Working Memory

What is in front of the model right now: the current turn, the recent conversation, whatever was just retrieved. It is bounded, volatile, and dies when the session does.

Why it matters in a memory layer

Working memory is the only memory an LLM has natively, and confusing it with a memory layer is the most common architectural mistake in this field. It answers "what are we talking about", never "what do I know about this person". Everything durable has to be written somewhere else on purpose.

Connections

Taught in: The Taxonomy That Actually Routes

Used in: Context Is Not Memory · Session Memory vs Long-Term Memory

Do not confuse with: Semantic Memory