AugmentClaude

Hippo Memory

Manage long-term project memory across sessions with automatic decay and error retention.

Installation

  1. Make sure Claude is on your device and in your terminal.

    Skills load from ~/.claude/skills/ when Claude Code starts up — so you need it on your machine first. If you don't have it yet, install it once with the command below, then run claude in any terminal to verify.

    One-time setup
    npm i -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code

    Already have it? Skip ahead.

  2. Paste into Claude Code or into your terminal.

    This copies the whole skill folder into ~/.claude/skills/memory-kitfunso/ — the SKILL.md plus any scripts, reference docs, or templates the skill ships with. Safe default: works for every skill.

    Faster alternative (instruction-only skills)

    Skips the clone and grabs only the SKILL.md file. Don't use this if the skill ships Python scripts, reference markdowns, or asset templates — they won't be downloaded and the skill will fail when it tries to load them.

    Quick install (SKILL.md only)
    Sign up to copy
  3. Restart Claude Code.

    Quit and reopen Claude Code (or any other agent that loads from ~/.claude/skills/). New skills are picked up on startup.

  4. Just ask Claude.

    Skills auto-activate when your request matches the skill's description — no slash command needed. Trigger phrases live in the skill's own frontmatter; you can read them in the “What this skill does” section above.

Prefer to read the source first? Open on GitHub.

When Claude uses it

Project memory powered by Hippo. Use when starting a session, after learning something, after hitting an error, or when the user mentions memory/remember/recall. Auto-invoked at session start.

What this skill does

Hippo Memory

Make your agent's memory work like a brain. Hippo is long-term memory for coding agents. Memories decay over time unless retrieved. Errors stick longer. Sleep consolidates.

At session start (MANDATORY)

Before doing any work, load relevant context:

hippo context --auto --budget 1500

Read the output. These are things the project has learned from past sessions.

When you learn something non-obvious

hippo remember "<the lesson in 1-2 sentences>" --tag <category>

When you hit an error or unexpected failure

hippo remember "<what failed, why, and how you fixed it>" --error

The --error flag doubles the half-life. Hard lessons don't fade quietly.

After completing work successfully

hippo outcome --good

If the recalled memories were irrelevant:

hippo outcome --bad

When stuck or hitting repeated errors

hippo recall "<what's going wrong>" --budget 2000 --why

When making an architectural decision

hippo decide "<decision>" --context "<why>"

Decisions get a recall boost so they surface when relevant, and stay active until superseded.

When migrating or replacing a tool

hippo invalidate "<old tool>" --reason "migrated to <new tool>"

Or let hippo learn --git detect it automatically from migration commits.

After significant coding sessions

hippo learn --git

This scans recent commits, auto-extracts lessons, and invalidates memories about replaced tools.

Export memories

hippo export memories.json
hippo export --format markdown memories.md

Check memory health

hippo status

Related skills