---
title: Memory Backends
type: comparison
status: active
created: 2026-07-22
updated: 2026-08-12
verified_on: 2026-08-12
confidence: high
tags: [comparison, memory]
sources: [raw/configs/hermes-config-sanitized.txt]
---

# Memory Backends

## Purpose
Document Hermes's memory backend on this box, and record why the taxonomy this page assumed (Hindsight, Mnemosyne, file-backed) doesn't actually apply here.

## Correction (2026-07-22, per Anthony)
This wiki previously stated Hindsight was this box's predecessor memory backend, based on archived `hindsight-*` script names found under `~/.hermes/scripts/` and a "Hindsight clean memory bank" mention in `current-state.md`. **That was wrong — Hindsight has nothing to do with this Hermes box.** It was confused with a different Hermes instance (most likely ct450 "hermesagent", the older/original Hermes install still running in this homelab — see [[infrastructure/domains-and-tunnels]]). All Hindsight-specific pages (`systems/hindsight.md`, `decisions/use-hindsight-for-memory.md`, `runbooks/check-hindsight.md`) have been deleted rather than left as deprecated stubs, since they describe something that was never true of this box.

The three archived scripts (`hindsight-watchdog.py.archived`, `hindsight_migration_watchdog.py.archived`, `honcho_to_hindsight_import.py.archived`) that had been sitting under `~/.hermes/scripts/` were removed on 2026-07-22 at Anthony's request, closing out the mix-up entirely.

## What's actually true here
- **Only backend ever verified on this box: Mnemosyne** — local native plugin (`~/.hermes/plugins/mnemosyne`), not a docker service. See [[systems/mnemosyne]] and [[systems/memory-backend]] for full config.
- No evidence of a file-backed-only memory mode being used either — it's Mnemosyne or nothing on this install.

## OpenViking evaluation (2026-08-12) — NOT adopted
- Anthony explored **OpenViking** (Volcengine/ByteDance context database, filesystem-style knowledge hierarchy, tiered retrieval, 6-category auto extraction) as a potential memory provider.
- **Not adopted:** `memory.provider` is single-slot — setting `hermes config set memory.provider openviking` would fully **replace** Mnemosyne, with no parallel/dual-active mode.
- Risk assessment flagged: schema mismatch, embedding drift, scope leakage, provenance loss, and one-way/no-rollback migration with no dry-run snapshot.
- **Verdict:** stay on Mnemosyne. Config verified `memory.provider: mnemosyne` (2026-08-12). No migration was performed.

## Related
- [[systems/mnemosyne]]
- [[systems/memory-backend]]
- [[concepts/agent-memory]]