Workspace vs global memory
Engram resolves memory in two scopes.
Workspace memory
Workspace memory lives in:
<project>/.agents/.engram/
It holds project-specific rules, decisions, and workflows. Workspace memory wins over global duplicates.
Global memory
Global memory is optional and lives wherever the user configures it. It holds preferences and team context that should follow you across repos.
engram inject --global-only --global-path ~/Documents/engram
Global memory is fallback for reusable preferences, personal habits, or team-wide defaults.
Scope priority
- Workspace memory:
<project>/.agents/.engram/ - Global memory:
$ENGRAM_GLOBAL_DIRorengram inject --global-path <path>
Workspace memory wins. Global memory is fallback for reusable preferences and team context across projects.
Choose a save target
Use set-save-target to choose where normal saves go:
engram set-save-target status
engram set-save-target workspace
engram set-save-target global
engram set-save-target both
Fresh workspace installs default normal saves to both workspace and global when global memory is configured. Agents can override one write with --scope workspace|global|both.
If the active configuration scope is set to global (scope: "global"), workspace-level skillset linking is disabled and skipped to prevent writing files to the running folder. To link agents in a global-scope setup, use engram link --global.