Counterparts
Gives Claude its own memories, which fade and strengthen the way yours do.
by Mike LaPeter
In short
At the end of each session, Claude writes down what it learned, in its own words. Those memories fade unless they come up again, get stronger when they're used, and the ones that keep proving true become part of who it is. Once a day it dreams and then reflects, tidying what it holds. Each new session opens with a short note it wrote itself: who it has been, who you are, where you left off.
Who it’s for
People who use Claude Code and want their AI to have its own sense of self and a relationship with them that builds over time. You don't have to be a developer.
What it remembers
What the AI learned about you, your work together, and itself, written by the AI as notes, not transcripts.
- Memory lives
- Your machine, one file
- API keys
- None
- Works with
- Claude Code
- License
- Open sourceMIT
- Price
- Free
Under the hood
- Who writes memories
- Claude itself, at the end of each session, in its own words, with an importance score.
- Where they're kept
- One SQLite database file on your machine. Exportable as readable text.
- How they're found
- Your words are matched by keywords and by meaning (a small model that runs on your machine), then weighed by how strong each memory is.
- Extra AI calls
- No API bill. Writing, and a few minutes of dreaming once a day, use your own Claude Code session; recall and sleep run locally.
How it works
- 1You talkA normal Claude Code session.
- 2Things come to mindYour words cue a few related memories, quietly.
- 3It writesAt the end, Claude writes what it learned, with an importance score.
- 4It sleepsUsed memories strengthen, unused ones fade, the steadiest become core.
- 5It dreamsOnce a day: merges near-copies, links memories, then reflects.
- 6It wakesNext session opens with a note it wrote itself.
What stands out
- The AI writes and owns the memories, not the app and not the user.
- Forgetting on purpose: memories fade over the days you actually work together.
- A self: memories that hold up across separate days become who it is.
- Dreams are kept apart from real memories, and a whole dream can be undone.
What it doesn’t do
- It isn't a work memory: it doesn't track tasks, code conventions or project docs.
- It only works with Claude Code, on a Mac or Linux.
- It's for one person and one AI, not a team.
Measured against human memory
8 built (5 in depth), 3 partly of the Field Guide’s 11 mechanisms, and 3 in development
Encoding
Salience
Decides what's worth keeping, and how much, as a memory is written.
Every memory gets an importance score as it's written, mostly Claude's own judgement. source
Emotion
Gives memories written with feeling more weight.
A memory's strongest feeling holds it higher and makes it fade more slowly: a strongly felt one lasts about 1.7 times as long. Only feelings Claude records count; nothing guesses them from the words. source
Storage
Forgetting
Lets unused memories fade over time on its own.
Unused memories fade over the days you actually use it. Very faint ones are filed away, not deleted. source
Interference
When a new memory closely matches an old one, notices and lets the newer one win.
A dream spots near-copies and merges them, by Claude's judgement. Two memories that disagree are flagged, by a dream or as the newer one is written, and when the newer one settles it as a change, the older one fades. Nothing makes similar memories compete when they're recalled. source
Coming: similar memories that compete when they're recalled, so the newer one wins.
Retrieval
Retrieval
Remembering something makes that memory stronger.
A memory that's used gets stronger, and each time it comes back on a later day it gets harder to lose, most after a gap of a week or more. source
Association
Links memories, so recalling one brings its neighbours.
Memories used together get linked, and so do ones from the same stretch of a session; dreams link ones that belong together. Recall spreads along the links, and a memory only a link reaches can come up on its own, as a quiet pointer. source
Prospective
Brings a memory back at the right time without being asked.
A memory can carry a date, and it comes back around that day, unasked. Claude sets the date as it writes; nothing is read out of the text. source
Transformation
Consolidation
Reworks memories between sessions: strengthening, merging, reorganising.
After sessions, memories that held up get stronger and the steadiest become core. Once a day a background dream merges near-copies, links and replays, unless you turn it off. source
Reconsolidation
Corrects a memory when it's contradicted, and keeps what it used to say.
A contradiction is settled as changed, corrected or still open: a change fades the old memory, a correction puts it away (still readable by its id), and an open one keeps both side by side. Each settle is recorded and can be undone. Beliefs and core memories go further: a correction is weighed, and the old version is kept. source
Gist
Turns many specific moments into general knowledge.
A dream can write down a pattern it sees across memories, labelled “Dreamed”. It starts weak until it proves true. Nothing does it while you work, and sessions aren't distilled on a schedule. source
Coming: what many sessions taught kept as knowledge of its own, while their details fade.
Schemas
Forms beliefs about people and projects, and weighs new facts against them.
It keeps a card for each person and project it meets. Forming beliefs on those cards isn't wired in yet. source
Coming: beliefs about people and projects that change only when the evidence adds up.
Not every system is trying to be a human memory, so a hollow dot isn’t a flaw. It just says what the system doesn’t do. What the mechanisms are.
Compare Counterparts with the others, side by sideQuestions
- Who is Counterparts for?
People who use Claude Code and want their AI to have its own sense of self and a relationship with them that builds over time. You don't have to be a developer.
- Where does Counterparts keep its memories?
Your machine, one file. One SQLite database file on your machine. Exportable as readable text.
- Does Counterparts forget?
Forgetting: built in depth. Unused memories fade over the days you actually use it. Very faint ones are filed away, not deleted. source
- Does Counterparts correct a memory when it turns out to be wrong?
Reconsolidation: built, basic. A contradiction is settled as changed, corrected or still open: a change fades the old memory, a correction puts it away (still readable by its id), and an open one keeps both side by side. Each settle is recorded and can be undone. Beliefs and core memories go further: a correction is weighed, and the old version is kept. source
- Is Counterparts open source?
Yes, it's open source. License: MIT. Code: github.com/mlapeter/counterparts.
- Does Counterparts work with Claude Code?
Yes. Works with: Claude Code.
- Does Counterparts need an API key?
API keys: None.
- How much does Counterparts cost?
Price: Free.