Short-Term Memory

Temporary state maintained during a session or execution to preserve the objective, completed steps, tool results, and information still needed. It may live in the context window itself or in an external working structure that is summarized and reinjected as the task progresses.

Short term describes lifecycle rather than a specific technology. Keeping the entire history degrades cost and relevance; summarizing too early can erase important constraints. The design should define capacity, discard policy, user isolation, and which items may be promoted to long-term memory.