I stopped fighting the model and built a memory system around it instead. I kept hitting the same wall: spending 20 minutes reloading context at the start of every session. Paste the roadmap, paste the open issues, explain what we were debugging yesterday. By the time Claude was caught up, I was drained before I'd written a line. So I stopped treating Claude as the product. I started treating the context around Claude as the product. 7 tools. 6 memory types. One working environment: - Claude Code runs in the repo. Sees files, sees commits, holds working memory for the current task. - Claude Cowork sits above it. Orchestrates across projects when I'm not in a single repo. - Neo4j with the Neo4j MCP server holds semantic memory. Entities and relationships. Claude queries the graph before answering anything strategic. - Claude-Mem logs every session as a "change" with facts and narrative. I scroll it like a changelog of my own thinking. Last week's session #621 still shows me the exact HreflangMeta fix I pushed. - Obsidian is the long-term knowledge base. Hundreds of notes. Agent Skills docs, API references, project dossiers, all linked in a graph view Claude can read as plain files. - Custom Skills hold procedural memory. "How I write for 15 platforms." "How to set up a new HubSpot client." Written once, triggered by description match when relevant. - MCP Servers give Claude capability memory. Pinecone, Supabase, Vercel, HubSpot, Neo4j — not tools I re-explain, tools he can just call. The result is the part that surprised me. Claude now catches patterns I miss. "You abandoned this approach 3 weeks ago and the reason was the Supabase async mismatch." Things I wouldn't have remembered. That's the real unlock. Not smarter answers. A coworker with memory.
7 Tools, 6 Memory Types: Using Cowork as the Orchestrator So Claude Stops Forgetting Your Project
Instead of trying to make Claude smarter, the author built a memory system around it: Claude Code handles in-repo work, Claude Cowork orchestrates across projects, plus Neo4j (semantic graph), Claude-Mem (session changelog), Obsidian (long-term knowledge base), custom Skills (procedural memory), and MCP servers (capability memory) — seven tools, six memory types. The payoff: Claude now flags patterns the author himself had forgotten ("you abandoned this approach 3 weeks ago because of the Supabase async mismatch"). Not smarter answers — a coworker with memory
Developer who built a 7-tool memory stack around Claude to solve session amnesia
Scenario
Three months ago, the author was spending 20 minutes at the start of every session pasting the roadmap, open issues, and yesterday's debug state. By the time Claude was caught up, he was drained before writing a line. He realized the problem wasn't the model — swapping models wouldn't fix the amnesia. The real fix was to treat context and memory as the product, and build infrastructure around Claude.
Prompt
Before answering anything strategic about this project, do three lookups: (1) query the Neo4j semantic graph for entities + relationships relevant to the question, (2) grep the Claude-Mem session log for related past decisions and their reasons, (3) scan Obsidian notes for long-form documentation of the area. Surface any prior decision we made that contradicts or supports the current plan — quote it with the session number or note link. Then proceed.
Expected Result
The author assembled a 7-tool / 6-memory-type stack, with Cowork acting as the cross-project orchestrator: - **Claude Code** — working memory in the repo (files, commits, current task) - **Claude Cowork** — the cross-project orchestrator when he's not pinned to one repo - **Neo4j + MCP** — semantic memory (entities + relationships); Claude queries the graph before any strategic answer - **Claude-Mem** — session changelog; every session stored as a "change" with facts and narrative, scrollable like his own thinking-log - **Obsidian** — long-term knowledge base, hundreds of notes, graph-linked and readable by Claude as plain files - **Custom Skills** — procedural memory ("How I write for 15 platforms", "How to set up a new HubSpot client") - **MCP servers** — capability memory (Pinecone, Supabase, Vercel, HubSpot, Neo4j) — tools Claude can just call, never re-explained **The surprise:** Claude now flags patterns the author himself had forgotten — "you abandoned this approach 3 weeks ago because of the Supabase async mismatch." His own conclusion: the real unlock isn't smarter answers, it's a coworker with memory.