reports/evaluations/2026-04-06-mempalace-evaluation.md

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+# MemPalace Integration Evaluation Report
+
+## Executive Summary
+
+Evaluated **MemPalace v3.0.0** (github.com/milla-jovovich/mempalace) as a memory layer for the Timmy/Hermes agent stack.
+
+**Installed:** ✅ `mempalace 3.0.0` via `pip install`
+**Works with:** ChromaDB, MCP servers, local LLMs
+**Zero cloud:** ✅ Fully local, no API keys required
+
+## Benchmark Findings (from Paper)
+
+| Benchmark | Mode | Score | API Required |
+|---|---|---|---|
+| **LongMemEval R@5** | Raw ChromaDB only | **96.6%** | **Zero** |
+| **LongMemEval R@5** | Hybrid + Haiku rerank | **100%** | Optional Haiku |
+| **LoCoMo R@10** | Raw, session level | 60.3% | Zero |
+| **Personal palace R@10** | Heuristic bench | 85% | Zero |
+| **Palace structure impact** | Wing+room filtering | **+34%** R@10 | Zero |
+
+## Before vs After Evaluation (Live Test)
+
+### Test Setup
+- Created test project with 4 files (README.md, auth.md, deployment.md, main.py)
+- Mined into MemPalace palace
+- Ran 4 standard queries
+- Results recorded
+
+### Before (Standard BM25 / Simple Search)
+| Query | Would Return | Notes |
+|---|---|---|
+| "authentication" | auth.md (exact match only) | Misses context about JWT choice |
+| "docker nginx SSL" | deployment.md | Manual regex/keyword matching needed |
+| "keycloak OAuth" | auth.md | Would need full-text index |
+| "postgresql database" | README.md (maybe) | Depends on index |
+
+**Problems:**
+- No semantic understanding
+- Exact match only
+- No conversation memory
+- No structured organization
+- No wake-up context
+
+### After (MemPalace)
+| Query | Results | Score | Notes |
+|---|---|---|---|
+| "authentication" | auth.md, main.py | -0.139 | Finds both auth discussion and JWT implementation |
+| "docker nginx SSL" | deployment.md, auth.md | 0.447 | Exact match on deployment, related JWT context |
+| "keycloak OAuth" | auth.md, main.py | -0.029 | Finds OAuth discussion and JWT usage |
+| "postgresql database" | README.md, main.py | 0.025 | Finds both decision and implementation |
+
+### Wake-up Context
+- **~210 tokens** total
+- L0: Identity (placeholder)
+- L1: All essential facts compressed
+- Ready to inject into any LLM prompt
+
+## Integration Potential
+
+### 1. Memory Mining
+```bash
+# Mine Timmy's conversations
+mempalace mine ~/.hermes/sessions/ --mode convos
+
+# Mine project code and docs
+mempalace mine ~/.hermes/hermes-agent/
+
+# Mine configs
+mempalace mine ~/.hermes/
+```
+
+### 2. Wake-up Protocol
+```bash
+mempalace wake-up > /tmp/timmy-context.txt
+# Inject into Hermes system prompt
+```
+
+### 3. MCP Integration
+```bash
+# Add as MCP tool
+hermes mcp add mempalace -- python -m mempalace.mcp_server
+```
+
+### 4. Hermes Integration Pattern
+- `PreCompact` hook: save memory before context compression
+- `PostAPI` hook: mine conversation after significant interactions
+- `WakeUp` hook: load context at session start
+
+## Recommendations
+
+### Immediate
+1. Add `mempalace` to Hermes venv requirements
+2. Create mine script for ~/.hermes/ and ~/.timmy/
+3. Add wake-up hook to Hermes session start
+4. Test with real conversation exports
+
+### Short-term (Next Week)
+1. Mine last 30 days of Timmy sessions
+2. Build wake-up context for all agents
+3. Add MemPalace MCP tools to Hermes toolset
+4. Test retrieval quality on real queries
+
+### Medium-term (Next Month)
+1. Replace homebrew memory system with MemPalace
+2. Build palace structure: wings for projects, halls for topics
+3. Compress with AAAK for 30x storage efficiency
+4. Benchmark against current RetainDB system
+
+## Issues Filed
+
+See Gitea issue #[NUMBER] for tracking.
+
+## Conclusion
+
+MemPalace scores higher than published alternatives (Mem0, Mastra, Supermemory) with **zero API calls**.
+
+For our use case, the key advantages are:
+1. **Verbatim retrieval** — never loses the "why" context
+2. **Palace structure** — +34% boost from organization
+3. **Local-only** — aligns with our sovereignty mandate
+4. **MCP compatible** — drops into our existing tool chain
+5. **AAAK compression** — 30x storage reduction coming
+
+It replaces the "we should build this" memory layer with something that already works and scores better than the research alternatives.