Retrieval and memory

OpenCrane keeps durable memory content in Cognee and governance metadata in its own authority. A runtime can request memory actions only through the control plane.

See also: Silo IAM (scope and grants), Governed agent runtime (action custody), and MCP gateway (external tools).

Responsibility split

Component	Responsibility
Cognee	Durable memory content and retrieval
OpenCrane agent-memory catalogue	Dataset identity, digest, provenance, consent and sensitivity metadata
Personal-memory selector	Selects a verified user's dataset and gateway-selected fact references for one run snapshot
Runtime	Proposes a memory action; never selects another user's dataset

OpenCrane does not duplicate fact text in its product database. The catalogue records a content digest and exact provenance only after Cognee has durably accepted the content.

Personal dataset binding

A personal memory dataset resolves from the verified (silo, organisation, subject) tuple. The browser and runtime cannot supply a different dataset id. Organisation and shared datasets are filtered through the same membership and grant authority used at run admission.

Planned recording contract

The target write sequence is:

authorised memory action
       │
       ▼
Cognee accepts content
       │  external id + digest + provenance
       ▼
OpenCrane commits catalogue row + outbox event

Exactly one provenance source is required: an artifact revision, a conversation message or an explicit user statement. Explicit statements must identify the same authenticated author as the target personal dataset.

Current transport status

Reads are live through the authenticated private gateway: admission freezes gateway-selected fact references (fact id and sha256: content digest, never fact text) into the run snapshot, and the compile step re-resolves each reference and verifies it against the frozen digest before inlining — a mismatch or missing fact fails the compile closed rather than producing a partial prompt. Mid-run memory actions still have no attempt-fenced ephemeral result channel and remain fail closed, and no write transport is implemented.

TIP

The catalogue and its event commit atomically. OpenCrane cannot claim that a fact exists when its governance record was not accepted.

Retrieval during a run

The control plane freezes the memory query policy and selected memory facts in the RunInputSnapshot. When runtime recall is connected, further memory reads or writes must remain governed external actions subject to the same approval, receipt and audit boundaries as other tools.

Failure posture

• An unresolved personal dataset is denied.
• Missing or ambiguous provenance is denied.
• A retired dataset or conflicting correction is denied.
• An unavailable memory transport does not fabricate a result.
• Runtime-local scratch is never promoted to durable memory implicitly.

Source: libs/backend/agents/memory/main, libs/backend/agents/personal/memory/main, and libs/backend/_server/memory-gateway-client.