LTM: A JSON Protocol for Portable Agent Memory Across Models and Machines
If you use Claude across multiple editors or machines, you've likely hit the context portability wall: your CLAUDE.md doesn't follow you to Cursor, Cursor rules don't transfer to Codex, and nothing survives a model or OS switch. Existing "agent memory" tools are mostly markdown files you manually groom or vendor-locked stores. A new open-source project called ltm takes a different approach: a small JSON protocol called the Core Memory Packet, plus a CLI and server to move packets around.
How It Works
At the end of a session, the agent calls ltm save. At the start of the next session, ltm resume pulls in the dossier on the current obstacle—regardless of model, harness, or machine. A packet contains five required fields and is typically 2 to 5 KB:
- Goal: what you're trying to achieve
- Decisions locked in: constraints that shaped the code
- What you've already tried: dead ends and rejected approaches
- Next step: what to do next
The commit log already carries the work that went fine. LTM focuses on what agents can't reconstruct from a repo: dead ends and constraints that never appear in code.
Key Design Decisions
- Model, harness, and machine agnostic: a packet written by Claude on macOS reads fine for Codex on Linux, or for a teammate on their machine. The protocol is the product; CLI and server are reference implementations.
- Token-efficient: a 2–5 KB packet at session start is cheaper than letting the agent re-explore the codebase to rediscover what was already tried and rejected.
- Self-host or managed hub: same protocol either way. One Go binary, SQLite on disk, runs on a low-end VPS.
- Redaction is load-bearing: every packet is scanned before leaving the machine. AWS keys, GitHub tokens, JWTs, private keys, absolute paths, Slack and Stripe tokens—all blocked by default. Secrets don't travel.
- MCP support out of the box: Claude Code, Cursor, Zed, Codex, etc. can call
saveandresumeas tools without ever typing an ID. - Intent is portable, configuration isn't: packets never carry
CLAUDE.md, skills, prompts, or tool setup—those stay local.
Try It Without Signing Up
You can see what a resume looks like immediately: ltm example --resume runs the full flow against a sample packet and drops the resume block on your clipboard.
License and Ethics
LTM is Apache 2.0. The builder acknowledges LLM assistance: every agent-touched commit carries an Assisted-by: trailer in Linux kernel conventions.
Repo: github.com/dennisdevulder/ltm
📖 Read the full source: r/ClaudeAI
👀 See Also
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