/smart-fork - Smart Memory-Driven Session Forking

Based on @PerceptualPeak's Smart Forking concept:

"Why not utilize the knowledge gained from your hundreds/thousands of other Claude code sessions? Don't let that valuable context go to waste!!"

Quick Start

# Find relevant sessions to fork from
/smart-fork "Implement OAuth authentication"

# Show fork suggestions for current task
/smart-fork --suggest

# Generate fork command for specific session
/smart-fork --fork <session_id>

# Show memory statistics
/smart-fork --stats

How It Works

1. PARALLEL Memory Search

When you invoke /smart-fork, we search across ALL memory sources in parallel:

┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                    PARALLEL MEMORY SEARCH                     │
├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│                                                              │
│   ┌────────────┐ ┌────────────┐ ┌────────────┐ ┌──────────┐ │
│   │ claude-mem │ │  memvid    │ │  handoffs  │ │  ledgers │ │
│   │    MCP     │ │  search    │ │   scan     │ │   scan   │ │
│   └─────┬──────┘ └─────┬──────┘ └─────┬──────┘ └────┬─────┘ │
│         │ PARALLEL     │ PARALLEL     │ PARALLEL    │        │
│         └──────────────┴──────────────┴─────────────┘        │
│                            ↓                                  │
│                    AGGREGATOR (top 5)                        │
│                            ↓                                  │
│              .claude/memory-context.json                     │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

2. Relevance Scoring

Results are scored by:

Keyword Match: How many search terms appear in the session
Recency: More recent sessions score higher
Outcome: Sessions with successful completion score higher
Similarity: Semantic similarity to current task

3. Fork Suggestions

Top 5 most relevant sessions are suggested with:

Session ID
Timestamp
Brief summary
Fork command

Commands

`/smart-fork "task description"`

Search for relevant sessions based on task description.

Example:

/smart-fork "Implement JWT authentication with refresh tokens"

Output:

SMART FORK RESULTS v2.47
========================

Search: "Implement JWT authentication with refresh tokens"

TOP 5 RELEVANT SESSIONS:
------------------------
1. [HIGH] Session: abc123-def456 (2026-01-15)
   Summary: Implemented OAuth2 with JWT, similar auth patterns
   Fork: claude --continue abc123-def456

2. [HIGH] Session: xyz789-uvw012 (2026-01-10)
   Summary: Token refresh implementation in Node.js
   Fork: claude --continue xyz789-uvw012

3. [MEDIUM] Session: pqr345-stu678 (2026-01-05)
   Summary: Authentication middleware setup
   Fork: claude --continue pqr345-stu678

Memory sources searched: claude-mem (5), memvid (3), handoffs (8), ledgers (2)
Total results: 18

`/smart-fork --suggest`

Show fork suggestions based on current project context.

`/smart-fork --fork <session_id>`

Generate fork command for a specific session.

`/smart-fork --stats`

Show memory statistics across all sources.

Integration with Orchestrator

The Smart Fork system integrates with the orchestrator at Step 0b:

Step 0: EVALUATE
├── 0a: 3-Dimension Classification (v2.46)
└── 0b: SMART MEMORY SEARCH (v2.47) ◄── NEW
        │
        ├── Search claude-mem for relevant observations
        ├── Search memvid for semantic matches
        ├── Search handoffs for recent context
        └── Search ledgers for session continuity
        │
        ▼
    .claude/memory-context.json
    │
    ├── past_successes: Implementation patterns that worked
    ├── past_errors: Mistakes to avoid
    ├── recommended_patterns: Best practices
    └── fork_suggestions: Top 5 sessions to fork from

Memory Sources

| Source | Content | Speed | Retention | |--------|---------|-------|-----------| | claude-mem MCP | Semantic observations | Fast | Permanent | | memvid | Vector-encoded context | Sub-5ms | Permanent | | handoffs | Session context snapshots | Fast | 30 days | | ledgers | Continuity data | Fast | Permanent |

Benefits

1. Avoid Repeating Mistakes

Past errors are surfaced to prevent the same issues.

2. Reuse Successful Patterns

Implementation patterns that worked before are recommended.

3. Faster Context Loading

Fork from a relevant session instead of re-explaining everything.

4. Cross-Project Learning

Patterns from other projects inform current implementation.

Configuration

Smart Fork is configured via ~/.ralph/config/smart-fork.json:

{
    "version": "2.47",
    "cache_duration_seconds": 1800,
    "max_results_per_source": 10,
    "top_k_suggestions": 5,
    "search_recency_days": 30,
    "parallel_timeout_seconds": 30
}

CLI Commands

# Via ralph CLI
ralph fork-suggest "task description"
ralph memory-search "query"
ralph memory-stats

# Via skill
/smart-fork "task description"

Technical Notes

PARALLEL by Default: All memory searches run concurrently
30-minute Cache: Results are cached to avoid repeated searches
Graceful Degradation: Missing memory sources are skipped
JSON Output: Results stored in .claude/memory-context.json

Files

| Path | Purpose | |------|---------| | ~/.claude/hooks/smart-memory-search.sh | PreToolUse hook for parallel search | | .claude/memory-context.json | Aggregated memory results | | ~/.ralph/config/smart-fork.json | Configuration | | ~/.ralph/logs/smart-memory-search-*.log | Search logs |

Troubleshooting (v2.52.0)

"No memory sources available"

Cause: None of the 4 memory sources (claude-mem, memvid, handoffs, ledgers) are initialized.

Fix:

# Initialize handoffs
ralph handoff create

# Initialize ledgers
ralph ledger save

# Initialize memvid (optional)
ralph memvid init

# Verify claude-mem MCP is running
claude --server-list | grep claude-mem

"Search timeout after 30s"

Cause: Memory sources are too large or slow to search within timeout.

Fix:

Increase timeout in config: ~/.ralph/config/smart-fork.json
```
{"parallel_timeout_seconds": 60}
```
Reduce search scope: {"search_recency_days": 14}
Limit results: {"max_results_per_source": 5}

"PreToolUse:Task hook error"

Cause: Hook execution failed (but usually non-critical).

Fix:

Check logs: tail -f ~/.ralph/logs/smart-memory-search-*.log
Verify hook is executable: chmod +x ~/.claude/hooks/smart-memory-search.sh
Test manually: echo '{"tool_name":"Read"}' | bash ~/.claude/hooks/smart-memory-search.sh

"Empty fork_suggestions"

Cause: No matching sessions found for your keywords.

Fix:

Try broader keywords
Ensure handoffs exist: ls ~/.ralph/handoffs/
Verify recent activity: ls -la ~/.ralph/ledgers/

"Cache not invalidating"

Cause: Cache file still valid within 30-minute window.

Fix:

# Force fresh search by removing cache
rm .claude/memory-context.json

Performance Tuning (v2.52.0)

Configuration Options

Edit ~/.ralph/config/smart-fork.json:

| Setting | Default | Impact | |---------|---------|--------| | cache_duration_seconds | 1800 | Lower = fresher results, more searches | | parallel_timeout_seconds | 30 | Higher = more complete results, slower startup | | max_results_per_source | 10 | Higher = more context, slower aggregation | | search_recency_days | 30 | Higher = deeper history, slower search | | top_k_suggestions | 5 | Higher = more options, more tokens |

Optimal Configurations

Fast Startup (minimal latency):

{
    "cache_duration_seconds": 3600,
    "parallel_timeout_seconds": 10,
    "max_results_per_source": 3,
    "search_recency_days": 7
}

Comprehensive Search (maximum context):

{
    "cache_duration_seconds": 900,
    "parallel_timeout_seconds": 60,
    "max_results_per_source": 20,
    "search_recency_days": 90
}

Balanced (recommended):

{
    "cache_duration_seconds": 1800,
    "parallel_timeout_seconds": 30,
    "max_results_per_source": 10,
    "search_recency_days": 30
}

Performance Benchmarks

| Configuration | Search Time | Results Quality | |---------------|-------------|-----------------| | Fast | ~2s | Good (recent only) | | Balanced | ~5s | Very Good | | Comprehensive | ~15s | Excellent |

Monitoring Performance

# Check last search duration
tail -1 ~/.ralph/logs/smart-memory-search-*.log | grep "completed in"

# Monitor memory source health
ralph memory-stats

# Profile individual sources
time claude-mem search "test query" --limit 5

Security Notes (v2.52.0)

The smart-memory-search hook includes these security hardening measures:

| Vulnerability | Fix | Details | |--------------|-----|---------| | SECURITY-001 | Command Injection | Keywords escaped before grep -E usage | | SECURITY-002 | Path Traversal | Symlinks validated via realpath before reading | | SECURITY-003 | Race Condition | Atomic temp file creation with restrictive permissions |

All security tests pass: pytest tests/test_v2_47_security.py -v