Hierarchical Agent Memory

Hierarchical Agent Memory (HAM)

Scoped memory system that gives AI coding agents a cheat sheet for each directory instead of re-reading your entire project every prompt. Root CLAUDE.md holds global context (200 tokens), subdirectory CLAUDE.md files hold scoped context (250 tokens each), and a .memory/ layer stores decisions, patterns, and an inbox for unconfirmed inferences.

When to Use This Skill

• Use when you want to reduce input token costs across Claude Code sessions
• Use when your project has 3+ directories and the agent keeps re-reading the same files
• Use when you want directory-scoped context instead of one monolithic CLAUDE.md
• Use when you want a dashboard to visualize token savings, session history, and context health
• Use when setting up a new project and want structured agent memory from day one

How It Works

Step 1: Setup ("go ham")

Auto-detects your project platform and maturity, then generates the memory structure:

project/
├── CLAUDE.md              # Root context (~200 tokens)
├── .memory/
│   ├── decisions.md       # Architecture Decision Records
│   ├── patterns.md        # Reusable patterns
│   ├── inbox.md           # Inferred items awaiting confirmation
│   └── audit-log.md       # Audit history
└── src/
    ├── api/CLAUDE.md      # Scoped context for api/
    ├── components/CLAUDE.md
    └── lib/CLAUDE.md

Step 2: Context Routing

The root CLAUDE.md includes a routing section that tells the agent exactly which sub-context to load:

## Context Routing

→ api: src/api/CLAUDE.md
→ components: src/components/CLAUDE.md
→ lib: src/lib/CLAUDE.md

The agent reads root, then immediately loads the relevant subdirectory context — no guessing.

Step 3: Dashboard ("ham dashboard")

Launches a web dashboard at localhost:7777 that visualizes:

• Token savings (HAM-on vs HAM-off sessions)
• Daily token and cost trends
• Per-directory session breakdown
• Context file health (missing/stale/inherited CLAUDE.md coverage)
• Routing compliance (how often the agent follows the routing map)
• Carbon/energy estimates

Commands

Examples

Example 1: First-time setup

User: go ham

Agent: HAM setup complete. Created 8 files.
  - CLAUDE.md (root)
  - .memory/decisions.md
  - .memory/patterns.md
  - .memory/inbox.md
  - src/api/CLAUDE.md
  - src/components/CLAUDE.md
  - src/lib/CLAUDE.md
  - src/utils/CLAUDE.md

Baseline captured in .memory/baseline.json
Run "HAM savings" to see your token and cost savings.

Example 2: Checking savings

User: ham savings

Agent:
  Before HAM: ~7,500 tokens/prompt
  After HAM:    ~450 tokens/prompt
  Savings:    7,050 tokens (94%)

  Monthly projection (1,500 prompts):
    Sonnet: ~$31.73 saved
    Opus:   ~$158.63 saved

Best Practices

• Keep root CLAUDE.md under 60 lines / 250 tokens
• Keep subdirectory CLAUDE.md files under 75 lines each
• Run ham audit every 2 weeks to catch stale or missing context files
• Use ham route after adding new directories to keep routing current
• Review .memory/inbox.md periodically — confirm or reject inferred items

Limitations

• Token estimates use ~4 chars = 1 token approximation, not a real tokenizer
• Baseline savings comparisons are estimates based on typical agent behavior
• Dashboard requires Node.js 18+ and reads session data from ~/.claude/projects/
• Context routing detection relies on CLAUDE.md read order in session JSONL files
• Does not auto-update subdirectory CLAUDE.md content — you maintain those manually or via ham audit
• Carbon estimates use regional grid averages, not real-time energy data

Related Skills

• agent-memory-systems — general agent memory architecture patterns
• agent-memory-mcp — MCP-based memory integration