Anthropic announced a major update to Claude's memory on August 25 (local time). Starting today, the Claude app shows a "See what's new in Claude memory" screen, and the update comes down to three things — chat and Cowork now share a single memory, memory has become a set of files you can open and edit yourself, and you now choose whether sensitive topics get saved at all.
Quick glossary
- Memory — the feature that lets Claude carry what it learned in past conversations (projects, preferences, context you kept re-explaining) into new ones.
- Cowork — Anthropic's agentic work mode that handles multi-step tasks like drafting documents and working on code for you.
What changed
1. Chat and Cowork use one memory. Context you explained in chat (who your manager is, project status, how your team defines its metrics) carries straight into Cowork tasks, and what comes up in Cowork carries back to chat. Per the official support documentation, this applies when Cowork runs in the cloud. To spell out the difference: a cloud run means the task executes on Anthropic's servers rather than your machine — it keeps going even if you turn your computer off, and Cowork tasks you hand off from the web or mobile fall into this category. A local run means the Cowork desktop app works directly with the files and programs on your own computer. Sessions that run locally don't use memory, so if you want a task to pick up context from your chats, it needs to be a cloud run.
2. Memory saves in real time as you chat. Instead of summarizing a conversation after it ends, Claude now adds topics to memory during the conversation. Mention that a deadline moved, and your next conversation already knows — without you saying "remember this."
3. Memory is now a set of files you can open. Under Topics in Memory settings, you can read, edit, or delete each topic file. Fix one file and every conversation and Cowork task from then on gets it right. You can also pause or reset memory at any time.
4. Sensitive topics are not stored by default — but you can turn them on. Subjects like health, race and ethnicity, religious beliefs, politics, and gender identity are not saved to memory by default. If those are exactly the things you're tired of re-explaining, you can enable the "include sensitive topics in memory" toggle in the intro screen or in settings, and Claude shows a notice whenever a sensitive topic is saved.
Plan availability
Memory is on by default on Free, Pro, and Max plans across web, desktop, and mobile (update the mobile app to the latest version). On Team and Enterprise plans it is off by default and can be turned on by an owner, with memory and sensitive-topic storage controlled separately. Sensitive-topic storage is off by default on every plan.
Good to know
There is no option to keep chat and Cowork memories separate — they now use the same system. According to Anthropic's responses to press inquiries, the alternatives are using separate accounts, pausing memory, using incognito chats for conversations you don't want remembered, or deleting individual topics under Topics.
For the basics of the memory feature, see our Claude memory guide, and for backup and migration, the memory import and export guide.
Legacy memory export — until September 9, 2026
Accounts that used the previous (legacy) memory are migrated to the new system automatically, and the app may show a migration notice with a remaining-time countdown. If Claude seems to have forgotten something in that migration, go to Settings > Memory, where until September 9, 2026 you will see the option to export your legacy memory. Paste the export back into Claude, highlighting the portion that may have been forgotten. The option disappears after the deadline, so if your old memory matters to you, export a copy while it lasts.
Sources
- Anthropic official blog — Claude's memory works everywhere, and you decide what's in it
- Official support doc — Use Claude's chat search and memory
Related articles
- Claude Chat Projects vs. Cowork Projects — What Carries Over (Tested)
- Claude Chat vs. Cowork — Which One for This Task? A Simple Decision Guide
- Claude Projects, Artifacts & Memory: What They Are and How to Use Them
- What Is Claude Cowork? Claude's File-Working Desktop Mode
- Claude Memory — How to Make Claude Remember and Manage It