Working Memory

The AI agent memory tier that holds the current conversation state and the model's active scratchpad — everything the model can 'see' in its context window this turn. In production frameworks working memory is managed by clearing, summarizing, or offloading older turns as the context window fills. Working memory is distinct from Episodic Memory (time-stamped past interactions), Semantic Memory (extracted facts), and Procedural Memory (how-to knowledge). See Agent Memory and Conversation Memory for the broader picture; Context Engineering for the practice of curating what enters working memory.