By AutoDream is a background memory consolidation feature for Claude Code that prunes, merges, and reorganizes your project's memory files between sessions. I've been watching it closely since it surfaced in the /memory menu this week, and the short version is: if you've been using AutoMemory and noticed your agent getting dumber over time, this is the fix.
What AutoDream actually does
Claude Code has had AutoMemory since v2.1.59 in late February 2026. AutoMemory lets Claude take notes as it works: build commands, architecture decisions, debugging patterns, your coding preferences. The problem is that AutoMemory only writes. It never cleans up. After 20-plus sessions, your memory files are full of contradictions, stale references to deleted files, and five different entries that all say "use TypeScript strict mode."
AutoDream is the cleanup crew. It runs a background sub-agent that consolidates those accumulated notes, and the metaphor Anthropic chose is deliberate: it works like REM sleep. AutoMemory is the daytime brain, absorbing information. AutoDream is the sleep cycle that replays, organizes, and discards.
The process follows four phases, as documented by claudefa.st:
- Orientation -- Claude reads the current memory directory and builds a map of what exists
- Gather signal -- It searches session transcripts for high-value patterns: user corrections, explicit "remember this" moments, recurring themes, and architecture decisions. It uses targeted searches rather than reading every transcript end-to-end
- Consolidation -- The core phase. It converts relative dates to absolute ones ("yesterday" becomes "on 2026-03-15"), deletes contradicted facts, removes stale entries, and merges overlapping notes
- Prune and index -- Updates the MEMORY.md index file, which is capped at 200 lines since that's the startup loading cutoff
How to access it (and why you probably can't yet)
Here's the catch: AutoDream is controlled by a server-side feature flag. According to a dev.to investigation by Akari Iku, the flag's codename is "tengu_onyx_plover" and Anthropic manages the rollout on their end. You can see the toggle in your /memory menu, but for most users it reads "Auto-dream: off" and you can't flip it on.
The default parameters tell you a lot about how Anthropic thinks about this:
- minHours: 24 -- it runs at most once per day
- minSessions: 5 -- it won't trigger until you've accumulated five sessions worth of new notes
