Changing Claude’s memory system eliminates one of the most annoying things about using an agent: the need to constantly explain things to the AI about things it already knows. On Tuesday, Anthropic announced it would integrate the chat and memory systems used by Claude Cowork. This means that Claude will always remember what he has learned in one area, even if he is learning in another area.
Anthropic also makes public what Claude kept in his memory and allows users to read, edit, and delete information on any topic.
This update improves the experience for Claude users, allowing them to move more seamlessly between the research phase and taking action.
In the past, you might have spent time developing your project idea while chatting with Claude, but when it came time to actually implement the changes, you had to communicate all the details to your coworker and start over. This was incredibly frustrating. With this update, Claude now feels like one continuous assistant, rather than two separate products under one roof.
Anthropic provides an example of someone who needs to draft updates and meeting agendas for managers. In this case, Cowork should already know the references due to past conversations regarding the issue at hand. For example, you know the number of people in the meeting, the city, and the speakers, so you don’t have to re-enter that information.
In addition, Claude will now add topics to memory during the chat instead of summarizing the conversation when finished. This makes it easier to move back and forth between chat and Cowork, as new memories are updated more quickly and shared between the two experiences, even when a chat is in progress.
According to Anthropic, by default, Claude does not store personal or sensitive information such as health data, race, ethnicity, religious beliefs, politics, or gender identity. However, users can choose to enable these features if they wish by toggling on Include Sensitive Topics in Memory. The app also notifies the user whenever a sensitive topic is stored in memory.
However, the company says Claude won’t store certain things, such as government-issued IDs, Social Security numbers, criminal records, immigration status, or anything else that violates its terms of service.
The memory feature is enabled by default on Free, Pro, and Max plans for web, desktop, and mobile. On iOS and Android, users must update the app to the latest version.
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