RAG vs Memory

RAG and memory are related, but they are not the same layer.

Question	RAG	Memory
Meaning	Retrieval-Augmented Generation	Persistent and retrievable context layer
Scope	Retrieve context for a model call	Store, retrieve, relate, filter, and govern context
Typical data	Documents and passages	Documents, embeddings, graph entities, task state, preferences
Risk	Retrieved text may be untrusted	Stored context may become stale, sensitive, or over-broad
Demo artifact	Retrieval behavior in memory.yaml	Full memory configuration in memory.yaml

Decision Rule

Use RAG as a generation pattern. Design memory as an architecture layer with visibility, provenance, retrieval, evaluation, and governance.

Related Pages

• Agent Memory
• Memory topic
• Evaluation