Memory Search

Retrieve user memories by update time or select related memories with a model.

The local database setup below requires Docker.

MemoryManager.search_user_memories() retrieves memories by update time or asks a model to select memories related to a query.

Code

memory-search.py
from agno.db.postgres import PostgresDb
from agno.memory import MemoryManager, UserMemory
from agno.models.openai import OpenAIResponses
from rich.pretty import pprint

db_url = "postgresql+psycopg://ai:ai@localhost:5532/ai"

memory_db = PostgresDb(db_url=db_url)

memory = MemoryManager(model=OpenAIResponses(id="gpt-5.2"), db=memory_db)

john_doe_id = "john_doe@example.com"
memory.add_user_memory(
    memory=UserMemory(memory="The user enjoys hiking in the mountains on weekends"),
    user_id=john_doe_id,
)
memory.add_user_memory(
    memory=UserMemory(
        memory="The user enjoys reading science fiction novels before bed"
    ),
    user_id=john_doe_id,
)
print("John Doe's memories:")
pprint(memory.get_user_memories(user_id=john_doe_id))

memories = memory.search_user_memories(
    user_id=john_doe_id, limit=1, retrieval_method="last_n"
)
print("\nJohn Doe's last_n memories:")
pprint(memories)

memories = memory.search_user_memories(
    user_id=john_doe_id, limit=1, retrieval_method="first_n"
)
print("\nJohn Doe's first_n memories:")
pprint(memories)

memories = memory.search_user_memories(
    user_id=john_doe_id,
    query="What does the user like to do on weekends?",
    retrieval_method="agentic",
)
print("\nJohn Doe's memories related to the query (agentic):")
pprint(memories)

Retrieval Methods

MethodResult
last_nMost recently updated memories
first_nLeast recently updated memories
agenticMemories a model selects as related to the required query

Usage

Set up your virtual environment

uv venv --python 3.12
source .venv/bin/activate

Set your API key

export OPENAI_API_KEY=xxx

Install dependencies

uv pip install -U agno openai sqlalchemy 'psycopg[binary]'

Run PgVector

docker run -d \
  -e POSTGRES_DB=ai \
  -e POSTGRES_USER=ai \
  -e POSTGRES_PASSWORD=ai \
  -e PGDATA=/var/lib/postgresql \
  -v pgvolume:/var/lib/postgresql \
  -p 5532:5432 \
  --name pgvector \
  agnohq/pgvector:18

Run example

python memory-search.py