Memory

Beginner — Context versus memory?

• Context is the information a model sees in the current call.
• Memory is stored application data that may be selected for later context.
• Persisting something does not make it accurate, current, relevant, or authorized for every task.

Intermediate — Checkpoints versus long-term memory?

• Checkpoints recover execution progress; long-term memory stores selected preferences or verified past events.
• I keep both separate from authoritative policy and claim records because their purposes and retention differ.

Senior — How do you prevent memory poisoning?

• I define which sources may create memory, require provenance and verification for important facts, scope it by tenant/user, and provide expiry and correction/deletion.
• Retrieved memory remains lower authority than fresh canonical business data.

Scenario — The assistant remembers a policy that has expired. What changes?

• It must resolve current policy applicability through the business service.
• Historical memory may explain past conversation but cannot decide the active version.
• I invalidate dependent caches and test stale-memory conflicts explicitly.