Memory

Memory is what separates a sovereign agent from a stateless chatbot. Every conversation, every interaction, every decision leaves a trace. Motebit's memory system stores these traces as a semantic graph — searchable by meaning, governed by sensitivity, and subject to natural decay over time.

How memories form

Memories emerge from conversation. As the agent responds, it identifies facts, preferences, and context worth remembering. Each memory is stored with a confidence level (how certain the agent is) and a sensitivity classification (how private the information is).

The agent doesn't record transcripts. It distills — extracting the meaningful signal from conversation and storing it as a discrete memory node.

Retrieval by meaning

When context is needed, the agent searches its memory by semantic similarity — not by keyword, but by meaning. A query about "preferred editor" will surface a memory about "uses vim keybindings" even if the exact words don't match.

Retrieved memories are ranked by a combination of relevance, confidence, and recency. The most pertinent, trustworthy, and recent memories surface first.

Half-life decay

Memories don't persist at full strength forever. Each memory has a half-life — the time it takes for its confidence to drop by half. The default is 7 days.

A memory stored at 90% confidence:

• After 7 days: 45%
• After 14 days: 22%
• After 28 days: 5%

Trivia fades. Important things stick — because they get reinforced. When a memory is accessed or confirmed, its confidence resets. Memories that matter keep coming back; memories that don't, gracefully disappear.

Memories are never deleted by decay. They simply fall below the retrieval threshold, becoming invisible to the agent unless specifically sought. They can always be reinforced if they become relevant again.

Relationships between memories

Memories aren't isolated facts. They can be linked — this caused that, this contradicts that, this is part of that. These relationships let the agent understand not just individual facts but the structure between them: causal chains, contradictions, hierarchies.

Sensitivity and retention

Every memory carries a sensitivity level that controls how long it's retained and whether it can be displayed:

Sensitive memories can only be accessed through governed channels. When a sensitive memory is deleted, a cryptographic deletion certificate is produced — proof that the data was removed, without revealing what was removed.