Cloud Summarization

June 29, 2026 ยท View on GitHub

Default Mode

sessionmem defaults to local summarization. Local mode runs without external API calls.

How to Enable Cloud Mode

Cloud mode activates only when both conditions are true:

  1. allowCloudSummarization=true
  2. ANTHROPIC_API_KEY is present (mapped to anthropicApiKey in runtime config)

If either condition is missing, execution stays local.

How It Works

Cloud summarization uses a two-phase pipeline:

  1. Local preprocessing - the local summarizer runs first to extract, redact, and structure session events into a compact transcript. This ensures sensitive content is redacted before any data leaves the machine.

  2. Cloud compression - the preprocessed summary is sent to the Anthropic Messages API with a system prompt tuned for memory compression. Claude returns a compact, high-signal list of facts, decisions, and context.

Model Configuration

The default model is claude-sonnet-4-6, defined as DEFAULT_SUMMARIZER_MODEL in src/core/config/policyConfig.ts. Callers can override the model via the model field in CloudSummarizeInput.

Token Limits

The max_tokens parameter sent to the API is summaryTokenCap * 2, giving the model headroom to produce a compressed summary within the configured cap.

Runtime Warning Signals

When cloud mode is active, lifecycle responses include:

  • warning code: cloud_summarization_enabled
  • warning message: Cloud summarization active: allowCloudSummarization=true and ANTHROPIC_API_KEY present

These signals are emitted for observability and policy verification.

Failure Fallback Behavior

Cloud summarization retries 2 times. If retries fail, the pipeline falls back to local summarization automatically.

If fallback succeeds, the warning payload includes cloud fallback indicators. If fallback also fails, a durable failure record is written to summarization_failures.

Manual Summarization When Auto Is Disabled

Setting autoSummarize=false disables automatic session_end summarization only. Manual summarizeSessionToMemory remains available and functional.