Memory Should Decay

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

An agent memory run started with 50 stored facts. Each fact had a half-life of 10 ticks. After 30 ticks of a task loop, 8 memories remained.

Those 8 were the ones the agent kept using. The other 42 expired automatically. No cleanup script. No manual pruning. No summarization pass pretending stale facts were still useful.

The experiment is small, but the shape is important. Agent memory does not need to be an attic where every fact waits forever. It can behave more like working state: reinforced by use, weakened by neglect, and removed when confidence falls below a threshold.

EntropyOS on Stack Research

Memory Should Decay