Total Recall

A memory system for Claude Code that remembers what matters and forgets what doesn't.

The Problem

Claude Code forgets everything between sessions. Every time you start a new conversation, it's like talking to someone with amnesia. You end up repeating yourself:

• "We already tried that approach, it didn't work."
• "Don't touch the auth file."
• "I prefer tabs over spaces."
• "The client's name is Sarah, not Sara."

This gets old fast.

What Total Recall Does

It gives Claude Code a notepad that carries over between sessions, but a picky notepad. Not everything goes in. Before anything gets saved permanently, it has to pass a simple test: will this matter tomorrow?

A preference you'll have for months? Saved. A decision you made and why? Saved. The fact that you ran a test five minutes ago? Not saved. The system keeps itself clean so Claude isn't wading through junk to find what's relevant.

How It Works

Think of it like a kitchen with four storage areas:

Counter (CLAUDE.local.md): The stuff you reach for every day. Loads automatically, every session. Kept small on purpose, around a page of text.

Pantry (memory/registers/): Organized by category. Your preferences, key decisions, project details, people you work with. Claude checks here when it needs something specific.

Daily notebook (memory/daily/): Timestamped scratch notes from each day. Everything gets written here first. You decide later what's worth keeping permanently.

Storage closet (memory/archive/): Old stuff that's done or outdated. Still searchable, but never loaded automatically.

The key idea: notes hit the daily notebook first, then you promote the keepers. Claude doesn't get to decide on its own what's important enough to remember permanently. You do.

Quick Start

Install as a plugin (recommended)

/plugin marketplace add davegoldblatt/recall-marketplace
/plugin install recall@recall-marketplace

Or install standalone

git clone https://github.com/davegoldblatt/total-recall.git
cd total-recall
./install.sh /path/to/your/project

After installing, restart Claude Code or run /hooks to activate.

Using It

Here's your day-to-day:

Claude notices something worth remembering. It writes to your daily notebook and tells you. You don't have to do anything.

You want Claude to remember something. Just say "remember this" or use the write command:

/recall-write Dave prefers concise error messages, no stack traces in prod

End of day (or whenever). Review what piled up and promote the good stuff:

/recall-promote

Find something from last week. Search across everything:

/recall-search authentication decision

You correct Claude. The correction updates everywhere at once: daily notebook, registers, and the counter. The same mistake won't happen again.

All Commands