add-mnemon

name	add-mnemon
description	Add persistent graph-based memory via mnemon. Agents recall past context before responding and remember insights after each turn.

Add Mnemon — Persistent Memory

Installs mnemon in the agent container image. On each container start, mnemon setup registers Claude Code hooks that surface relevant memory before the agent responds and store new insights after each turn. Memory is written to the per-agent-group .claude/ mount and survives container restarts.

Provider Compatibility

mnemon hooks only work with --target claude-code. If the agent group uses AGENT_PROVIDER=opencode, hooks registered by mnemon setup will never fire — OpenCode spawns its own process and doesn't invoke the claude CLI at all.

Check your provider:

grep AGENT_PROVIDER .env groups/*/container.json 2>/dev/null

• AGENT_PROVIDER=claude (default) — fully compatible, proceed with both Phase 2 steps.
• AGENT_PROVIDER=opencode — use Phase 2 (OpenCode path) instead of the standard entrypoint step.

Phase 1: Pre-flight

Check if already applied

grep -q 'MNEMON_VERSION' container/Dockerfile && echo "Already applied" || echo "Not applied"

If already applied, skip to Phase 3 (Verify).

Check latest mnemon version

curl -fsSL https://api.github.com/repos/mnemon-dev/mnemon/releases/latest | grep '"tag_name"'

Note the version (e.g. v0.1.1) — use it as MNEMON_VERSION in the next step.

Phase 2: Apply Changes (Claude Code path)

1. Dockerfile — install mnemon binary

Add after the AWS CLI block, before the Bun runtime section:

# ---- mnemon — persistent agent memory ----------------------------------------
ARG MNEMON_VERSION=0.1.1
RUN ARCH=$(dpkg --print-architecture) && \
    curl -fsSL "https://github.com/mnemon-dev/mnemon/releases/download/v${MNEMON_VERSION}/mnemon_${MNEMON_VERSION}_linux_${ARCH}.tar.gz" \
    | tar -xz -C /usr/local/bin mnemon && \
    chmod +x /usr/local/bin/mnemon

ENV MNEMON_DATA_DIR=/home/node/.claude/mnemon

MNEMON_DATA_DIR points into the per-agent-group .claude/ mount so memory persists across container restarts. No extra volume mounts needed.

2. Entrypoint — run mnemon setup on each container start

mnemon setup is idempotent. Edit container/entrypoint.sh to run it right after set -e, before the cat that captures stdin:

#!/bin/bash
# NanoClaw agent container entrypoint.
#
# ...existing header comment...

set -e

mnemon setup --target claude-code --yes --global >/dev/stderr 2>&1

cat > /tmp/input.json

exec bun run /app/src/index.ts < /tmp/input.json

>/dev/stderr 2>&1 routes all mnemon output to stderr (docker logs) so it doesn't interfere with the JSON stdin handshake between host and agent-runner.

3. Rebuild and smoke-test the image

./container/build.sh
docker run --rm --entrypoint mnemon nanoclaw-agent:latest --version

Phase 3: Restart and Verify

Restart the service

Run from your NanoClaw project root:

source setup/lib/install-slug.sh
systemctl --user restart $(systemd_unit)              # Linux
# launchctl kickstart -k gui/$(id -u)/$(launchd_label)   # macOS

Confirm mnemon hooks are registered

After the next container starts, check that setup ran:

docker logs $(docker ps --filter name=nanoclaw-v2 --format '{{.Names}}' | head -1) 2>&1 | grep -i mnemon

Then inspect the hooks inside the running container:

docker exec $(docker ps --filter name=nanoclaw-v2 --format '{{.Names}}' | head -1) \
  cat /home/node/.claude/settings.json | grep -A5 mnemon

Test memory recall

Have a conversation with the agent, then start a new session and reference something from the earlier one. Mnemon should surface the relevant context automatically without you restating it.

Phase 2 (OpenCode path) — context injection

mnemon hooks don't fire under OpenCode. Instead, the agent-runner injects mnemon context directly into every prompt via wrapPromptWithContext() in container/agent-runner/src/providers/opencode.ts. This is already implemented in NanoClaw — no code changes needed if you're on current ester/main.

How it works: On each prompt, readMnemonContext() checks for MNEMON_DATA_DIR (set by the Dockerfile ENV). If the env var is present, it reads $MNEMON_DATA_DIR/prompt/guide.md (mnemon's custom prompt guide, written by mnemon setup) or falls back to an inline guide. The content is prepended as a <system> block, instructing the agent to run mnemon recall at the start of relevant tasks and mnemon remember after key decisions.

What this means for the agent: The agent (running inside OpenCode) can call mnemon recall, mnemon remember, mnemon link, and mnemon status via its bash tool. mnemon writes its graph to $MNEMON_DATA_DIR, which is in the per-agent-group .claude/ mount — so memory persists across container restarts.

Applying: Only the Dockerfile step from Phase 2 is needed for OpenCode agents. Skip container/entrypoint.sh entirely.

ARG MNEMON_VERSION=0.1.1
RUN ARCH=$(dpkg --print-architecture) && \
    curl -fsSL "https://github.com/mnemon-dev/mnemon/releases/download/v${MNEMON_VERSION}/mnemon_${MNEMON_VERSION}_linux_${ARCH}.tar.gz" \
    | tar -xz -C /usr/local/bin mnemon && \
    chmod +x /usr/local/bin/mnemon
ENV MNEMON_DATA_DIR=/home/node/.claude/mnemon

Then rebuild: ./container/build.sh

Verify (OpenCode)

Start a session and ask the agent to run mnemon status. It should report empty graphs (no error) on first run.

# Also confirm the binary is present in the image:
docker run --rm --entrypoint mnemon nanoclaw-agent:latest --version

Memory Storage

Mnemon writes to /home/node/.claude/mnemon/ inside the container, which maps to the per-agent-group .claude/ directory on the host. To find the exact host path:

docker inspect $(docker ps --filter name=nanoclaw-v2 --format '{{.Names}}' | head -1) \
  --format '{{range .Mounts}}{{if eq .Destination "/home/node/.claude"}}{{.Source}}{{end}}{{end}}'

To reset all memory for an agent, stop the container and delete the mnemon/ subdirectory from that host path.

Migration Guide Update

If you are using /migrate-nanoclaw, add these entries to .nanoclaw-migrations/05-dockerfile.md:

Dockerfile — after AWS CLI, before Bun runtime:

ARG MNEMON_VERSION=0.1.1
RUN ARCH=$(dpkg --print-architecture) && \
    curl -fsSL "https://github.com/mnemon-dev/mnemon/releases/download/v${MNEMON_VERSION}/mnemon_${MNEMON_VERSION}_linux_${ARCH}.tar.gz" \
    | tar -xz -C /usr/local/bin mnemon && \
    chmod +x /usr/local/bin/mnemon
ENV MNEMON_DATA_DIR=/home/node/.claude/mnemon

container/entrypoint.sh — add after set -e:

mnemon setup --target claude-code --yes --global >/dev/stderr 2>&1

Troubleshooting

mnemon: command not found in container

The image wasn't rebuilt after adding the Dockerfile layer. Run ./container/build.sh and restart.

Memory not persisting across restarts

Verify MNEMON_DATA_DIR resolves to a mounted path (not an in-container ephemeral directory):

docker exec <container> sh -c 'ls -la $MNEMON_DATA_DIR'

If the directory is empty after conversations, the mount is missing or the path is wrong. Check the host mount with the docker inspect command above.

Agent not using past memory

mnemon setup writes hooks into /home/node/.claude/settings.json. Verify:

docker exec <container> cat /home/node/.claude/settings.json

If the hooks are absent, mnemon setup may have failed silently. Check container startup logs for errors from mnemon.

Setup fails at container start

Run setup manually inside a running container to see the full error:

docker exec -it <container> mnemon setup --target claude-code --yes --global