Release Branches

Claude-Mem ships from three long-lived runtime branches. Only one is published to npm.

Line	Branch	Who it’s for	Published to npm?
Stable	`main`	Everyone. This is the `npx claude-mem` install.	Yes - the only published line
Core Dev	`core-dev`	Maintainer and testers who want root-cause reliability fixes early.	No - run from source
Community Edge	`community-edge`	New community integrations before they are hardened.	No - run from source

How Changes Flow

Runtime work is promoted upward toward stable. Code that changes release behavior does not land on main directly.

New runtime work enters as a PR to core-dev or community-edge, not main.
community-edge -> core-dev: promote validated edge work up.
core-dev -> main: stable advances from hardened core-dev work.

community-edge -> core-dev -> main

Releases happen only from main. There are no required gates or reviewers on the edge lines; merge there at maintainer discretion. Docs-only work can be staged on updates/docs and merged to main when ready. That branch is not a runtime release line.

Which One Should I Use?

Just want memory that works? Use stable. npx claude-mem@latest is always main.
Want to test root-cause worker/runtime reliability fixes before they land? Use core-dev.
Want the newest community integrations and do not mind rough edges? Use community-edge.

Run a Non-Stable Line Locally

Only main is published to npm, so core-dev and community-edge are run from source:

git clone https://github.com/thedotmack/claude-mem.git
cd claude-mem
git checkout core-dev          # or: community-edge
npm install
npm run build-and-sync         # builds, syncs to your local marketplace, restarts the worker

build-and-sync installs the checked-out branch into your local Claude Code plugin marketplace and restarts the worker, so the running plugin reflects that branch.

Go Back to Stable

git checkout main
npm run build-and-sync

Or reinstall the published build:

npx claude-mem@latest install

Published Versions

GitHub releases and npm releases are separate:

A GitHub release or tag makes the source archive visible on GitHub.
An npm publish is what makes npx claude-mem@<version> resolve.
latest points at the current stable npm publish.

If npm channel tags are added later, they should use npm dist-tags such as core-dev and community-edge. Until then, non-stable branches are run from source.

Releasing

Production releases happen from main only. The release flow updates the version manifests, builds generated artifacts, pushes a git tag, publishes to npm, creates the GitHub release, then regenerates CHANGELOG.md. The edge lines are source-run and are never published to npm.

​Release Branches

​How Changes Flow

​Which One Should I Use?

​Run a Non-Stable Line Locally

​Go Back to Stable

​Published Versions

​Releasing