memory-hygiene

To fix slow sessions, you can audit Claude Code memory files to count entries and measure bloat, then classify each item into ENFORCE, HOT, WARM, or STALE categories. This generates a review-ready report before any destructive pruning occurs.

The safest way to prune auto-memory entries is by classifying them by recency and validity first. Stale content is archived, immutable sources are preserved, and durable knowledge is promoted to long-term records before any deletion happens.

You should run a memory audit when you notice slow-session remediation is needed or during periodic hygiene checks. If your workspace has dozens of topic notes and session summaries causing context bloat, a single audit pass can inventory and review them.

Lifecycle classification sorts session summaries and topic notes into ENFORCE, HOT, WARM, and STALE categories based on recency, validity, and duplication. This determines which entries are archived, promoted, or proposed for hard overrides.

No, the memory hygiene process does not automatically delete files. It prepares a review-ready hygiene report and performs classification before any destructive action, ensuring you can verify stale content archiving and hard overrides first.