Memory surfacing ([memory] surface)
Part of the config reference.
[memory] surface controls how memory attachments and memory-query results render. The default is
summary: memory attachments (and memory_search / memory_for_call_path / memory_for_edges
hits) show the dream-compacted summary plus a plain-text verdict marker ([verdict: diverged] /
[verdict: current @<short-commit>]) in place of the full body, for each memory that has one. Set
it to full to restore whole bodies everywhere. Either way, memory show / memory_show always
returns the full body — that is the deliberate “expand on request” path.
[memory]
surface = "summary" # default; or "full" — return whole bodies everywheresummary applies across every drive-by renderer: impact_surface’s compact repo_memories, the
symbol_lookup / find_callers / trace_callees attached memories, read_chunk’s memories,
memory_for_symbol / memory_for_path (which keep the full binding/call-path structure but defer
the body), and the grep-augmentation hook context.
What a memory with no summary for its current body does depends on how long that body is. A note already inside the summary envelope (≤150 words and ≤1200 characters) is never compacted — a rewrite could come back no shorter while dropping a condition — so it surfaces whole, standing in for the summary it will never have. A longer one is merely uncompacted (dream is off by default, or a summary is pending), so its body is deferred behind a one-line marker naming the expand call:
[body elided — full text: memory_show mem_ab12cd34]That marker is the only thing that distinguishes an elided body from a short one shown in full.
memory show / memory_show always return the full body, regardless of this setting — it is
the expand path, and the stored body is never modified or deleted by any of this.