MemNet

Mission working memory for LLMs. A named session graph (GQL node/vertex, edge/relationship, property) that agents pin and mutate — not a notepad in chat, and not the search library.

MemNet sits between LLM call pipelines and data search (MN-REQ-00). Corpus lookup stays on the host (grep, ingest, optional RAG); it may propose locators. In the session, kinds/tags are overlapping cues; recall is serial — cue, then a bounded pin_map neighbourhood. It is not GraphRAG, not a vector store, and not AgensGraph.

This repo ships the engine + generic MCP only. Product shape: docs/SHAPE.md. Pinned role: working set of a few technical documents (atoms and locators, not PDF bytes) plus live TSK/USR/MOD, re-read fast. Tens of MiB typical; hundreds of MiB still in role; gigabytes = RAG/cabinet.

Package memnet-llm (CLI memnet), version 0.20.2 on PyPI. Python ≥ 3.11. 1.0 is not claimed yet. What the version numbers mean (a.b.c): docs/ROADMAP.md.

What's shipped

• Product gateway — memnet-mcp --transport gateway routes each product, by credential, to the memnet serve that owns its sessions. GQL and @ERR/@WRN/@STAT replies pass through unchanged. See docs/operations/product-gateway-contract.md.
• Safe upgrade — memnet admin upgrade-prepare drains the serve (new sessions get @ERR: serve_draining|retry_after_s=…), saves every session, and the new version reloads them on start. See docs/operations/safe-upgrade.md.
• Checkpoints and backups — memnet admin checkpoint saves every loaded session without stopping the serve; memnet admin checkpoint-verify checks a restored copy. The backup doc runs this hourly to R2 with restic, plus a weekly restore check. See docs/operations/backup.md.
• Admin usage report — memnet admin usage-report (admin token only, not an agent tool) lists active sessions by alias, with no graph content. See docs/operations/admin-usage-report.md.
• Request log — optional, off by default: --request-log or MEMNET_REQUEST_LOG writes one JSON line per serve request (timings, op, sizes, outcome; no statement text), rotated by size. See docs/operations/request-log.md.
• Relation names in camelCase — relation types are stored in lowerCamel form: HAS_FACT is stored as hasFact, and both spellings match the same edge. mutate warns when it renames one.

Install + quick CLI

pip install memnet-llm
# or pin: pip install memnet-llm==0.20.2
# optional extras (drivers only — not an AgensGraph server):
# pip install 'memnet-llm[mcp]'
# pip install 'memnet-llm[agensgraph]'
# contributors: pip install -e ".[dev,mcp]"

CLI needs a serve process. Prefer local IPC; TCP is the fallback.

# Terminal 1
export MEMNET_IPC_SOCKET=/tmp/memnet.sock
memnet serve --ipc

# Terminal 2 (same MEMNET_IPC_SOCKET)
memnet session open --map-file parts/common/memnet/memnet/examples/schema.example.txt
# demo-world map for tests; warehouse GQL below is illustrative (not that world's field list)
# stderr prints MEMNET_SESSION=mn_… — pass it as --session (serve proxies argv, not your shell env)

memnet mutate --session mn_… --stdin <<'EOF'
CREATE (t:TSK {goal:'Clear warehouse', status:'in_progress'})
CREATE (n:NPC {role:'helper', status:'active'})
MATCH (n:NPC {role:'helper'}), (t:TSK {goal:'Clear warehouse'})
CREATE (n)-[:helps {note:'labour'}]->(t)
EOF

memnet query find --session mn_… --kind TSK --limit 8
memnet query pin-map --session mn_… --kind TSK --locator 'goal=Clear warehouse' --depth 2

Shaped pin map (illustrative; nickname id only if set):

(:TSK {goal: 'Clear warehouse', status: 'in_progress'})
(:NPC {role: 'helper', status: 'active'})
(:NPC {role: 'helper'})-[:helps {note: 'labour'}]->(:TSK {goal: 'Clear warehouse'})

Create nodes by labels and properties (CREATE () is legal); you don't mint ids yourself. The old id:'NEW' placeholder and @ID: id map are legacy and not part of the product. Each turn, call pin_map(q) (or skip it) and drop earlier maps from the prompt. The old --anchor flag still works, but only as a nickname cue. Agents speak GQL only (openCypher-shaped); no other input format is accepted. The wire format is defined in docs/grammar/gql-wire-profile.md.

MCP in-process (memnet-mcp) does not need serve — that's the usual single-agent path.

Session pipe

Handoff between modules/agents is the sessionId (treat it as a secret capability). The peer re-pin_maps — don't dump the graph into chat. Keep working/mission memory distinct from other product handles (e.g. a company store id); mixing those is an app concern, not MemNet's job.

Import absorb vs shared session

• Path A — same sessionId; peers just re-pin_map. No import.
• Path B — separate member session; lead absorbs a bounded slice via memnet import-slice (pattern match, not MERGE-by-id). The old keep/reject/remint id_policy options are legacy and not part of the product. The slice is merged into the lead session (the single source of truth), not appended. ImportGuard / CheapLlmImportGuard is a user-selectable optional soft LLM (feature stays; not deprecated). Absorb works with the key unset. Set MEMNET_IMPORT_GUARD_API_KEY on serve to activate (optional MEMNET_IMPORT_GUARD_BASE_URL / MEMNET_IMPORT_GUARD_MODEL). --no-guard skips the soft pass for one call. Hard ImportAbsorb always runs. Teach: docs/LLM-GUIDE.md.

ACL + transport

CapsPolicy ACL (shipped; off by default until session acl-enable): who (caller) / pin_map vs mutate / WorkerWriteScope hard reject / optional missionId+lease bind.

RSV neighbourhood reserve exists (memnet reserve / extend / release; llm_id + TTL; pin map may show ## Reserves).

Transport: in-process MCP default (one graph per process). Shared graph: memnet serve --ipc (MEMNET_IPC_SOCKET) or TCP memnet serve (127.0.0.1:18765). Multitask / parallel workers need a shared serve — not default in-process.

Durable: optional client memnet-llm[agensgraph]; the cabinet is external and not vendored. Since 0.7 the adapter and an operator-run round trip exist, but nothing calls the cabinet at runtime yet, so a live cabinet is not claimed. Its CI tests skip unless MEMNET_AGENSGRAPH_URL is set. Neo4j is retired (#187). MEMNET_NEO4J_* is ignored (one log warning); the engine still starts.

Not done yet

• Hosted AgensGraph as a product service (operator runs the server; this repo does not vendor it)
• N-server session pipe (#47)
• Reading SysML files or edited pin maps back in (MN-REQ-11.5 SHOULD / #66) — pin_map GQL can be written out today; matching identities on the way back comes later
• Host search / RAG as a MemNet tool — application nest only (docs/extras/memnet-host-search-nest.md)

Links

Layout: LAYOUT.md · AGENTS.md. Novel-writer is out: DROP-NOVEL-WRITER.md.

Licence

MIT