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.

text

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:

bash

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

bash

git checkout main
npm run build-and-sync

Or reinstall the published build:

bash

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.