Memory

Memory is a list of short notes about a person (at most 200, each up to 500 characters) that OCI adds to their conversations. It is designed to be private unless chosen: three switches, all off on a new instance, must be on before a note is read or written.

Memory is never used in temporary chats.

How notes are madeCopy Anchor Link

People write notes in Settings → Memory. With a model tagged Tool calling, the built-in remember and forget tools let the model save and remove notes. They are not listed under a role's tools: the role's User memory switch governs them. They need no approval, although they write data, because they change only the person's own notes inside OCI, the person opted in, and every change shows in the reply with Undo and is listed in Settings.

ContextCopy Anchor Link

Notes are added to the system prompt after the instance prompt, the person's customization and any project instructions, newest first, in a section marked as notes about the person, not instructions. They take at most 5% of the model's input budget and never more than 8 KiB; older notes that do not fit are left out.

Switching it offCopy Anchor Link

Turning memory off for the instance or a role stops notes being read or written at once. People keep their notes and can still list, delete and export them; adding and editing are refused.

Retention and auditCopy Anchor Link

• Memory retention on Retention deletes notes not updated for that many days. Off by default. People on legal hold keep their notes.
• memory.add, memory.update and memory.delete record counts, the source (tool or person), how the change was made (tool, settings, undo or retention) and IDs, never the text. memory.settings.update records a person switching memory on or off.
• A person's full export includes their notes as memory.json. Deleting an account deletes its notes.