What is AI memory?
AI memory is what stays with a tool between one chat and the next. Learn the types, how it works in ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini, and when you need a separate memory.
Glossary
AI memory glossary
Short definitions of the terms that keep coming up when people talk about memory in AI tools, in plain words.
- AI memory
- Information kept outside the chat and handed back to a tool in a later chat, so it knows who you are and what you are working on. Full explanation.
- Context window
- How much text a model can read in one chat. It is temporary and starts empty in each new chat. How it differs from memory.
- Context
- Everything a tool needs to know to give an answer that fits you: who you are, what the project is, what was decided before.
- Built-in memory
- Memory provided by the tool itself, such as ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini memory. It works inside that tool only.
- Saved memories
- In ChatGPT: short facts it keeps about you, managed in memory settings. They have an upper limit.
- Chat history
- The text of your past chats, kept in your account. It differs from memory: history is everything said; memory is what was drawn from it.
- Temporary chat
- A chat that stays out of history, does not use memory, and saves nothing to it.
- Custom instructions
- Fixed text you write once and the tool reads at the start of every chat: who you are and how you want answers.
- Project
- A space that gathers the notes of one piece of work: a client, a product, a study. In Memory Bridge you decide which projects each tool can reach.
- Note
- The unit of memory in Memory Bridge: written text you can read and edit, with a source, a date and earlier versions.
- Semantic search
- Search that finds text by meaning, not by exact words. Ask about "payment terms" and it finds a note saying "settle within 60 days".
- RAG (retrieval-augmented generation)
- When a tool searches files you uploaded and adds what it finds to the question before the model answers. It suits fixed references.
- Connector
- The way an AI tool links to an outside service from its settings, so it can read and write there with your permission.
- Version history
- A copy of the note kept with each edit, so you can compare and go back to any one.
- Memory import
- Moving what one tool knows about you into another. It carries a summary at the moment of transfer and does not update afterwards.
- Coding agent
- An AI tool that writes, edits and runs code inside your project, such as Claude Code, Cursor and Codex.
Keep reading
AI memory guides
Practical guides: what AI memory is, why ChatGPT forgets, how to export your conversations, and how to move between AI tools without starting over.
How Memory Bridge works
Connect your tool, tell Memory Bridge about your work, then carry on. How your context is saved and how it comes back in every new chat and every tool.
One memory. Every tool you use.
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