent knowledge.

Key source: src/services/autoDream/autoDream.ts

// Background memory consolidation. Fires the /dream prompt as a forked
// subagent when time-gate passes AND enough sessions have accumulated.

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2. Trigger Conditions

AutoDream uses a five-gate mechanism, checking in order of increasing cost:

Gate Chain

#	Gate	Description	Cost
1	Feature toggle	isAutoDreamEnabled() + not KAIROS + not remote mode + autoMemory enabled	Memory read
2	Time gate	At least minHours since last consolidation (default 24h)	1 stat call
3	Scan throttle	At least 10 minutes since last scan before rescanning	Timestamp comparison
4	Session gate	At least minSessions new sessions since last consolidation (default 5, excluding current)	Directory scan
5	Lock gate	No other process currently dreaming (PID lock file)	stat + read

Key source src/services/autoDream/autoDream.ts:63-66:

const DEFAULTS: AutoDreamConfig = {
  minHours: 24,      // At least 24 hours since last consolidation
  minSessions: 5,    // At least 5 sessions accumulated in the interim
}

Scan Throttle

When the time gate passes but the session gate doesn't, the lock file's mtime remains unchanged, causing the time gate to pass on every subsequent turn. To avoid frequent directory scans, a 10-minute scan throttle is in place:

const SESSION_SCAN_INTERVAL_MS = 10 * 60 * 1000

Execution Entry Point

AutoDream is triggered during the stop hook phase after each AI response (fire-and-forget, does not block the main thread):

Key source src/query/stopHooks.ts:154-156:

if (!toolUseContext.agentId) {
  void executeAutoDream(stopHookContext, toolUseContext.appendSystemMessage)
}

Blocking Conditions

AutoDream will not trigger in the following situations:

• KAIROS mode: Uses a separate disk-skill dream
• Remote mode: getIsRemoteMode() === true
• autoMemory not enabled
• --bare / SIMPLE mode
• Inside a sub-agent: Only the main agent triggers it

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3. Four-Phase Consolidation Process

Once all gates pass, AutoDream launches a forked sub-agent that operates according to the 4-phase prompt defined in consolidationPrompt.ts:

Phase 1 -- Orient

- ls the memory directory, see existing files
- Read MEMORY.md index, understand the current knowledge structure
- Browse existing topic files to avoid creating duplicates
- If logs/ or sessions/ subdirectories exist, check recent entries

Phase 2 -- Gather Recent Signal

Collects information in order of priority (highest first):

1. Daily logs -- logs/YYYY/MM/YYYY-MM-DD.md (append-stream logs)
2. Drifted memories -- Old facts that contradict the current codebase state
3. Session transcript search -- Narrow-scope grep searches in JSONL transcript files

Don't exhaustively read transcript files. Only look for content you already suspect is important.

Phase 3 -- Consolidate

• Merge new signals into existing topic files (rather than creating new near-duplicate files)
• Convert relative dates to absolute dates ("yesterday" -> "2026-04-03")
• Delete old facts that have been superseded

Phase 4 -- Prune and Index

• Update MEMORY.md, keeping it within the line limit and <= 25KB
• Remove pointers to outdated memories
• Compress verbose entries (index lines >200 characters have their content moved into topic files)
• Add pointers to important memories
• Resolve conflicts (when two files disagree, fix the incorrect one)

Key source: src/services/autoDream/consolidationPrompt.ts:10-64

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4. Security Restrictions

The AutoDream sub-agent operates under strict tool permission constraints:

Bash: Read-Only Only

Allowed: ls, find, grep, cat, stat, wc, head, tail
Denied: All write, redirect, or state-modifying commands

File Operations: Memory Directory Only

createAutoMemCanUseTool() is the permission function shared by both extractMemories and autoDream:

Allowed: Read / Grep / Glob -- unrestricted
Allowed: Edit / Write -- only within the auto-memory directory
Denied: MCP / Agent / non-read-only Bash / other write operations

Key source: src/services/extractMemories/extractMemories.ts:167-171

Lock File Mechanism

Uses a .consolidate-lock file for process-level mutual exclusion:

Mechanism	Description
Lock content	PID of the holder
Timestamp	Lock file mtime = time of last consolidation
Expiry	Held for more than 1 hour is considered expired (prevents PID reuse issues)
Contention	Two processes write simultaneously -> last writer wins, loser exits on re-read
Rollback	On failure, mtime is rolled back to the pre-acquisition value so the next attempt is unaffected
Crash recovery	Stale mtime + dead PID -> next process reclaims the lock

Key source: src/services/autoDream/consolidationLock.ts

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5. UI Presentation

Bottom Status Bar

When AutoDream is running, the bottom status bar displays a "dreaming" label:

// src/tasks/pillLabel.ts:61-62
case 'dream':
  return 'dreaming'

Task Detail Dialog

Users can press Shift+Down to open the background task dialog and view real-time dream progress:

• DreamDetailDialog component displays:

  • Number of sessions being reviewed
  • Current phase: starting (analyzing) -> updating (modifying memory files)
  • Latest assistant text response and tool call count
  • List of file paths touched

• Users can press x to terminate an ongoing dream (triggers abort + lock rollback)

Completion Notification

After the dream completes, if files were modified, an inline notification appears in the main session:

appendSystemMessage({
  ...createMemorySavedMessage(dreamState.filesTouched),
  verb: 'Improved',
})

Key source:

• src/tasks/DreamTask/DreamTask.ts -- Task state management
• src/components/tasks/DreamDetailDialog.tsx -- UI component

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6. Configuration and Toggles

settings.json

{
  "autoDreamEnabled": true
}

• When explicitly set: Uses the user's value directly
• When not set: Controlled by the remote GrowthBook feature flag tengu_onyx_plover

Key source src/services/autoDream/config.ts:13-21:

export function isAutoDreamEnabled(): boolean {
  const setting = getInitialSettings().autoDreamEnabled
  if (setting !== undefined) return setting
  const gb = getFeatureValue_CACHED_MAY_BE_STALE<{ enabled?: unknown } | null>(
    'tengu_onyx_plover', null,
  )
  return gb?.enabled === true
}

Remote Configuration Parameters

The tengu_onyx_plover feature flag can configure:

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
enabled	boolean	--	Master feature toggle
minHours	number	24	Minimum interval (hours)
minSessions	number	5	Minimum session count

Manual Trigger: /dream

In addition to automatic triggering, users can manually trigger memory consolidation via the /dream command. Manual triggers call recordConsolidation() to update the lock file timestamp.

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7. Relationship with extractMemories

Dimension	extractMemories	autoDream
Trigger frequency	After each conversation turn	Every 24h + 5 sessions
Trigger location	stopHooks.ts L149	stopHooks.ts L155
Processing scope	Recent messages from the current conversation	Historical transcripts from multiple sessions
Goal	Extract new memories	Consolidate/deduplicate/prune existing memories
Human analogy	Jotting down notes during the day	Organizing the notebook while sleeping
Shared component	createAutoMemCanUseTool	createAutoMemCanUseTool
Forked agent	Max 5 turns	No turn limit
Transcript	Not recorded (skipTranscript)	Not recorded (skipTranscript)

Collaboration Flow

After each conversation turn
    |
extractMemories -> Extract new memory fragments -> Write *.md + MEMORY.md
    |
(After accumulating 24h + 5 sessions)
    |
autoDream -> Review all memories + session transcripts
    |
Merge duplicates / Fix stale data / Delete conflicts / Compress index
    |
MEMORY.md and topic files refreshed

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8. Source Code Navigation

File	Responsibility
src/services/autoDream/autoDream.ts	Main logic: gate checks, launch forked agent, progress monitoring
src/services/autoDream/config.ts	Toggle control: settings.json or GrowthBook
src/services/autoDream/consolidationPrompt.ts	Dream prompt: 4-phase consolidation workflow
src/services/autoDream/consolidationLock.ts	Lock file mechanism: concurrency prevention, timestamps, rollback
src/tasks/DreamTask/DreamTask.ts	UI task registration: state management, termination, rollback
src/tasks/pillLabel.ts	Bottom status bar label: "dreaming"
src/components/tasks/DreamDetailDialog.tsx	Dream detail dialog UI
src/query/stopHooks.ts	Execution entry point: triggers after each response
src/utils/backgroundHousekeeping.ts	Initialization entry point: initAutoDream()
src/services/extractMemories/extractMemories.ts	Shared createAutoMemCanUseTool

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9. Analytics Events

AutoDream records its operational state through the following events:

Event	Timing	Attached Data
tengu_auto_dream_fired	Dream started	hours_since, sessions_since
tengu_auto_dream_completed	Dream completed	cache_read, cache_created, output, sessions_reviewed
tengu_auto_dream_failed	Dream failed	--