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Environment variables

Memory Bank behavior is tunable through a small set of environment variables. Every one of them is fail-open by design: an unset or invalid value falls back to a safe default rather than breaking a session.

Variable Purpose Default
MB_AUTO_CAPTURE SessionEnd auto-capture mode: auto / strict / off. auto
MB_REDACT_SECRETS Redact API keys/tokens (sk-…, ghp_…, AKIA…, JWTs, *_API_KEY= values, …) from session capture and the semantic index before they ever reach disk. on
MB_COMPACT_REMIND Weekly /mb compact reminder: auto / off. auto
MB_ALLOW_METRICS_OVERRIDE Allow executing a project-local .memory-bank/metrics.sh override. 0
MB_PI_MODE Pi project adapter mode. agents-md writes project AGENTS.md; skill writes ~/.pi/agent/skills/memory-bank (leaves an existing global symlink unchanged). agents-md
MB_SKILL_BUNDLE Override the resolved bundle path — dev/testing use. auto-detected
MB_SKIP_DEPS_CHECK Skip the preflight dependency check in install.sh. 0
MB_LANGUAGE Non-interactive install language selection (en / ru), equivalent to --language. en
MB_SESSION_CAPTURE Kill-switch for the session-memory subsystem's automatic logging. off disables capture entirely. on
MB_ALLOW_PROTECTED Bypass the protected-paths write guard for this session — mirrors /mb work --allow-protected. unset
MB_WORK_MODE Context strategy for /mb work sub-dispatches: slim trims the prompt via mb-context-slim.py; full (or unset) sends the whole item body. unset (full)
MB_WORK_PARALLEL Opt-in switch to per-run state/budget slots (<bank>/.work-state/<run_id>.json) so several /mb work runs can execute concurrently. Off by default — single-run behavior stays byte-identical. 0
MB_SESSION_BANK Explicit bank path for hooks that cannot infer it from $PWD (e.g. the sprint-context-guard hook). unset (falls back to ${PWD}/.memory-bank)
MB_CONSOLIDATE_DAYS Age threshold (days) for /mb consolidate to consider a session "old" and eligible for folding. 30
MB_RECENT_KEEP How many most-recent sessions mb-session-recent-rebuild.sh keeps in _recent.md. 5
MB_AUTOLOAD_CONTEXT Cursor adapter only — off disables the sessionStart auto-context injection hook. on

Notes

  • These variables are read by shell scripts under scripts/ and hooks under hooks/; none of them require a restart beyond starting a new session/shell, since each script re-reads its environment on every invocation.
  • Security-sensitive toggles (MB_REDACT_SECRETS, MB_ALLOW_METRICS_OVERRIDE) default to the safer setting — redaction on, override off — so a fresh install is safe out of the box.
  • MB_SKIP_DEPS_CHECK exists for CI and isolated environments where dependency availability is verified through a different mechanism than install.sh's own preflight.
  • /mb work — the primary consumer of MB_WORK_MODE, MB_WORK_PARALLEL, and MB_ALLOW_PROTECTED.
  • Hooks reference — the hook scripts that read MB_SESSION_BANK, MB_ALLOW_PROTECTED, and MB_WORK_MODE at dispatch time.
  • Installation — MB_LANGUAGE, MB_SKIP_DEPS_CHECK, and the Pi adapter toggles in their install-time context.