# Agent Memory Retention Policy

Companion to **AI Agent Memory for eCommerce: What Should Your Agents Remember?**

**Remembering everything is not desirable.** AgentCore Memory is session / long-term **conversational** state. It is not the customer profile store, not the OMS, and not a substitute for Identity.

## Layers

| Layer | What | TTL / retention | Risk if abused |
| ----- | ---- | --------------- | -------------- |
| **Session context** | This turn’s tools + messages | Session / Runtime isolation | Cross-shopper leak if session id reused |
| **Customer context** | Preferences the **CRM** owns | CRM policy | Memory as shadow PII store |
| **Business history** | Orders, RMAs — **systems of record** | OMS retention | Stale Memory vs live OMS |
| **Long-term memory** | AgentCore Memory (if enabled) | Named retention | Wrong customer facts |
| **Operational state** | Open HITL tickets, last brief | Ticket system | Duplicate actions |

## Rules

- Prefer **tools** over Memory for facts (price, ATP, order status)
- Do not store PAN, passwords, health data in Memory
- Shopper JWT must not retrieve another shopper’s Memory
- Stale Memory: if `asOf` on the system of record is newer, **trust the system**
- Retention: align with privacy policy; deletion path named

## Related

- HITL: [`hitl-approval-architecture.md`](hitl-approval-architecture.md)
- Security: [`ecommerce-agent-security-checklist.md`](ecommerce-agent-security-checklist.md)