v1.16.1

Engram v1.16.1 is a quality and reliability release: seven bug fixes across the MCP session model, cloud sync, project migration, the macOS and Windows builds, and the plugin cache — plus expanded documentation for MCP project overrides, team usage, and topic keys. Every fix was validated by adversarial review before merge.

Highlights

• Active session resolution for mem_save (#386): saves without an explicit session now attach to the active session resolved from the shared store, instead of falling back to manual-save-{project}. This fixes UUID sessions that stayed empty at observation_count: 0.
• Edited memories re-export on sync (#447): mem_update edits are no longer skipped by engram sync. The export now checks UpdatedAt, not just CreatedAt.
• No more case-only duplicate projects (#438): project migration normalizes names before comparing, so a repo whose remote is Repo_Name no longer ping-pongs against a local repo_name.
• macOS 26.4 binaries run again (#402): darwin builds are adhoc re-signed during release, fixing the AMFI SIGKILL (exit 137) on Apple Silicon.
• Cloud upgrade repair applies partial fixes (#446): repairable mutations are now applied even when a blocker is queued, and the message names the real blocker (seq + entity_key) instead of the wrong entry.
• Plugin cache no longer recurses (#217): the plugin version is synced with the marketplace manifest so installs stop creating nested empty cache directories.
• Clearer Windows background sync (#421): autosync token logging now names both ENGRAM_CLOUD_TOKEN and the cloud.json fallback, and the prompt hook emits UTF-8 under PowerShell 5.1.

Contribution highlights

Thanks to the contributors and issue reporters who shaped this release:

• @carlosmoradev authored the new Team Usage guide (#409, closing #305) — scope conventions, language strategy for shared memory, and how scope interacts with sync today.
• Issue reports #386, #438, #446, #447, #217, #421, #401, #402 drove the fixes.
• Adversarial review caught two fixes that looked correct but were not — a session registry that could not cross the HTTP/MCP process boundary, and a plugin source change that breaks Claude Code clients older than v2.1.69 — before either shipped.

Pi companion notes

No new gentle-engram npm package was published in this release. The Pi companion remains gentle-engram@0.1.7; this release updates the main Engram binary and documentation.

Fixes included

• mem_save / prompt / summary / passive saves resolve the most-recent active session from the store before falling back to manual-save-{project}.
• engram sync re-exports observations edited via mem_update (now checks UpdatedAt).
• Project migration normalizes names, preventing case-only duplicate projects (regression of #136).
• darwin release binaries are adhoc re-signed to satisfy AMFI on macOS 26.4.
• cloud upgrade repair --apply applies the repairable subset alongside a blocker and reports the correct blocker.
• Plugin plugin.json version synced with the marketplace manifest to stop recursive cache directories.
• Windows autosync token logging clarified; prompt hook output set to UTF-8.
• New documentation: MCP --project / ENGRAM_PROJECT override, VS Code/WSL setup, Linux EXDEV troubleshooting, a topic_key guide, a Windows Task Scheduler template, and the Team Usage guide.

Changelog

• #449 fix(mcp): resolve active session from store for mem_save instead of manual-save fallback (#386)
• #450 fix(sync): re-export edited observations by checking UpdatedAt in filterNewData (#447)
• #451 fix(server): normalize project names before migrate to prevent case-only duplicates (#438)
• #452 fix(store): apply repairable cloud-upgrade mutations even when a blocker is queued (#446)
• #453 fix(release): adhoc re-sign darwin binaries to prevent AMFI SIGKILL on macOS 26.4 (#402)
• #454 fix(cloud): clarify autosync token error log and add UTF-8 PS1 output encoding (#421)
• #455 fix(plugin): sync plugin.json version to 0.1.1 to stop recursive cache dirs (#217)
• #456 docs: mcp project override, VS Code/WSL, EXDEV, topic_key guide, Task Scheduler
• #409 docs: add team usage guide (#305, by @carlosmoradev)