brainmem 0.1.0__tar.gz

brainmem-0.1.0/.gitignore

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+__pycache__/
+*.py[cod]
+*.egg-info/
+build/
+dist/
+.venv/
+venv/
+.pytest_cache/
+.ruff_cache/
+*.db
+maintain.log
+
+# Working artefacts from the agent that built this, not part of the project.
+docs/superpowers/

brainmem-0.1.0/LICENSE

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brainmem-0.1.0/PKG-INFO

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+Metadata-Version: 2.4
+Name: brainmem
+Version: 0.1.0
+Summary: Agent memory gated on surprise, budgeted on attention, with provenance and validity intervals.
+Project-URL: Homepage, https://github.com/Jimmycarroll2021/Brainmem
+Project-URL: Issues, https://github.com/Jimmycarroll2021/Brainmem/issues
+Author: Jimmi Carroll
+License-Expression: Apache-2.0
+License-File: LICENSE
+Keywords: agent,claude,llm,mcp,memory,rag,retrieval
+Classifier: Development Status :: 4 - Beta
+Classifier: Intended Audience :: Developers
+Classifier: Programming Language :: Python :: 3.10
+Classifier: Programming Language :: Python :: 3.11
+Classifier: Programming Language :: Python :: 3.12
+Classifier: Programming Language :: Python :: 3.13
+Classifier: Topic :: Scientific/Engineering :: Artificial Intelligence
+Requires-Python: >=3.10
+Requires-Dist: numpy>=1.24
+Provides-Extra: anthropic
+Requires-Dist: anthropic>=0.40; extra == 'anthropic'
+Provides-Extra: dev
+Requires-Dist: pytest>=8.0; extra == 'dev'
+Requires-Dist: ruff>=0.6; extra == 'dev'
+Provides-Extra: embeddings
+Requires-Dist: sentence-transformers>=3.0; extra == 'embeddings'
+Provides-Extra: mcp
+Requires-Dist: mcp[cli]>=1.0; extra == 'mcp'
+Description-Content-Type: text/markdown
+
+# brainmem
+
+[![CI](https://github.com/Jimmycarroll2021/Brainmem/actions/workflows/ci.yml/badge.svg)](https://github.com/Jimmycarroll2021/Brainmem/actions/workflows/ci.yml)
+[![Python 3.10+](https://img.shields.io/badge/python-3.10%2B-blue.svg)](https://www.python.org/downloads/)
+[![License: Apache 2.0](https://img.shields.io/badge/license-Apache%202.0-blue.svg)](LICENSE)
+
+Agent memory built around the constraint that actually binds: storage is free, attention is not. Encoding is gated on surprise, retrieval is budgeted, and beliefs carry validity intervals and provenance so you can answer *what did the agent believe, when, and on what evidence*.
+
+## Install
+
+```bash
+pip install brainmem                          # core; numpy is the only dependency
+pip install 'brainmem[mcp,embeddings]'        # MCP tools + real semantic retrieval
+./install.sh                                  # wire into Claude Code (PREFIX=… to relocate)
+```
+
+## 60 seconds
+
+```python
+from brainmem import Memory
+
+m = Memory("memory.db")
+m.encode("Validation of the 60MB CSV timed out.", outcome=False)
+m.encode("Chunking the CSV to 20MB completed validation.", outcome=True)
+m.consolidate()                      # distil episodes into durable facts
+
+print(m.context("run the validation batch", token_budget=600))
+# ## What has gone wrong before
+# - [1] Avoid: Validation of the 60MB CSV timed out  (unverified, n=1)
+# ## What I know
+# - [2] Chunking the CSV to 20MB completed validation  (conf 0.60, n=1)
+
+m.record_outcome(2, success=True)    # close the loop; this is what makes it learn
+```
+
+Or from the shell: `brainmem encode "..." --outcome fail`, `brainmem retrieve "..."`, `brainmem stats`.
+
+`install.sh` writes `~/.brainmem/settings-brainmem.json` with **absolute paths baked
+in**, then merge it into `~/.claude/settings.json`. Do not substitute `$HOME` or `~`:
+Claude Code expands variables in `.mcp.json` but not in `settings.json`, so a
+placeholder path leaves the hook silently dead. On Windows the same applies to Git
+Bash paths — `install.sh` converts them with `cygpath`, so run it from the shell you
+intend to use and merge what it generates rather than hand-writing the paths.
+
+When merging, **append** to any `SessionStart` array you already have instead of
+replacing it, and re-run `install.sh` after installing the `mcp` SDK — the
+`mcpServers` block is only emitted when the SDK is importable at install time.
+
+## Verify
+
+```bash
+python test_brainmem.py   # 44 invariants — gating, supersession, budget, utility
+bash smoke_test.sh        # 29 checks — install, CLI, both hooks, cross-process persistence
+python e2e_mcp.py         # 22 checks — spawns the real MCP server over stdio
+python demo.py            # full lifecycle, no API key needed
+ruff check .
+```
+
+All four pass on a clean checkout, on Linux, macOS and Windows across Python
+3.10–3.13. `test_brainmem.py` also runs under `pytest`. `e2e_mcp.py` needs the
+`mcp` extra; the rest need only numpy. See [CONTRIBUTING.md](CONTRIBUTING.md) for
+why the shell and MCP suites exist separately from the unit tests.
+
+## Where this sits
+
+Agent memory is a crowded field and most of it is bigger than this. brainmem is
+deliberately small: one readable Python module, numpy as the only required
+dependency, SQLite on disk, no service to run.
+
+It is built around three claims that are unusual rather than better:
+
+1. **Attention is the binding constraint, not storage.** Retrieval is fitted to a
+   token budget in priority order, and the assembled block is ordered in a
+   serial-position V because the middle of a context window is where things go to
+   be ignored. Writing is gated on surprise, so the store grows on novelty rather
+   than volume.
+2. **Beliefs have a validity interval, and nothing is deleted.** A contradiction
+   closes the old belief off and links the successor. `retrieve(..., at=t)` answers
+   *what did the agent believe last Tuesday, and on what evidence* — which is the
+   question you need when an agent did something surprising.
+3. **Failures are a separate valence, and they lead.** They distil under their own
+   prompt, rank separately, and are fitted to the budget *before* facts, so under
+   pressure they are the last thing dropped. Ma et al. (2026) ablated this:
+   removing failure reasons cost 8 points, removing success patterns cost 2. Most
+   stores keep only what worked.
+
+**Use something else if:** you want a managed service, multi-tenant user profiles,
+or a knowledge graph over a large corpus. [mem0](https://github.com/mem0ai/mem0),
+[cognee](https://github.com/topoteretes/cognee), [Letta](https://github.com/letta-ai/letta)
+and [Zep](https://github.com/getzep/zep) are all larger, more featureful, and more
+production-hardened than this is. [HippoRAG](https://github.com/OSU-NLP-Group/HippoRAG)
+is the research-grade take on memory-inspired retrieval.
+
+**Use this if** you want something you can read end to end in an afternoon, audit
+the provenance of every belief, and wire into Claude Code in one command.
+
+## Layers
+
+| Layer | Role | Key property |
+|---|---|---|
+| L0 working | assembled context | token-budgeted, never persisted |
+| L1 episodic | append-only event log | immutable, carries outcome |
+| L2 semantic | distilled propositions | validity intervals, provenance, valence |
+| L3 procedural | cached action sequences | scored by success rate |
+| core | pinned identity | always loaded |
+
+```mermaid
+flowchart LR
+    E["<b>L1 episodic</b><br/>append-only, immutable<br/>carries outcome"]
+    E -->|"consolidate()<br/><i>the sleep pass</i>"| SPLIT{"outcome"}
+
+    SPLIT -->|"failed"| F["<b>valence = failure</b><br/>'Avoid: X fails when Y'"]
+    SPLIT -->|"ok / unknown"| FACT["<b>valence = fact</b>"]
+
+    F --> RANK["<b>retrieve()</b><br/>utility = 0.7·confidence + 0.3·usage<br/>+ MMR diversity"]
+    FACT --> RANK
+
+    RANK --> CTX["<b>context()</b><br/>token-budgeted<br/>failures fitted first"]
+    OUT["record_outcome()"] -.->|"the only thing that<br/>moves confidence"| RANK
+    RANK -.->|"decay() · prune_guidelines()"| GONE["retired<br/><i>still queryable with at=t</i>"]
+
+    classDef fail fill:#ffeef0,stroke:#d1495b
+    class F fail
+```
+
+Processes: `encode()` gates on novelty, `consolidate()` distils offline, `retrieve()` ranks and diversifies, `record_outcome()` closes the feedback loop, `decay()`/`prune_guidelines()` forget.
+
+## Two ways memory reaches the agent
+
+```mermaid
+flowchart TD
+    DB[("SQLite store<br/>episodes · facts · skills")]
+
+    DB -->|"SessionStart hook<br/>~600 tokens, before turn 1"| BLOCK["<b>Context block</b><br/>failures → facts → recent events"]
+    BLOCK --> AGENT(["Agent"])
+
+    AGENT <-->|"memory_search · memory_write<br/><i>at inference time, goal known</i>"| MCP["MCP tools"]
+    MCP <--> DB
+
+    AGENT -->|"memory_outcome<br/><i>did acting on it work?</i>"| MCP
+    AGENT -.->|"SessionEnd: consolidate · prune · decay"| DB
+
+    classDef floor fill:#eef4ff,stroke:#5b7cfa
+    classDef ceil fill:#eefaf0,stroke:#3fa96a
+    class BLOCK floor
+    class MCP ceil
+```
+
+**SessionStart hook** — injects ~600 tokens before the first turn. A floor, not the whole store. It pre-commits against an unknown goal, so it stays small deliberately.
+
+**MCP tools** — `memory_search`, `memory_write`, `memory_outcome`, `memory_explain`, `memory_status`. Defers retrieval to inference time, when the agent knows what it's doing. This is the ceiling.
+
+`SessionEnd` runs `maintain`: consolidate, prune, decay. That's the sleep pass — LLM-expensive and batched, because finding the invariant across events needs several events at once.
+
+## The write gate
+
+The single highest-leverage decision is what *not* to store. Encoding is driven by
+prediction error: if the store already predicts the observation, strengthen instead
+of duplicating.
+
+```mermaid
+flowchart TD
+    OBS["New observation"] --> GATE{"Compare against nearest facts<br/>+ unconsolidated episodes"}
+
+    GATE -->|novel| STORE["Store episode"]
+    GATE -->|refinement| STORE
+    GATE -->|contradiction| SUP["Store, and close off the old belief<br/><i>valid_to set, superseded_by linked</i>"]
+    GATE -->|redundant| CONF{"Outcome differs from<br/>the thing it resembles?"}
+
+    CONF -->|no| STRONG["Strengthen support only<br/><i>no new row, no confidence change</i>"]
+    CONF -->|"yes — did this before,<br/>got a different result"| STORE
+
+    classDef keep fill:#eefaf0,stroke:#3fa96a
+    classDef drop fill:#fff4e6,stroke:#e8973a
+    class STORE,SUP keep
+    class STRONG drop
+```
+
+Nothing is deleted on contradiction. The old belief keeps its validity interval and
+its provenance, which is what makes `retrieve(..., at=t)` able to answer *what did
+the agent believe last Tuesday*.
+
+## The outcome channel
+
+`encode(..., outcome=True|False|None)` records whether acting on something worked. Three consequences:
+
+1. **Failures distil separately** into `valence='failure'` lessons, and lead the assembled context. Ma et al. (2026) ablated their semantic memory: removing failure reasons cost 8 points, removing success patterns cost 2. Most memory systems store only successes.
+2. **Outcome conflict defeats redundancy.** Identical text with a flipped outcome is stored, not collapsed — "I did this before and got a different result" is the strongest prediction error available.
+3. **Utility ranks beliefs.** `0.7·confidence + 0.3·usage` after `record_outcome()`. Without it, ranking rewards beliefs that look relevant over beliefs that have been right.
+
+**The catch.** In a simulator the oracle is free. In advisory, analytical, or consulting work there is no oracle — nothing emits `success=True`. You must supply outcomes: a human verdict, a downstream check, a test result. Everything degrades gracefully to `outcome=None`, but the mechanisms carrying most of the measured gain are exactly the ones that need the signal. Wiring `memory_outcome` into a real workflow is the difference between this being useful and being decoration.
+
+## Defaults worth knowing
+
+- `retrieve(k=3)` — retrieval quality saturates fast (74% at k=1, 82% at k=2, flat at k=3 and k=5 in Ma et al.). Raise only with evidence.
+- `context()` orders each block in a serial-position V — best at head and tail, weakest in the middle (Liu et al., 2023, "Lost in the Middle").
+- Failures are fitted to the token budget *before* facts, so under pressure they're the last thing dropped.
+- `prune_guidelines(keep=20)` caps outcome-scored rules; anything ≥0.8 confidence with ≥5 successes is protected.
+
+## Production swaps, in order of impact
+
+1. **Real embedder** — shipped. `pip install 'brainmem[embeddings]'` and set
+   `BRAINMEM_EMBEDDER=sentence-transformers`. The `HashEmbedder` default has no
+   semantic generalisation (it is hashed n-grams), so "the batch aborted" and "the
+   job failed" share no vector mass. Switching changes the vector dimension — start
+   a fresh store, because the old vectors are not comparable to the new ones.
+2. **`BRAINMEM_LLM=anthropic`** for the write gate and extractor. The heuristic judge cannot detect contradiction reliably; a cosine threshold structurally can't, since "X leads the project" and "X has left the project" embed almost identically.
+3. **pgvector or FAISS** above ~100k rows. Only `_nearest_facts` changes.
+
+## Found by testing, not by reading
+
+Bugs the unit tests could not have caught, listed because they show what the
+suites are for:
+
+- **MCP SDK 2.0 removed `mcp.server.fastmcp`.** The server imported a module that
+  no longer exists. `brainmem_mcp.py` now tries `MCPServer` and falls back to
+  `FastMCP`, so it runs on both.
+- **`memory_write` misreported outcome conflicts.** It said "already known" based
+  on the gate's verdict, while the episode had in fact been stored. The data was
+  right and the tool was lying to the agent about it.
+- **The token budget only governed facts.** Recent events and skills were
+  unbounded, so `token_budget` was closer to a suggestion. Everything is fitted
+  now, in priority order: failures, facts, procedures, raw events.
+- **`$HOME` in `settings.json` is never expanded.** The original config would have
+  installed cleanly and then never fired. Hence `install.sh`.
+- **`install.sh` and `smoke_test.sh` copied from an `integration/` directory that
+  does not exist.** Both die on that line under `set -e`, so neither the installer
+  nor the shell suite could run at all. Nothing that only imports the library
+  notices.
+- **The same dead-hook failure has a Windows form.** Under Git Bash the generated
+  paths were `/c/Users/...`, which the process Claude Code spawns cannot resolve,
+  and the hooks relied on the executable bit rather than an explicit interpreter.
+  Installed cleanly, never fired. Paths now go through `cygpath` and hooks are
+  invoked as `bash "<script>"`.
+- **The SessionStart hook read its goal from `$1`.** Claude Code delivers hook
+  payloads as JSON on stdin and never passes argv, so in a live session the goal
+  was always empty and silently fell back to the working directory — the block
+  still rendered, it just stopped being goal-conditioned. Every test passed the
+  goal as `$1`, which is exactly why none of them saw it.
+- **The embedding hash was salted per process.** `HashEmbedder` used builtin
+  `hash()`, which Python salts per process (PEP 456). Every deployment path here —
+  the SessionStart hook, the CLI, the MCP server — is a separate process over one
+  database, so vectors written by one session were meaningless to the next. The
+  store still returned rows in the right shape, so nothing looked broken while
+  ranking was quietly random; the same query that ranked a failure lesson first
+  in-process ranked it fourth from a fresh process. Now blake2b.
+- **Confidence rose on restatement, not evidence.** Both the `encode` redundancy
+  path and the `_distil` "reinforced" path did `confidence + 0.05`. But the gate
+  decides redundancy by entity overlap and token similarity — it measures how alike
+  two *strings* are, not whether two *independent sources* agree, and it cannot tell
+  a paraphrase from a caveat. Recording "the thirty percent rule is not a
+  demonstrated optimum" made the store **more** certain of the thirty percent rule.
+  Restatement now moves `support` only; `confidence` has exactly one mutator,
+  `record_outcome`.
+- **One `--success` pinned confidence to 1.00.** `conf = n_success/n_total`
+  overwrote the distilled prior, so a belief the store itself labelled `unverified,
+  n=1` jumped to maximum confidence and 1/1 ranked identically to 9/9 — breaking the
+  very rule the docstring states. Now Laplace-smoothed: 0.67, 0.91.
+- **Distillation split clauses into claims.** `_extract` kept any 12–240 char
+  fragment, so "…not yet load-tested at that volume" became a standalone fact whose
+  antecedent stayed behind in L1. A fragment is indistinguishable from a fact once
+  embedded: it ranks, it fits the budget, it gets injected. Fragments that cannot be
+  read alone are now dropped — the raw episode still holds them.
+- **`memory_write` silently coerced unrecognised outcomes.** `outcome` was a bare
+  `str` looked up in a dict, so a natural near-miss like `"failure"` became
+  `unknown`: the failure signal was discarded, and with no outcome left to
+  conflict, the observation was swallowed as redundant and reported as "already
+  known". It is a `Literal` now, enumerated in the tool schema and rejected at the
+  boundary. Losing the store's most valuable signal quietly is worse than failing
+  loudly.
+
+## What remains unproven
+
+Surprisal-gated writes are principled but I know of no clean benchmark showing they beat write-everything at scale. Ma et al. don't test it either — their episodic store grows monotonically. If you find or run such a benchmark, it's the result most likely to change this design.