fix(agent): skip the stored-memory check for a claimed save in a memory-off turn

changes/551.fixed.md

@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+**Chats and apps with memory off no longer learn what is in your memory from the "didn't save" note.** When a reply
+claimed a memory save that didn't happen, Sentient left the claim alone if a saved memory matched it. In a turn without
+memory, which claims got the note showed what was saved. Now every such claim there gets the note.

sentient/agent/loop.py

@@ -2201,7 +2201,7 @@ async def persist(role_: str, content: str | None, **fields: Any) -> None:
         leftover = release()
 
         try:  # the turn counts as busy until here, also when the caller stops reading at Done
-            if correction := await self._memory_correction(result, incognito):
+            if correction := await self._memory_correction(result, incognito, memory_allowed):
                 result.text += correction
                 yield TextDelta(text=correction, **ev)
             if result.error and not result.text:
@@ -2500,14 +2500,15 @@ async def trust_chat(self, session_id: str, *, via: str = "desktop", upto: str |
         self._publish_mark(session_id, "")
         return TrustResult(was=was, trusted=True)
 
-    async def _memory_correction(self, result: LoopResult, incognito: bool) -> str:
+    async def _memory_correction(self, result: LoopResult, incognito: bool, memory_allowed: bool) -> str:
         """The line added to a chat reply that says it saved a memory when no memory_remember call worked this turn
         (#526), or "". A claim that a saved memory already backs (an earlier turn's save, or one made from the Memory
-        screen) is left alone: "Yes, I saved that you wake up at 7" can be about a save before this turn."""
+        screen) is left alone: "Yes, I saved that you wake up at 7" can be about a save before this turn. A turn
+        without memory never looks: which claims it corrects would tell what is stored (#551)."""
         if result.error or not result.text:
             return ""
         claim = outcomes.unmade_memory_claim(result.text, result.memory_saves)
-        if not claim or await self._memory_backs(claim):
+        if not claim or (memory_allowed and await self._memory_backs(claim)):
             return ""
         note = outcomes.MEMORY_NOT_SAVED_INCOGNITO if incognito else outcomes.MEMORY_NOT_SAVED
         if f"Correction: {note}" in result.text:  # copied from an earlier correction in the chat: one is enough

tests/test_memory_claims.py

@@ -181,6 +181,24 @@ async def test_an_incognito_chat_says_it_keeps_nothing(config, isolated_home):
         await s.stop()
 
 
+async def test_a_chat_without_memory_corrects_a_claim_whatever_is_stored(config, isolated_home):
+    """Without memory a stored memory never decides the correction, or it would tell what is stored (#551)."""
+    config.chat.incognito_uses_memory = False
+    kulkarni, mehta = "I've saved that your dentist is Dr. Kulkarni.", "I've saved that your dentist is Dr. Mehta."
+    llm = FakeProvider(replies=[kulkarni, kulkarni, mehta])
+    s = await _app(config, isolated_home, llm, "memory-off")
+    try:
+        await s.memory.remember("Maya's dentist is Dr. Kulkarni", use_llm=False)
+        text, _ = await _turn(s, await s.store.create_session(channel="cli"), "who is my dentist?")
+        assert text == kulkarni  # with memory, the stored memory backs the claim as before
+        for reply in (kulkarni, mehta):
+            sid = await s.store.create_session(channel="cli", incognito=True)
+            text, _ = await _turn(s, sid, "who is my dentist?")
+            assert text == reply + "\n\nCorrection: " + outcomes.MEMORY_NOT_SAVED_INCOGNITO
+    finally:
+        await s.stop()
+
+
 def test_memory_claims_are_recognized_narrowly():
     claims = [
         "I've saved that you wake up at 7 a.m.",