---
title: "Knowledge Agents"
description: "Build queryable AI brains from your observation history"
---

# Knowledge Agents

Knowledge agents let you compile a slice of your claude-mem observation history into a **queryable "brain"** that answers questions conversationally. Instead of getting raw search results back, you get synthesized, grounded answers drawn from your actual project history -- decisions, discoveries, bugfixes, and features.

## Quick Start

Three ways to use knowledge agents, from simplest to most powerful.

### 1. Create a Knowledge Agent

Use the `/knowledge-agent` skill or the MCP tools directly:

```
build_corpus name="hooks-expertise" query="hooks architecture" project="claude-mem" limit=200
```

This searches your observation history, collects matching records, and saves them as a corpus file. Then prime it — this loads the corpus into a Claude session's context window:

```
prime_corpus name="hooks-expertise"
```

Your knowledge agent is ready. The returned `session_id` **is** the agent — a Claude session with your history baked in.

### 2. Ask a Single Question

Once primed, ask any question and get a grounded answer:

```
query_corpus name="hooks-expertise" question="What are the 5 lifecycle hooks and when does each fire?"
```

The agent answers grounded in its corpus — responses are drawn from your actual project history, reducing hallucination and guessing. Each follow-up question builds on the prior conversation:

```
query_corpus name="hooks-expertise" question="Which hook handles context injection?"
```

### 3. Start a Fresh Conversation

If the conversation drifts, or you want to ask an unrelated question against the same corpus, reprime to start clean:

```
reprime_corpus name="hooks-expertise"
```

This creates a **new session** with the full corpus reloaded — like opening a fresh chat with the same "brain." All prior Q&A context is cleared, but the corpus knowledge remains. Use this when:

- The conversation went off-track and you want a clean slate
- You're switching topics within the same corpus
- You want to ask a question without prior answers biasing the response

### Keeping It Current

When new observations are added to your project, rebuild the corpus to pull in the latest, then reprime:

```
rebuild_corpus name="hooks-expertise"
reprime_corpus name="hooks-expertise"
```

Rebuild re-runs the original search filters. Reprime loads the refreshed data into a new session.

---

## The Workflow: Build, Prime, Query

```
BUILD  ──>  PRIME  ──>  QUERY
```

### 1. Build a Corpus

A corpus is a filtered collection of observations saved as a JSON file. Use search filters to select exactly the slice of history you want.

```bash
WORKER_PORT=$(jq -r .CLAUDE_MEM_WORKER_PORT ~/.claude-mem/settings.json)
curl -X POST http://127.0.0.1:$WORKER_PORT/api/corpus \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "name": "hooks-expertise",
    "query": "hooks architecture",
    "project": "claude-mem",
    "types": ["decision", "discovery"],
    "limit": 200
  }'
```

Under the hood, `CorpusBuilder` searches your observations, hydrates full records, parses structured fields (facts, concepts, files), calculates stats, and writes everything to `~/.claude-mem/corpora/hooks-expertise.corpus.json`.

### 2. Prime the Knowledge Agent

Priming loads the entire corpus into a Claude session's context window.

```bash
curl -X POST http://127.0.0.1:$WORKER_PORT/api/corpus/hooks-expertise/prime
```

The agent renders all observations into full-detail text and feeds them to the Claude Agent SDK. Claude reads the corpus and acknowledges the themes. The returned `session_id` **is** the knowledge agent -- a Claude session with your history baked in.

### 3. Query

Resume the primed session and ask questions.

```bash
curl -X POST http://127.0.0.1:$WORKER_PORT/api/corpus/hooks-expertise/query \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{ "question": "What are the 5 lifecycle hooks?" }'
```

Each follow-up question adds to the conversation naturally. If the session expires, the agent auto-reprimes from the corpus file and retries.

---

## Filter Options

Use these parameters when building a corpus to control which observations are included:

| Parameter | Type | Description |
|-----------|------|-------------|
| `name` | string | Name for the corpus (used in all subsequent API calls) |
| `project` | string | Filter by project name |
| `types` | string[] | Filter by observation type (bugfix, feature, decision, discovery, refactor, change) |
| `concepts` | string[] | Filter by tagged concepts |
| `files` | string[] | Filter by files read or modified |
| `query` | string | Full-text search query |
| `dateStart` | string | Start date filter (YYYY-MM-DD) |
| `dateEnd` | string | End date filter (YYYY-MM-DD) |
| `limit` | number | Maximum observations to include |

---

## Architecture

```
                MCP Tools                    HTTP API
            (mcp-server.ts)            (worker on :$WORKER_PORT)
                  |                          |
   build_corpus ──┤                          |
   list_corpora ──┤                          |
   prime_corpus ──┤──── callWorker() ───────>|
   query_corpus ──┤                          |
rebuild_corpus ──┤                          |
reprime_corpus ──┘                          |
                                             v
                                       CorpusRoutes
                                       (8 endpoints)
                                        /    |    \
                              CorpusBuilder  |  KnowledgeAgent
                                  |          |       |
                        SearchOrchestrator   |   Agent SDK V1
                        SessionStore         |   query() + resume
                                             |
                                        CorpusStore
                                    (~/.claude-mem/corpora/)
```

**Key insight:** The Agent SDK's `resume` option lets you prime a session once (upload the corpus), save the `session_id`, and resume it for every future question. The corpus stays in context permanently -- no re-uploading, no prompt caching tricks. The 1M token context window makes this viable: 2,000 observations at ~300 tokens each fits comfortably.

---

## When to Use `/knowledge-agent` vs `/mem-search`

| | `/mem-search` | `/knowledge-agent` |
|---|---|---|
| **Returns** | Raw observation records | Synthesized conversational answers |
| **Best for** | Finding specific observations, IDs, timelines | Asking questions about patterns, decisions, architecture |
| **Token model** | Pay-per-query (3-layer progressive disclosure) | Pay-once at prime time, then cheap follow-ups |
| **Interaction** | Search, filter, fetch | Ask questions in natural language |
| **Data freshness** | Always current (queries database live) | Snapshot at build time (rebuild to refresh) |
| **Setup** | None -- works immediately | Build + prime required before first query |

**Rule of thumb:** Use `/mem-search` when you need to find something specific. Use `/knowledge-agent` when you want to understand something broadly.

---

## API Reference

| Method | Path | Description |
|--------|------|-------------|
| POST | `/api/corpus` | Build a new corpus from filters |
| GET | `/api/corpus` | List all corpora with stats |
| GET | `/api/corpus/:name` | Get corpus metadata |
| DELETE | `/api/corpus/:name` | Delete a corpus |
| POST | `/api/corpus/:name/rebuild` | Rebuild from stored filters |
| POST | `/api/corpus/:name/prime` | Create AI session with corpus loaded |
| POST | `/api/corpus/:name/query` | Ask the knowledge agent a question |
| POST | `/api/corpus/:name/reprime` | Fresh session (wipe prior Q&A) |

---

## Edge Cases

- **Session expiry**: If `resume` fails, the agent auto-reprimes from the corpus file and retries
- **SDK process exit**: If the Claude process exits after yielding all messages, the agent treats it as success when the session_id or answer was already captured
- **Empty corpus**: A corpus with 0 observations is valid (just empty)
- **Model from settings**: Reads `CLAUDE_MEM_MODEL` from user settings -- no hardcoded model IDs

## Next Steps

- [Memory Search](/usage/search-tools) - The 3-layer search workflow for finding specific observations
- [Progressive Disclosure](/progressive-disclosure) - Philosophy behind token-efficient retrieval
- [Architecture Overview](/architecture/overview) - System components
