AMP — Agent Memory Protocol

Open-source reference implementation of AMP, the protocol for packaging, signing, and installing AI agent memory between people.

One install. One signed file. Your agent inherits someone else's operating context on the next prompt.

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Quickstart

# 1. Install (requires Node 18+)
npm install -g @arkzero/amp

# 2. Generate your signing keypair (once per machine)
amp keygen

# 3. Sign a pack directory you've created
amp sign ./my-pack

# 4. Verify a pack someone else signed
amp verify ./my-pack --public-key ~/.amp/keys/signing.pub

# 5. Install a local pack into your project's agent
amp install --from-path ./my-pack

# 6. (Optional) Integrate the installed pack into your Karpathy wiki
#    Run this as a skill from inside Claude Code / Codex / any host agent:
#    /amp-unpack

That's it. Your agent's rules file (CLAUDE.md, AGENTS.md, .cursor/rules/, .windsurfrules, or ~/.openclaw/workspace/AGENTS.md) now includes the pack's routing block. On the next prompt, the agent uses it.

The optional /amp-unpack skill (shipped in skills/amp-unpack/SKILL.md) runs from inside a host agent and merges the installed pack into a Karpathy-style wiki at knowledge-base/wiki/. If you don't have one, the skill offers to scaffold one. The CLI install alone is enough without this step.

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What is AMP

AMP pipeline visualized

Model, Skills and Memory

Layer	Comes from
Model	Anthropic, OpenAI, Google
Skills	Open protocols, bundled with every agent
Memory	You, over months of use

Before AMP, everyone's memory file lived on one laptop, in one vendor's folder, with no signing, no verification, no taxonomy, no install primitive.

AMP defines:

• 4 primitives that every line in a memory file falls into — goal, claim, directive, demonstration
• Pack format — a directory of signed markdown with a manifest
• Signing — Ed25519 signatures so tampering breaks verification
• Install primitive — drop a pack into any compatible coding agent's memory without overwriting what's already there

AMP is the protocol. The CLI in this repo is the open-source reference implementation. Registries (like MemoryMarket) are built on top.

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Install

npm install -g @arkzero/amp

Requires Node.js 18 or higher.

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Commands

About signing keys. Not API keys. AMP has no server and no auth. amp keygen generates an Ed25519 keypair on your own machine. The private key stays with you and signs packs you publish. The public key ships inside the pack so anyone can verify the pack wasn't tampered with. If you only install packs, you never touch either key.

amp keygen

Generate an Ed25519 signing keypair. Default location: ~/.amp/keys/signing.key + ~/.amp/keys/signing.pub.

amp keygen
amp keygen --out ./my-key.key        # Custom path
amp keygen --force                   # Overwrite existing key

amp sign <pack-dir>

Sign an AMP pack with your private key. Writes signed: true and signature into the pack's manifest.json.

amp sign ./my-pack
amp sign ./my-pack --key ./my-key.key
AMP_PRIVATE_KEY="$(cat ~/.amp/keys/signing.key)" amp sign ./my-pack

amp verify <pack-dir>

Verify a pack's signature against a public key. Exits 0 if VALID, 1 if INVALID or tampered.

amp verify ./my-pack --public-key ~/.amp/keys/signing.pub
amp verify ./my-pack --public-key "-----BEGIN PUBLIC KEY-----\n..."
AMP_PUBLIC_KEY="$(cat ~/.amp/keys/signing.pub)" amp verify ./my-pack

amp install --from-path <pack-dir>

Install a local AMP pack into the current project's coding agent.

amp install --from-path ./my-pack
amp install --from-path ./my-pack --scope user               # Install globally for your user
amp install --from-path ./my-pack --agent claude-code        # Target specific agent

Supported agents: claude-code, codex, cursor, windsurf, openclaw. Auto-detected from project markers (CLAUDE.md, AGENTS.md, .cursor/, .windsurfrules) or ~/.openclaw/ (user home) if --agent isn't passed. OpenClaw uses a home-directory workspace — packs always install user-scope and the managed block is written to ~/.openclaw/workspace/AGENTS.md.

amp inspect <slug>

Show metadata and tamper status of an installed pack.

amp inspect my-pack
amp inspect my-pack --scope user

amp uninstall <slug>

Remove an installed pack. Cleans the managed block from the agent's rules file and deletes the pack directory.

amp uninstall my-pack
amp uninstall my-pack --scope user

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Pack format

An AMP pack is a directory with this structure:

my-pack/
  manifest.json         # required — name, layout, signed, signature, capability_files
  agents.md             # required — routing/activation file inlined into the host agent
  memory/
    <capability>.md     # one file per semantic capability (e.g. copy-voice.md)
    <capability>.md

Every rule inside a capability file is a single inline-tag line. Type and facets in [ ], content after. Optional > reason on the next line. When the reason is a source citation, use compact form > [short-code] with a sources: legend block at the top of the file — see docs/amp-v0.4.md for the full spec.

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The 4 primitives (why these four)

AMP's taxonomy is first-principled — every memory line is doing one of four things linguistically. No borrowed categories (rules, persona, facts, procedures) that overlap and break registries.

• goal — what the agent should intend
• claim — what is asserted to be true
• directive — what the agent should do
• demonstration — how it looks in practice

Primitive	Inline-tag example
goal	[goal should, project, permanent] Optimize for virality over polish on every content decision.
claim	[claim permanent] Payment flows with more than 2 redirects lose ~18% conversion.
directive	[directive must, org, permanent] In any review of a checkout flow, always check for client-side validation bypass.
demonstration	[demo positive, illustrates: checkout-rule] { ... }

Full spec: docs/amp-v0.4.md.

Tested on 79 real memory files across 9 locations during the design cycles. 0% unclassifiable.

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Skills

AMP ships two Claude Code skills for the ends of the flow that require judgment:

• /amp-capture — distills a raw memory folder or Karpathy-style wiki into a valid AMP pack. Drop the skill into your .claude/skills/ directory, run /amp-capture, point it at your source files, and it produces a signed-ready pack.
• /amp-unpack — after amp install, integrates the installed pack into your Karpathy wiki at knowledge-base/wiki/. Scaffolds one if you don't have it. Adds wikilinks, updates the index, logs the integration. Idempotent.

The flow is symmetric: /amp-capture takes a wiki → pack, /amp-unpack takes a pack → wiki. The CLI commands (sign, verify, install) handle the deterministic plumbing in between.

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Run your own registry

AMP is registry-agnostic. Any server that implements the integration contract can host, verify, and serve packs. The spec is at docs/mm-amp-integration.md.

The default registry most people will use is MemoryMarket, which adds:

• A public key registry with GitHub + Stripe identity binding
• Server-side re-scanning and revocation
• Discovery, browse, and creator payouts

MemoryMarket is one registry. You can run your own.

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Environment variables

Variable	Purpose
AMP_PRIVATE_KEY	Private key PEM string — overrides --key flag in sign
AMP_PUBLIC_KEY	Public key PEM string — overrides --public-key flag in verify

Both are optional and only relevant when publishing. The default flow (amp keygen → amp sign → amp verify --public-key) works without setting either.

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Development

git clone https://github.com/lliu56/amp.git
cd amp
npm install
npm run build
node dist/bin/amp.js --help

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Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md. PRs welcome. Releases go through a maintainer-tagged workflow.

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License

MIT — see LICENSE.

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Links

• Canonical doc (SSoT): docs/amp-v0.4.md — pitch + spec in one place. Older versions live alongside with released: frontmatter; highest date is current.
• v0.3 (archived): docs/amp-v0.3.md — superseded, preserved for archival.
• Registry API contract: docs/mm-amp-integration.md
• Distillation skill: skills/amp-capture/SKILL.md
• Default registry: memorymarket.co
• Issues: github.com/lliu56/amp/issues