how-it-works
Explain how claude-mem captures observations, when memory injection kicks in, and where data lives
Install / Use
npx skills add thedotmack/claude-mem --skill how-it-worksInstalls into whichever agent you are using.
SKILL.md
Installable skill definition
Quality Score
Category
Development & EngineeringSupported Platforms
Tags
Our assessment of how-it-works
how-it-works scores 87/100 on our quality scale, 394th of 1,751 Development & Engineering skills we index (top 23%).
Its SKILL.md is 1.2 KB long, split into 4 sections and no code examples: moderately detailed.
With 94,599 GitHub stars, it is one of the more widely adopted skills in the catalogue.
Maintenance, license and trust
- The repository was last updated yesterday, so how-it-works is actively maintained.
- It is released under the Apache-2.0 license, a permissive license that allows use, modification and commercial use with attribution.
- Its trust signals score 100/100, with no cautions. These come from repository metadata, not a code audit — read the skill file before letting an agent act on it.
how-it-works compared with similar skills
All 4 of these similar skills score higher than how-it-works; compare them before choosing.
| Skill | Score | Stars | Updated | Format |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| how-it-works (this skill)by thedotmack | 87 | 94.6k | 1d ago | SKILL.md |
| ai-job-searchby MadsLorentzen | 100 | 43.9k | 4d ago | CLAUDE.md |
| claude-howtoby luongnv89 | 100 | 41.7k | 5d ago | CLAUDE.md |
| algorithmic-artby anthropics | 100 | 177.9k | 2d ago | SKILL.md |
| pptxby anthropics | 100 | 177.9k | 2d ago | SKILL.md |
Frequently asked questions
- How do I install how-it-works?
- Run
npx skills add thedotmack/claude-mem --skill how-it-works. The install tabs above show the steps for each supported agent. - Which AI agents does how-it-works work with?
- It is written for Claude Code and Zed, as a SKILL.md file. Other agents that read the same format can often use it too.
- Is how-it-works safe to use?
- It is Apache-2.0-licensed and scores 100/100 on trust signals. Skills are instructions an agent will follow, so read the file before installing it and do not approve commands you do not understand.
- Is how-it-works still maintained?
- The repository was last updated yesterday, so how-it-works is actively maintained.
Skill content
View source on GitHubname: how-it-works description: Explain how claude-mem captures observations, when memory injection kicks in, and where data lives. Use when the user asks "how does claude-mem work?" or "what is this thing doing?".
How claude-mem works
What it does
Every Read, Edit, and Bash that Claude makes turns into a compressed observation. Observations get summarized at session end. Relevant ones get auto-injected into future prompts so the next session starts with context from the last one — no re-explaining the codebase, no re-discovering decisions.
When it kicks in
Memory injection starts on your second session in a project.
The first session in a fresh project seeds memory; subsequent sessions receive auto-injected context for relevant past work. Run /learn-codebase if you want to front-load the entire repo into memory in a single pass (~5 minutes, optional).
Where data lives
Everything stays in ~/.claude-mem on this machine.
Nothing leaves your machine except calls to whichever AI provider you configured for compression (Claude / OpenRouter / Gemini). The SQLite database, vector index, logs, and settings all live under that directory and are removed cleanly on npx claude-mem uninstall.
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algorithmic-art
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Trust signals
From repository metadata: license, adoption, age and documentation. Not a code audit — see the Safety scan above for what the skill file itself contains.