How to Give Claude Code a Memory

I wrote about why I built a memory system for Claude. The short version: Claude's built-in memory extracts facts automatically with no audit trail, no version control, and no way to scope what different agents see. I wanted control. This post is the practical companion. If you want to build your own, here's how mine works, what each piece does, and the order I'd set it up in if I were starting today. Everything here is open source. The full stack is documented in homelab-agent. What You're Building A memory system with three properties: Persistent — context survives across sessions. Monday's agent knows what Friday's agent decided. Searchable — agents find relevant context automatically, not by loading everything into the prompt. Scoped — different agents see different things. Your infrastructure agent doesn't need your code review history. The system has three tiers of memory, two search tools, and an optional knowledge graph. You don't need all of it on day one. The Minimum Viable Me