Adding Persistent Memory to Claude Code with claude-mem — Plus a DIY Lightweight Alternative

Claude Code loses all context between sessions, forcing developers to re-explain project details every time. claude-mem solves this with persistent memory using SQLite, Chroma vector search, and lifecycle hooks — hitting 46K GitHub stars in 48 hours. The author also built a lightweight DIY alternative using two PowerShell scripts and Claude Code's native hooks API that captures git commits and file writes to daily markdown files with zero dependencies. A head-to-head comparison shows claude-mem excels at semantic search and auto-compression, while the DIY approach wins on zero dependencies, git-friendliness, and no token cost. The author recommends a 3-layer architecture: claude-mem for intra-session memory, DIY hooks for cross-session/cross-instance sharing, and a tool like NotebookLM for long-term architectural knowledge. A cost tip: switch claude-mem's compression provider from Claude API to Gemini (free) to eliminate token costs.