From 2cbc991bfe7cdc8a722fc98d419826c982b06231 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Lucas Czekaj <czekaj@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Mon, 26 Jan 2026 11:30:43 -0800
Subject: [PATCH] feat(agents): add MEMORY.md to bootstrap files (#2318)

MEMORY.md is now loaded into context at session start, ensuring the
agent has access to curated long-term memory without requiring
embedding-based semantic search.

Previously, MEMORY.md was only accessible via the memory_search tool,
which requires an embedding provider (OpenAI/Gemini API key or local
model). When no embedding provider was configured, the agent would
claim memories were empty even though MEMORY.md existed and contained
data.

This change:
- Adds DEFAULT_MEMORY_FILENAME constant
- Includes MEMORY.md in WorkspaceBootstrapFileName type
- Loads MEMORY.md in loadWorkspaceBootstrapFiles()
- Does NOT add MEMORY.md to subagent allowlist (keeps user data private)
- Does NOT auto-create MEMORY.md template (user creates as needed)

Co-authored-by: Claude Opus 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
---
 src/agents/workspace.ts | 8 +++++++-
 1 file changed, 7 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/src/agents/workspace.ts b/src/agents/workspace.ts
index 6732069a9..8e5fb8035 100644
--- a/src/agents/workspace.ts
+++ b/src/agents/workspace.ts
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ export const DEFAULT_IDENTITY_FILENAME = "IDENTITY.md";
 export const DEFAULT_USER_FILENAME = "USER.md";
 export const DEFAULT_HEARTBEAT_FILENAME = "HEARTBEAT.md";
 export const DEFAULT_BOOTSTRAP_FILENAME = "BOOTSTRAP.md";
+export const DEFAULT_MEMORY_FILENAME = "MEMORY.md";
 
 const TEMPLATE_DIR = path.resolve(
   path.dirname(fileURLToPath(import.meta.url)),
@@ -61,7 +62,8 @@ export type WorkspaceBootstrapFileName =
   | typeof DEFAULT_IDENTITY_FILENAME
   | typeof DEFAULT_USER_FILENAME
   | typeof DEFAULT_HEARTBEAT_FILENAME
-  | typeof DEFAULT_BOOTSTRAP_FILENAME;
+  | typeof DEFAULT_BOOTSTRAP_FILENAME
+  | typeof DEFAULT_MEMORY_FILENAME;
 
 export type WorkspaceBootstrapFile = {
   name: WorkspaceBootstrapFileName;
@@ -219,6 +221,10 @@ export async function loadWorkspaceBootstrapFiles(dir: string): Promise<Workspac
       name: DEFAULT_BOOTSTRAP_FILENAME,
       filePath: path.join(resolvedDir, DEFAULT_BOOTSTRAP_FILENAME),
     },
+    {
+      name: DEFAULT_MEMORY_FILENAME,
+      filePath: path.join(resolvedDir, DEFAULT_MEMORY_FILENAME),
+    },
   ];
 
   const result: WorkspaceBootstrapFile[] = [];