wax

name	wax
description	Swift framework guidance for Wax on-device memory/RAG. Use when writing Swift code with the public Memory facade, experimental PhotoMemory / VideoMemory, BuiltInMultimodalEmbeddings, embedding providers, retrieval modes, or hybrid search. For agent operators using the Wax MCP server tools, use the separate wax-mcp skill instead.

Wax (Swift Framework)

Overview

Use this skill to design and implement correct Wax-based on-device memory flows in Swift 6.2, emphasizing deterministic retrieval, single-file persistence, and safe concurrency.

If you need the agent memory operator playbook for MCP tools, use the wax-mcp skill and follow the live server instructions (session_open / remember / recall / session_close). Do not treat handoff_latest then session_start as the default open.

Choose The API Surface

1. Use Memory (public actor) for text memory and retrieval.
2. Use experimental PhotoMemory / VideoMemory (import Wax) for photo and video RAG on Darwin. Build the embedder with BuiltInMultimodalEmbeddings.make.
3. MemoryOrchestrator, PhotoRAGOrchestrator, VideoRAGOrchestrator, Wax, WaxSession, and MiniLMEmbedder are package-only internals — downstream apps cannot import or construct them. Do not generate client code against them.
4. Structured memory (entities/facts) stays MCP/broker-facing, not a public Swift CRUD API.
5. Import Wax to get the re-exported embedding protocols (EmbeddingProvider, BatchEmbeddingProvider, EmbeddingIdentity).

Core Workflow

1. Choose a .wax store URL.
2. Open Memory(at:) — .automatic opens immediately while MiniLM loads (iOS 18/macOS 15+, default MiniLMEmbeddings trait), then live-attaches. Check stats().embeddingStatus.
3. Or select the embedder in config: Memory(at: url) { $0.embedding = .custom(MyEmbedder()) }, or force a built-in via $0.embedding = .builtIn(.miniLM) (throws when unavailable).
4. Call save(...) to ingest and search(...) to retrieve RAGContext.
5. Call flush() or close() to persist.

Safety & Constraints

• Keep Wax offline-only; no network calls are made. See references/constraints.md.
• Treat the .wax file as the single source of truth (data + indexes + WAL).
• Memory.RetrievalMode.hybrid (the default; alias of the canonical SearchMode) degrades to the text lane when no embedder is available; vectorOnly throws instead. Always check results.diagnostics (requested vs. effective mode) or memory.stats() when the mode matters.
• On iOS 17/macOS 14 there is no built-in embedder: provide a custom EmbeddingProvider or use text-only search.
• Video RAG does not transcribe by itself. Use VideoMemory; the host supplies transcripts. The store keeps text and metadata, not media bytes.

Performance & Determinism Tips

• The first-ever built-in embedder load pays a one-time CoreML compile; later launches reuse the cached compiled model.
• Use .textOnly mode for fast deterministic lexical lookups.
• The Metal HNSW vector engine activates automatically at 10,000+ vectors; smaller stores use an exact CPU flat index.

Examples

import Foundation
import Wax

func demoDefault() async throws {
    let url = FileManager.default.temporaryDirectory
        .appendingPathComponent("wax-memory")
        .appendingPathExtension("wax")

    // Semantic search out of the box on iOS 18/macOS 15+ (built-in MiniLM).
    let memory = try await Memory(at: url)
    try await memory.save("User: prefers Swift over Java.")

    let results = try await memory.search("language preferences")
    _ = results.items

    // Verify which retrieval mode actually ran.
    if let diagnostics = results.diagnostics {
        print(diagnostics.effectiveMode)  // Memory.RetrievalMode (alias of SearchMode); prints "hybrid(alpha=0.500)" or "text"
    }

    try await memory.close()
}

import Foundation
import Wax

func demoTextOnly() async throws {
    let url = FileManager.default.temporaryDirectory
        .appendingPathComponent("wax-text")
        .appendingPathExtension("wax")

    // Explicit text-only mode: no embedder is loaded.
    let memory = try await Memory(at: url) { config in
        config.enableVectorSearch = false
    }
    try await memory.save("User: prefers Swift over Java.")

    let results = try await memory.search("preferences", options: .init(mode: .textOnly))
    _ = results.items

    try await memory.close()
}

import Foundation
import Wax

actor MyEmbedder: EmbeddingProvider {
    let dimensions = 384
    let normalize = true
    let identity: EmbeddingIdentity? = .init(
        provider: "Local",
        model: "v1",
        dimensions: 384,
        normalized: true
    )

    func embed(_ text: String) async throws -> [Float] {
        [Float](repeating: 0.0, count: dimensions)
    }
}

func demoCustomEmbedder() async throws {
    let url = FileManager.default.temporaryDirectory
        .appendingPathComponent("wax-vector")
        .appendingPathExtension("wax")

    let memory = try await Memory(at: url) { $0.embedding = .custom(MyEmbedder()) }
    try await memory.save("Vector search enabled.")

    let results = try await memory.search("vector", options: .init(mode: .vectorOnly))
    _ = results.totalTokens

    try await memory.flush()
    try await memory.close()
}

import Foundation
import Wax

func demoPhotoMemory(storeURL: URL, imageURL: URL) async throws {
    let embedder = try await BuiltInMultimodalEmbeddings.make(.miniLM)
    let photos = try await PhotoMemory(at: storeURL, embedder: embedder, ocr: VisionOCRProvider())
    try await photos.ingest(files: [PhotoFile(id: "receipt-1", url: imageURL)])
    let context = try await photos.recall(PhotoQuery(text: "coffee receipt"))
    _ = context.items
    try await photos.close()
}

Glossary

• Memory: Public facade for ingesting text and searching RAGContext.
• PhotoMemory / VideoMemory: Experimental public facades for photo and video RAG (Darwin).
• BuiltInMultimodalEmbeddings: Factory for the on-device multimodal embedder used by the photo/video facades.
• RAGContext: Retrieval output with items, total token count, and diagnostics (requested vs. effective mode).
• EmbeddingProvider: Supplies text embeddings for vector search.
• BuiltInEmbeddingProvider: .miniLM / .arctic on-device CoreML embedders (iOS 18/macOS 15+).

References

• references/public-api.md
• references/constraints.md

Templates

• templates/init-store-embedder.md
• templates/remember-recall-lifecycle.md
• templates/hybrid-search.md
• templates/maintenance.md
• templates/video-rag-transcripts.md