Filesystem-Based Memory for LLM Agents: Organization, Evolution, and Sustainability

Summary

Treats deployed filesystem memory (markdown trees + generic file tools) as a design space with management/search/execution roles sharing one store for declarative memory and skills. Across LoCoMo, PersonaMem, REALTALK, and ALFWorld, varies store shape, scale, harness, and model strength. Organization's reliable payoff is search cost (roughly halves retrieval on large material), not answer quality. Organization erodes for all but the strongest management agent; tool set reshapes the store as strongly as swapping the model. No agent converts organization itself into better answers.

Keywords

agent-memory · filesystem-memory · skills · locomo · alfworld · retrieval · organization

Topics

LLM agents, memory systems

Research notes

• Primary: arxiv abs. UIUC/UCSD/UC Merced/Adobe/TAMU. Discord posted PDF link.