Memory: no way to disable Claude Code's file-based auto-memory in Claude Desktop — Capabilities toggles don't cover it, and tengu_session_memory flag appears ignored

[scss-sconnors]

Preflight Checklist

• I have searched existing issues and this hasn't been reported yet
• This is a single bug report (please file separate reports for different bugs)
• I am using the latest version of Claude Code

What's Wrong?

Claude Code (via Claude Desktop, Windows) writes automatic memory files to /memory/ (e.g. MEMORY.md plus per-topic files) even though every memory-related setting I can find is switched off.

What Should Happen?

With memory settings off, no memory files should be written and the auto-memory system prompt instructions should not be injected.

Error Messages/Logs

Steps to Reproduce

Steps to reproduce

1. Open Claude Desktop → Settings → Capabilities → Memory.
2. Confirm both "Search and reference chats" and "Generate memory from chat history (Legacy)" are toggled off.
3. Toggle both on, then back off again, to rule out a stale state.
4. Start/continue a Claude Code session in a project.
5. Observe that Claude still writes/updates files under .claude/projects//memory/ (MEMORY.md index plus topic files) during the session, and the system prompt still contains the full "auto memory" instruction block telling it to do so.

Claude Model

No response

Is this a regression?

I don't know

Last Working Version

No response

Claude Code Version

2.1.193 (Claude Code)

Platform

Other

Operating System

Windows

Terminal/Shell

Other

Additional Information

Memory files continue to be created/updated.
No toggle exists anywhere in Settings (General, Capabilities, Claude Code section) that maps to this specific file-based project-memory feature — the two toggles under Capabilities → Memory appear to control claude.ai's own chat-history memory, not Claude Code's project memory system.
Checked ~/.claude/settings.json, project .claude/settings.json/settings.local.json — no relevant key found.
Checked cached feature flags in ~/.claude.json and found "tengu_session_memory": false — suggesting the client believes memory is disabled, yet the behavior contradicts that. This looks related to #77627, which reports the same flag not gating memory tool injection (there manifesting as "tool not found" errors on macOS/iTerm). In my case, on Windows/Claude Desktop, there are no errors — the memory tools work normally and silently save files, so the flag appears to be ignored rather than causing a partial/broken gate.