---
title: Memory
description: CowAgent long-term memory system
---

# Long-term Memory

The memory system enables the Agent to remember important information over time, continuously accumulating experience, understanding user preferences, and achieving autonomous thinking and growth.

## How It Works

The Agent proactively stores memory in these scenarios:

- **When users share important information** — Automatically identifies and stores preferences, decisions, facts, and other key information
- **When conversations reach a certain length** — Automatically extracts summaries to prevent information loss
- **When retrieval is needed** — Intelligently searches historical memory and combines it with context

## Memory Types

### Core Memory

Stored in `~/cow/memory/core.md`, containing long-term user preferences, important decisions, key facts, and other information that doesn't fade over time.

### Daily Memory

Stored in the `~/cow/memory/daily/` directory, organized by date, recording daily conversation summaries and key events.

## First Startup

On first startup, the Agent proactively asks the user for key information and records it in the workspace (default `~/cow`):

| File | Description |
| --- | --- |
| `system.md` | Agent system prompt and behavior settings |
| `user.md` | User identity and preferences |
| `memory/core.md` | Core memory |
| `memory/daily/` | Daily memory directory |

<Frame>
  <img src="https://cdn.link-ai.tech/doc/20260203000455.png" width="800" />
</Frame>

## Memory Retrieval

The memory system supports hybrid retrieval:

- **Keyword Search** — Matches historical memory based on keywords
- **Vector Search** — Semantic similarity search that finds related memories even with different wording

The Agent automatically triggers memory retrieval during conversations, incorporating relevant historical information into the context.

## Configuration

Adjust memory-related parameters in `config.json`:

```json
{
  "agent_workspace": "~/cow",
  "agent_max_context_tokens": 40000,
  "agent_max_context_turns": 30
}
```

| Parameter | Description | Default |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `agent_workspace` | Workspace path where memory files are stored | `~/cow` |
| `agent_max_context_tokens` | Maximum context tokens, affects short-term memory capacity | `40000` |
| `agent_max_context_turns` | Maximum context turns, older conversations are discarded when exceeded | `30` |