8. Decision Frameworks

8.1 Decision Flowchart

flowchart TD
    A[What is your memory use case?] --> B{Solo or Team?}

    B -->|Solo| C{Multiple machines?}
    B -->|Team| T{Infrastructure budget?}

    C -->|No| D{Want zero-config auto-hooks?}
    C -->|Yes| E[mcp-memory Puliczek\nCloudflare D1 + Vectorize]

    D -->|Yes, benchmarks matter| H[agentmemory\n26K stars, RRF hybrid, leases+signals]
    D -->|Yes, local auto-hooks| I[claude-mem\n89K stars, hooks, local SQLite]
    D -->|No| G{Cross-tool portable?}

    G -->|Yes — Claude + Cursor + Desktop| J[OpenMemory MCP\n4 tools, local, mem0ai]
    G -->|No, want knowledge graph| K[ICM + wire the hook\nMemoirs for typed relations]

    T -->|Zero new infra| U{Using Notion already?}
    T -->|Free tier OK| V[Mem0 Cloud MCP\nnpx mcp-add, shared user_id]
    T -->|Cloudflare or self-hosted| W{Temporal queries needed?}
    T -->|Enterprise budget| X[Zep cloud $475/mo\nor agentmemory on shared host]

    U -->|Yes| Y[Notion MCP\nhuman-readable, zero new infra]
    U -->|No| V

    W -->|Yes, need history of pivots| Z[Zep / Graphiti + Neo4j\nbitemporal edges]
    W -->|No, semantic search enough| AA[doobidoo + Cloudflare backend\nSQLite-vec + D1, OAuth optional]

---

8.2 Decision Matrix

Scenario	Recommended tool	Notes
Solo, cross-session recall, auto-hooks	agentmemory	26K stars, 12 hooks auto-wired, 0 external deps
Solo, cross-session recall, local hooks	claude-mem	~89K stars, hooks-based; verify scope, indexing, backlog, version, cost routing, and retention
Solo, want human-readable KB	claude-memory-compiler	Daily logs + concept articles
Solo, portable cross-tool memory	OpenMemory MCP	mem0ai, local dashboard, 4 tools
Solo, cross-tool + knowledge graph	ICM (+ wire the hook)	17 tools, local SQLite, typed relations
Solo, code structure memory	codebase-memory-mcp	AST tree-sitter, 155 languages
Solo, capture everything everywhere	Pieces	9-month rolling context, individual-only
Team, shared rules and standards	CLAUDE.md + .mcp.json + /skills	Versioned in repo, zero infra
Team, simplest shared memory	Mem0 cloud MCP	1 command, free tier, no infra
Team, shared memory + existing Notion	Notion MCP	Already collaborative, no new infra
Team, semantic memory, full control	mcp-memory-service + Cloudflare	Paid infra, most capable, SQLite issues with concurrent writes
Team, temporal knowledge graph	Zep / Graphiti	Neo4j, $25-475/mo cloud or self-hosted
Multi-agent, shared state	shared-memory-mcp or Mem0 cloud	Tag-based or semantic retrieval
Multi-agent, coordination (leases+signals)	agentmemory on shared host	Port 3111, no external deps
Multi-agent, reasoning traces	Neo4j Agent Memory	3-layer graph, Python, open-source
Multi-agent, inter-agent graph	ICM Memoirs or Zep/Graphiti	Permanent typed relations
Enterprise, compliance, security	SAMEP + Zep cloud	AES-256-GCM, audit trails [SAMEP UNVERIFIED]
Long-term memory framework	Letta or LangMem	Memory-first architectures

---

8.3 Implementation Patterns

Pattern A: Solo Developer, Local Only

~/.claude/CLAUDE.md          # global preferences
<repo>/CLAUDE.md             # project-specific
<repo>/MEMORY.md             # auto-written by Claude (maintained by Auto Dream)
+ claude-mem plugin          # hooks-based compression and injection

Covers 95% of cross-session recall needs. Zero external infrastructure.

Pattern B: Team, Shared Rules + Shared Memory

Static layer (versioned in repo):

<repo>/CLAUDE.md             # team coding standards + guardrails
<repo>/.mcp.json             # MCP server configs (shared, versioned)
<repo>/.claude/skills/       # shared workflow skills

Dynamic layer, three options by increasing infrastructure cost:

• Notion MCP: zero new infra if team already uses Notion. Human-readable pages.
• Mem0 Cloud MCP: one line per developer in .mcp.json. Free tier. Data lives on Mem0's servers.
• doobidoo + Cloudflare: full semantic search + cloud persistence. Requires Cloudflare Vectorize, D1, and Workers AI. Add MCP_MEMORY_SQLITE_PRAGMAS=busy_timeout=15000 if multiple clients hit the same DB.

Pattern C: Multi-Agent, Shared Knowledge Base

Shared MCP memory server (agentmemory on shared host, or Mem0 cloud)
+ Agent team lead assigns tasks with memory keys in task descriptions
+ Sub-agents query memory at task start via semantic search
+ Neo4j Agent Memory for reasoning traces (tool call audit trail)

Pattern D: Cross-Tool Portable Memory (Individual)

OpenMemory MCP (local dashboard at localhost:3000)
Compatible: Claude Code + Claude Desktop + Cursor + Windsurf + Cline
4-tool standard API, user-owned, never leaves the machine

Pattern E: Cross-Tool Memory with Knowledge Graph

ICM (icm serve or hook mode)
- Memories: episodic, importance-weighted decay
- Memoirs: permanent typed relations (depends_on, contradicts, superseded_by)
- Transcripts: verbatim session replay for search
- 17 tools share the same local SQLite

Activate hook mode by adding ~/.claude/hooks/icm-post-tool.sh to PostToolUse in ~/.claude/settings.json. This enables automatic extraction every 15 tool calls at zero token cost.