[DOCS/FEATURE] MEMORY.md has undocumented 200-line hard limit
Resolved 💬 9 comments Opened Feb 11, 2026 by mark-hubers Closed May 11, 2026
Problem
The auto-memory feature (MEMORY.md) has a 200-line hard limit that is not documented anywhere. Lines beyond 200 are silently truncated when loaded into context.
Current Behavior
- Claude Code creates/updates
~/.claude/projects/<path>/memory/MEMORY.mdautomatically - The file can contain any number of lines
- Only the first 200 lines are loaded into context at session start
- There is no warning when content exceeds 200 lines
- This limit is not mentioned in docs,
--help, or the MEMORY.md file itself
Requested Changes
- Document the limit — mention the 200-line cap in official docs
- Add a warning — when MEMORY.md exceeds 200 lines, warn the user that content is being truncated
- Make it configurable — allow users to set a custom line limit (e.g., in settings.json)
Why This Matters
Users relying on MEMORY.md as a persistent knowledge cache (which is its intended purpose) may unknowingly lose content beyond line 200. A user carefully curating important information at line 201+ would have no idea it's being silently dropped.
~Mark
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