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Overview

Mengram integrates with Claude Code hooks to create a full memory loop that survives /clear, auto-compaction, machine switches, and team handoffs — the SessionStart hook fires after every compact and re-injects your context:
  1. Session context — loads your cognitive profile when a session starts, so Claude knows who you are
  2. Auto-recall — searches relevant memories on every prompt and injects them as context
  3. Auto-save — captures conversations in the background to build up memory over time
Zero manual effort. One command to install.

Quick Setup

The plugin ships the hooks, the MCP server (30 tools), and a skill. Hooks read the key from ~/.mengram/config.json (an exported MENGRAM_API_KEY env var wins if set). First-run self-check: until the plugin verifies one successful API round-trip, failures show a one-line message telling you exactly what’s broken. After the first success, failures are silent — an outage never spams you or blocks Claude Code.

Option B — CLI hooks

This creates your account (if needed), saves your API key, and installs all 3 hooks automatically. Restart Claude Code — done.

Skip the cold start — import your history

Your past Claude Code sessions are already on disk. Feed them in and memory starts full, not empty:
Secrets (API keys, tokens) are redacted client-side before upload. Then ask Claude: “what do you know about my projects?”

How It Works

1. Session Start — Profile Loaded

When you open Claude Code (or after context compaction), the SessionStart hook fires:

2. Every Prompt — Relevant Memories Recalled

When you type a prompt, the UserPromptSubmit hook fires before Claude responds:

3. After Response — Conversation Saved

After Claude responds, the Stop hook fires asynchronously in the background:

Full Loop

Commands

mengram hook install

Installs all 3 hooks into ~/.claude/settings.json.
This adds 3 hooks to your Claude Code settings:

mengram hook status

Check status of all hooks.
Output:

mengram hook uninstall

Remove all Mengram hooks.

Configuration

Environment Variables

Filtering

Auto-save skips:
  • Short responses (< 100 characters) — trivial confirmations
  • Interrupted requests
  • Responses when no API key is set
Auto-recall skips:
  • Very short prompts (< 10 characters)
  • Slash commands (/help, /clear, etc.)
  • Simple confirmations (yes, no, ok)

Quota Limits

When you hit your monthly plan limits, each hook surfaces a clear warning instead of failing silently: All messages include an upgrade link. Claude Code is never blocked — hooks continue gracefully. Non-quota errors (network timeouts, transient failures) are silently swallowed so they never interrupt your workflow. To check your current usage: mengram stats or visit mengram.io/dashboard.

Debugging: verbose markers and heartbeat

Verbose markers (CLI hooks): add --verbose to any hook command in your hooks config and every exit path emits a one-line status marker — [mengram:auto-recall] found 3 memories, [mengram:auto-save] throttled (2/3). Answers “is it working?” in one session restart. Off by default (byte-for-byte silent). Heartbeat (plugin): set MENGRAM_HEARTBEAT=25 (env) or "heartbeat": 25 in ~/.mengram/config.json and every 25th successful save shows one line: [mengram] heartbeat: 150 conversations saved to memory so far. With the heartbeat on, silence means something is wrong.

Troubleshooting

Hooks not firing?
  • Restart Claude Code after installing
  • Check mengram hook status to verify all 3 hooks are installed
  • Keys are read from MENGRAM_API_KEY env or ~/.mengram/config.json (env wins) — check cat ~/.mengram/config.json
Memories not appearing?
  • Auto-save processes in the background — check after ~30 seconds
  • Verify API connectivity: mengram hook status
  • Check your memories at mengram.io/dashboard
Recall seems slow?
  • Auto-recall has a 10-second timeout — if the API is slow, it’s skipped gracefully
  • Claude Code continues normally even if a hook fails
Seeing quota warnings?
  • You’ve hit your monthly plan limit — memory is disabled until the limit resets or you upgrade
  • Run mengram stats to check usage
  • Upgrade at mengram.io/dashboard
Run mengram setup to automatically save your API key to your shell profile and install all hooks in one step.