Short-Term Memory
A 40-turn chat will not fit in the window. STM keeps the thread without paying for every old token.
A notepad for today's meeting — you throw it out unless you file an action item.
Visual Workflows
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Overview
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Session lifecycle
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Buffer during the chat. Promote only what should survive.
Key Takeaways
- 1.Short-term memory lasts for the session, not forever. It is a rolling buffer of this chat, often with a running summary.
- 2.When the session ends, STM is discarded unless you promote facts. Use it for the current task, not for lifetime preferences.
- 3.STM is usually a message list plus a summary that updates every N turns. Do not confuse it with a vector store.
- 4.Promote durable facts on purpose.
Learn elsewhere
- →Memory Summarization
- →Long-Term Memory
Real Example
Scenario
A support agent keeps this ticket's order id and last three replies. Tomorrow that ticket is retrieved from long-term, not from STM.
What you would do
In Agent Memory, apply Short-Term Memory to this scenario: A support agent keeps this ticket's order id and last three replies. Identify the inputs, run the technique, validate the output, and note one thing you would monitor in production.
Commands
Commands to Remember
STM = this session onlyBuffer + rolling summaryPromote facts on purposeDiscard on session end
Cheat Sheet
Quick recap
quick ref- •Session notepad, not a vault
- •Summary keeps the thread
- •Promote or lose it
- •Wrong place for preferences
Common Mistakes
- ✕Treating STM as forever storage
- ✕Never writing a session summary
- ✕Saving the whole transcript as long-term by default