What Are Memory Cards?
A memory card captures a single piece of knowledge:| Field | Description |
|---|---|
entity | The subject (person, company, concept) |
slot | The attribute or property name |
value | The current value |
kind | Type: fact, preference, event, profile, relationship, goal |
confidence | Extraction confidence (0.0-1.0) |
source_frame | Which document this came from |
Memory Card Types
Facts
Objective information that can be verified:Preferences
Subjective choices or opinions:Events
Time-bound occurrences:Relationships
Connections between entities:Profiles
Descriptive attributes:Enrichment Engines
Memvid supports multiple extraction engines with different speed/quality/cost tradeoffs:| Engine | Speed | Quality | Cost | Requires |
|---|---|---|---|---|
rules | Fastest | Basic | Free | Nothing |
candle | Fast | Good | Free | Auto-downloads model (~2.4GB) |
groq | Fast | Excellent | Low | GROQ_API_KEY |
openai | Medium | Excellent | Medium | OPENAI_API_KEY |
claude | Medium | Best | Higher | ANTHROPIC_API_KEY |
gemini | Fast | Excellent | Low | GOOGLE_API_KEY |
xai | Fast | Excellent | Medium | XAI_API_KEY |
mistral | Fast | Good | Low | MISTRAL_API_KEY |
Rules Engine
Pattern-based extraction using regex. Fast and free but limited:- Email addresses →
entity: <local>, slot: email - Phone numbers →
entity: contact, slot: phone - Dates →
entity: document, slot: date_mentioned - URLs →
entity: document, slot: link
Candle Engine (Local LLM)
Runs Phi-3.5-mini locally via HuggingFace Candle:- First run downloads ~2.4GB model
- No API key required
- Good quality, runs on CPU (GPU optional)
- Slower than API-based engines
Cloud Engines
For best quality, use cloud LLMs:CLI Commands
Enrich: Extract Memory Cards
Memories: View Extracted Cards
State: O(1) Entity Lookup
Get the current state of any entity instantly:Facts: Audit Fact History
Track how facts changed over time with full provenance:Export: Standard Formats
Export facts to standard knowledge graph formats:Schema: Predicate Management
Define and view predicate schemas:SDK Usage
Python
Node.js
Version Relations
Memory cards track how values change over time:| Relation | Meaning |
|---|---|
SETS | Initial value (no previous) |
UPDATES | Replaces previous value |
EXTENDS | Adds to previous value (lists) |
RETRACTS | Removes/invalidates previous |
Deduplication
Memory cards are automatically deduplicated:- Same entity + slot: Keeps highest confidence value
- Same value: Skips if already exists
- Different sources: Tracks all sources for provenance
Incremental Enrichment
By default, enrichment only processes new frames:Performance Tuning
Parallel Workers
Batch Size
Engine Selection by Use Case
| Use Case | Recommended Engine |
|---|---|
| Quick testing | rules |
| Offline/privacy | candle |
| Production (balanced) | groq |
| Maximum accuracy | claude |
| Cost-sensitive | gemini |
Use Cases
Personal Knowledge Management
Track facts about people, projects, and topics:Meeting Minutes
Extract action items and decisions:Research Papers
Build a knowledge graph from literature:Customer Information
Track customer preferences and history:Best Practices
1. Choose the Right Engine
Start withrules for testing, graduate to groq for production:
2. Enrich After Bulk Imports
Wait until documents are loaded before enriching:3. Use Incremental Mode
Let Memvid track what’s been enriched:4. Export for Integration
Use exports to integrate with other tools:Troubleshooting
”No memory cards extracted”
-
Check if frames have text content:
-
Try verbose mode to see extraction:
- Content may be too short or unstructured
”API rate limited”
Reduce workers and increase batch size:“Low confidence scores”
- Try a better engine (
claude>groq>rules) - Content may be ambiguous
- Check source document quality
”Missing expected entities”
-
Check if entity appears in source:
-
Force re-enrichment: