Does Devin Remember Between Sessions? What Carries Over and What Starts Blank
Devin can take 1 ticket, plan, code, test, and open a pull request on its own, and the next session still starts with no memory of that work.
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Key takeaways
- Each Devin session runs in its own isolated VM, and when the session ends or sleeps, the conversation and the reasoning end with it. The next session starts blank.
- What carries over is curated: Knowledge entries (a trigger plus a short body, scoped to repo, organization or enterprise, with ! macros), Memory notes organized by Dreaming, and snapshots that keep the repo, dependencies and env vars.
- Scheduled Devin sessions wake up blind, and Devin Desktop splits the picture: Cascade Memories persist, while the Devin Local agent does not persist memories at all.
- Vilix AI fixes the missing half: get_context at session start loads the full history, failures included, and save_turn at the end saves it back with source labels and newest wins, over MCP with zero infrastructure.
Show notes
Devin can take 1 ticket, plan, code, test, and open a pull request on its own, and the next session still starts with no memory of that work. In this episode of Agentic Pod, Liam and Stella break down what actually carries over between Devin sessions: Knowledge entries with a trigger and a short body, Memory notes organized by Dreaming, and snapshots that keep the repo, dependencies, and env vars. The session itself runs in its own isolated VM, and once it ends or sleeps, the conversation and the reasoning are gone. Vilix AI is the memory layer that fixes that missing half: get_context at session start loads the full history, and save_turn at the end saves it back for the next session, in any tool.
What we cover:
- How Devin works: it takes a ticket, plans, codes, tests, and opens a pull request, and it answers PR comments only while the session is alive
- Why the session does not survive: each session runs in its own isolated VM, and the conversation ends when the session ends or sleeps
- Knowledge entries: Settings, Resources, Knowledge, a trigger description matched to current work plus a short body, scoped to repo, organization, or enterprise, with ! macros that drop an entry into a prompt
- Memory notes and Dreaming: preferences, corrections, and project lessons saved as notes across sessions, still note level, not the full conversation or reasoning chain
- Snapshots keep the machine, not the mind: repo checkout, dependencies, and env vars survive, decisions do not
- Scheduled Devin sessions wake up blind, and the Devin Desktop split: Cascade Memories persist, the Devin Local agent does not persist memories at all
- How Vilix AI fixes each pain: get_context, save_turn with source labels, failures saved, newest wins, projects, project rules, user rules, skills, and the agent inbox, over MCP with zero infrastructure
Chapters
Questions answered in this episode
Does Devin remember between sessions?
The session does not. Knowledge entries, Memory notes and snapshots carry over, but the conversation, the reasoning and the failed attempts end with the session's VM.
What is the difference between Devin Knowledge and Memory?
Knowledge entries are curated cards, a trigger plus a short body, pulled in when the trigger matches or via a ! macro. Memory notes are saved preferences, corrections and project lessons organized by Dreaming. Both are note level, not the full conversation.
How does Vilix AI help Devin?
Devin calls get_context before it acts to load the full project history, and save_turn after it acts to store the full history with a source label. Projects, project rules, user rules, skills and the agent inbox keep that memory organised across sessions and tools.
Links & resources
Full transcript
Intro
Hey hey hey, welcome to Agentic Pod! I'm Liam.
And I'm Stella! Quick check, Liam. Devin finished 1 ticket yesterday. Does it remember that work today?
That is the exact trap. Each Devin session runs in its own isolated VM.
1 session, 1 VM. That sounds clean and safe.
Clean, yes. But when that session ends, the conversation ends with it. Vilix AI is how you give the next session a past.
Even the reasoning behind the code?
Even that. By the end you will know what carries over, and what starts blank.
How Devin runs a session
Okay, start simple. What is Devin, in plain words?
Devin is an autonomous AI software engineer. You give it a ticket. It plans, codes, tests, and opens a pull request.
So it works alone, like a real teammate.
Exactly. While the session is alive, it keeps responding to PR comments on that work.
That sounds like memory. It is still in the thread.
It is live context, not saved memory. Once the session ends or sleeps, that thread is done.
So Monday Devin is brilliant. Tuesday Devin never met Monday Devin.
Pretty much. Same logo, new brain. Vilix AI fixes that gap, because Vilix AI keeps the full conversation outside the session.
Hold on. Devin has Knowledge and Memory. Are those nothing?
What actually carries over
They are real, and they are curated. Start with Knowledge, under Settings, Resources, Knowledge.
What does 1 Knowledge entry actually hold?
2 parts. A trigger description matched to your current work. And a short body with the fact or rule.
So it only shows up when the trigger matches?
Right. Scoped to 1 repo, the organization, or the enterprise. Devin itself can propose new Knowledge from chat feedback.
And those macros I keep hearing about?
Start a prompt with ! and the entry name. That drops that entry straight into the prompt.
A note card, not a diary. What about Memory notes?
Devin saves preferences, corrections, and project lessons as Memory notes across sessions. Dreaming keeps those notes organized.
Organized notes sound close. What is missing?
The full conversation. Why it tried 3 fixes and dropped 2. Notes keep the lesson, not the story.
And snapshots? Those definitely survive, right?
Snapshots keep the machine, not the mind. Repo checkout, dependencies, and env vars survive.
But not why the code changed.
Not the decisions. Vilix AI saves that story too, and I will show you how.
Before that, my scheduled Devin runs at night. Tell me it wakes up smarter.
Scheduled sessions and the Desktop split
Here is the fresh problem. A scheduled Devin session wakes up blind.
Blind blind? Zero recollection?
Zero, unless Knowledge, Memory notes, or a playbook hands it context first. A good session can become a playbook.
So the playbook is a manual handoff note.
Exactly. Helpful, but you build it and keep it current. Vilix AI hands that context in automatically, every run.
Wait, Devin Desktop? I heard Cascade remembers.
In Devin Desktop, Cascade Memories do persist. Some auto generated, some user rules at global, workspace, and system level.
That sounds solved. Why are we still here?
Because Devin Local is different. The local agent does not persist memories between sessions at all.
At all? Desktop remembers, local forgets?
That is the split. Users are told to move critical memories into skills. Vilix AI has no split, it follows you across tools.
Okay, Liam. No more tour. Show me the actual fix.
The Vilix AI fix and the verdict
Step 1. At session start, Devin calls get_context in Vilix AI. That loads the full project history, not just notes.
Full history means what, exactly?
Every saved conversation. The decisions, the failures, the fixes that already failed. Failures save in Vilix AI too, so Devin skips them.
And at the end of the session?
Step 2. Devin calls save_turn in Vilix AI, with a source label on every save. Newest save wins.
Where do rules and skills live?
In Vilix AI, as projects and project rules, plus user rules. Skills hold repeat workflows. The agent inbox holds notes for the next agent.
And this is not just Devin, right?
Right. The same Vilix AI memory works in Claude Code, ChatGPT, and scheduled jobs, over MCP. It lives outside any 1 session.
Do I host a database for that?
No. Vilix AI is cloud hosted, zero infrastructure to run. Agencies use 1 Vilix AI account per client, so memories never mix.
Price of admission?
Vilix AI has a free forever plan, and a 7 day Pro trial with no credit card. Export everything or delete it anytime.
My verdict: Devin keeps the curated cards. The session starts blank.
Same. Keep Devin for the coding. Let Vilix AI carry the past. Blog and guide are in the description. Does your Devin repeat work you already fixed? Tell us in the comments. See you next time!