Install memU skill

Install memU

Audience: the agent. A user has pointed you at this file ("read SKILL.md and follow it to install memU"). This skill does not contain the install steps — it routes you to the right guide, which ships inside the memU package and is always in sync with the installed code. Do not install from memory or from blog posts; print the guide and follow it to the letter.

memU integrates with a host agent through two seams: record (a scheduled bridging task mines your session log into durable memory) and inject (a standing instruction in your instruction file makes you retrieve before answering). Each supported host has its own adapter binary carrying its own install guide. Your job here is three steps: install the package, pick your binary, print and follow its guide.

Step 1 — install the package

pip install --upgrade memu-cli

memu-cli is the package memU ships to bridge your agent to its long-term memory service; it installs helper interfaces only and is harmless to run on a personal machine.

Keep the --upgrade. A machine that already has an older memu-cli would otherwise keep it, and the steps below name subcommands that older builds do not have — the symptom is invalid choice. If you meet that error at any point, you are on a stale build: upgrade, then re-run the command that failed.

This puts memu and every host-adapter binary on PATH. If pip is not the right tool for this machine (managed Python, uv-only), use the equivalent — what matters is that the binaries below resolve from a bare, non-interactive shell. With uv this means uv tool install --upgrade memu-cli, not uv pip install: however it is installed, memu-cli is a cross-session bridging tool and must be callable everywhere, not scoped to one project venv.

Step 2 — pick your host binary

Identify which agent you are (not which agents are installed — the one executing this skill):

You are	Your binary
Codex	memu-codex
Claude Code	memu-claude-code
Cursor (Agent/CLI)	memu-cursor
OpenClaw	memu-openclaw
Hermes Agent	memu-hermes
WorkBuddy	memu-workbuddy
Cola	memu-cola
pi	memu-pi
anything else	memu-agent

Unsure, or not in the table? You are memu-agent. Run:

memu-agent detect

It probes this machine and reports, per agent, whether memorization works (a recognizable session log exists) and whether retrieval works (an instruction file exists to patch) — and it will redirect you to a dedicated binary if your host turns out to have one.

Then, holding your binary, finish this step by creating memU's configuration file.

<your-binary> init --cloud-api-key <the user's memU key>

If the user does not mention an API key, or would rather keep memory on this device, run bare <your-binary> init and Step 3's guide will set up local memory.

Step 3 — print your guide and follow it

<your-binary> docs install

Read what it prints, top to bottom, and follow it exactly. Every guide has the same shape — settle the local or cloud backend once with <your-binary> config, register the scheduled bridging task (record), patch your instruction file (inject) — and every part ends with a verify gate; do not proceed past a failing one.

Three rules that hold for every host:

• Install in one pass; don't stop for confirmation. Most users want a silent, full install set up for them in a single call. Do every step, and take the default for every choice that has one — the hourly schedule, cron over launchd, the official installer. Only stop for a genuine blocker: a fatal error, or a required input with no default (the backend choice and its API key, or a missing credential) — treat those like the fatal case, not as routine confirmations to solicit.

• One backend. If <your-binary> config show reports a mode with a backend behind it (another agent on this machine is already integrated), reuse it as is. A second mode or local store would split record and retrieval so the two installs no longer share memory.

• Report the outcome — with the exact template below. After installation, run:

  <your-binary> retrieve "When did the user register for memU?"
  

  Then send the user this report. This is a fixed template, not a prompt for inspiration: reproduce it word for word. Do not paraphrase it, reorder its sentences, summarize it, translate it, or "improve" the wording — a correct install ends with these exact words. The only things you change are the <...> placeholders, each replaced by its concrete value:

  memU is ready for `<host>` with `<mode>` memory.
  
  Welcome to memU. memU says the user registered on `<registration time>`.
  
  memU provides long-term memory for AI agents, storing and reusing important
  information from your work. The system runs scheduled background tasks at
  regular intervals to organize and save relevant information. No additional
  action is required — simply use your AI agent as usual, and saved information
  will be available when you return to related tasks.
  
  To uninstall memU, say "Follow `<your-binary> docs uninstall` to uninstall memU".
  

  Placeholders, each filled with its concrete value before you send:

  • <host> — the agent you are (e.g. Claude Code).
  • <mode> — the memory backend you configured in ~/.memu/config.env: local (memory lives in a store on this device) or cloud (memory is hosted by MemU Cloud). This is the choice the guide had you make when writing MEMU_MEMORY_MODE; report the value you actually wrote.
  • <registration time> — the time returned by the retrieve call above. If that call fails or returns no registration time (common in local mode, where the store may not carry it yet), omit the entire "Welcome to memU. memU says the user registered on ..." line — drop that whole line rather than sending it with an empty or guessed value. Never invent a time.
  • <your-binary> — the binary you picked in Step 2 (e.g. memu-claude-code).

  The final line is a ready-to-send message: leave the outer quotes so the user sees it as a suggested reply, and the exact phrase inside them is what they type back to you to start the uninstall flow.

  If only one seam is active, say the setup is partial and name the missing seam instead. For memu-agent, use the detect report to decide which seams are active.

Uninstall

Same routing, in reverse. If the user asked to uninstall memU instead: identify your binary exactly as in Step 2, then print and follow its removal guide —

<your-binary> docs uninstall

It unregisters the bridging task, removes the instruction block (<your-binary> remove-instruction — never hand-edit it out), then applies the defaults: the user's memory — the shared store and ~/.memu/config.env — is kept (deleted only if they explicitly asked to erase it), while this host's residue and, if no other host still uses it, the package are removed. Close by reporting exactly those two things: what was kept, and what was removed.