Shared memory

Build-along · ~15 min at your own keyboard

Agents forget between runs. Shared memory fixes that: one place every role appends to and reads from. The simplest version is a running log plus a short 'facts' note. Both can be a plain doc. What goes in matters less than what you throw out. Memory rots. A fact from March is a trap in October. Date every entry and review the old ones.

Ladder · Level 6The long version: Shared memory for small systems ↗

Do this

0/6

Checkpoints

▸Memory has a Facts section and a Log section.
▸After one task, the Log has a new dated line from the agent.

The three ways this goes wrong

The agent never writes to the log. — Check the connector or write access. If it has none, make the instruction 'output the log line' and paste it yourself.
The log grew so long that runs got slow or confused. — Archive everything older than 30 days. Agents read the last 20 lines only, so every new line must go at the bottom.
An old fact caused a wrong answer. — Date it, mark it ??, and add the correction. Then add the rot rule if you skipped it.

Dated facts in this lesson: ChatGPT has agent, Projects (project-only memory, files, instructions), memory toggles in Settings > Personalization, and Scheduled Tasks at chatgpt.com/schedules. Workspace agents ("ChatGPT Work", July 2026) are on Business and Enterprise. Agent quotas: Plus 40 messages a month, Pro 400. Secondary source (researched Oct 4, 2026, not yet confirmed by a person: check the source before you rely on it); Claude Memory is editable and available on Free, Pro and Max. "Instructions for Claude" holds personal preferences in Settings. Free accounts get 5 Projects (researched Oct 4, 2026, not yet confirmed by a person: check the source before you rely on it); Claude Cowork has persistent sessions, memory, schedules and Chrome. It needs Pro ($20/month) or above (researched Oct 4, 2026, not yet confirmed by a person: check the source before you rely on it); Gemini "Personal context" is on by default and needs "Keep Activity". "Saved info" also holds facts. Gems are being replaced by Skills in Q4 2026. Reported dates conflict (rollout around Oct 13, migration around Nov 17, 2026; Workspace March 2027) (researched Oct 4, 2026, not yet confirmed by a person: check the source before you rely on it); Microsoft 365 Copilot has Notebooks, Agent Builder agents, Pages, Copilot Cowork and Researcher and Analyst agents. Personal Copilot has Memory and Personalization settings, and Notebooks with Microsoft 365 Personal, Family or Premium. Secondary source (researched Oct 4, 2026, not yet confirmed by a person: check the source before you rely on it); Grok has Projects (files and instructions), "Personalize with Memories" under Data Controls, and Automations on a paid tier. SuperGrok Heavy ($300) runs parallel agents. Secondary source (researched Oct 4, 2026, not yet confirmed by a person: check the source before you rely on it); Perplexity has Memory (also on Free), Spaces (files and instructions; Pro allows 50 files per Space; not on Free), Tasks (at most hourly) and Computer on Max. Secondary source (researched Oct 4, 2026, not yet confirmed by a person: check the source before you rely on it).

Share what happened

Paste your Facts section and the top five Log lines, including one line written by an agent.

Strip API keys, passwords, and tokens before you paste. Swap them for [KEY].

🔒 Don't paste confidential, personal-health, or payment info.