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To make an Agentforce agent remember useful context, first decide what should persist and for whom. Agent Memory keeps conversation-derived memories for one user and one agent; Data 360 Agentic Memory and Context is Salesforce’s documented option for continuity across agents through a Unified Individual. Variables preserve workflow state, profile fields provide record context, and a Data Library retrieves company knowledge. These are different mechanisms, not interchangeable kinds of memory.

Choose the memory scope before choosing a feature

“Persistent memory” can mean retaining information for the next action, the next conversation with one agent, or a later interaction with a different agent. Start with the scope and source of the information, then decide what users should be able to control and what governance boundary applies.

Mechanism Scope and information Control, governance, and dependencies
Agentforce variables Structured values passed into or out of actions and used to control whether an action or topic runs. Useful for workflow state within an interaction. Not the same as cross-session user memory. Salesforce Developers describes these as “a type of structured memory whose value can be used as an input or output for actions.”
Agent Memory Conversation-derived details retained for a particular user-agent pair and used in later conversations with that agent. Salesforce documents a maximum of 50 memories per user-agent pair; when the limit is reached, the oldest is removed. Employee-agent capture requires user opt-in. Service-agent memory management depends on a builder adding the User Memory Management subagent.
Data 360 Agentic Memory and Context Persistent conversation context, including extracted facts, preferences, and summaries; can support continuity across agents when memory is linked to a Unified Individual. Salesforce says object-, field-, and record-level access controls are respected. Confirm Data 360 setup and applicable entitlements with the Salesforce administrator.
Profile context Fields on a user profile, such as name, locale, or time zone, that can personalize an answer. Works independently of Agent Memory and does not appear in the memories users view or manage.
Data Library / RAG Retrieved organizational material—such as indexed knowledge, fields, files, or supported web sources—used to ground an answer. Requires Data 360 setup and consumes Data 360 credits. It supplies source material; it does not establish that the agent remembers a user’s earlier conversations.

Salesforce documentation describes these product behaviors; it does not provide independent comparative performance results or a universal cost comparison. For a Data Library, confirm supported sources and permissions for the specific org. Salesforce says Knowledge and Files are not supported as library sources in Data Cloud One companion orgs, where a custom retriever should be used.

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Use Agent Memory for one user returning to one agent

Agent Memory identifies relevant details in conversations, stores them, and uses them as context in future conversations. The memories are separate for each user and agent: an agent’s memories are not automatically shared with another agent. Salesforce documents a limit of 50 memories for each user-agent pair, with the oldest removed when the limit is reached. This is a cap on stored memories, not a stated limit on transcript history or memory tokens.

Employee agents: capture starts after opt-in

For Agentforce Employee agents in Lightning Experience, Salesforce says memory capture begins only after the user opts in. Make that choice visible and explain what information may be retained before enabling the feature for employees.

Service agents: add conversational memory management

For Agentforce Service agents, users manage memories conversationally after the builder adds the User Memory Management subagent; it is not added automatically. Salesforce says Service-agent channels do not have a separate disclaimer or opt-in step. A user can ask, “Show what you remember about me.”

If Agent Memory is disabled, Salesforce says the agent stops using stored memories but retains them; they can be used again if memory is re-enabled. Disabling the feature therefore is not the same as deleting stored memories. Decide how people can review or manage memory in the supported experience, and communicate the difference between pausing use and removing information.

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Use Data 360 when context must follow a person across agents

Salesforce documents Data 360 Agentic Memory and Context for persistent conversation memory and context retrieval. It can extract facts, preferences, and summaries on a periodic cadence; the GetContext capability retrieves context on demand. Linking memory to a Unified Individual supports continuity across agents, which standard Agent Memory does not provide automatically.

Salesforce states that conversations, session summaries, and profile memories become available for context retrieval “within seconds of ingestion.” This is a vendor capability statement, not an independently measured latency result or a universal service-level guarantee. Salesforce also says this context respects object-, field-, and record-level access controls.

Documented use cases include multi-turn support, sales follow-up, web-agent personalization, handoffs, and employee-assistant scenarios. Before designing around cross-agent context, confirm the identity linkage, Data 360 configuration, applicable access controls, and entitlements in the target org.

Keep workflow state, profile facts, and knowledge retrieval separate

Variables are for deterministic workflow state

Use structured Agentforce variables when an action sequence needs to carry a known value forward—for example, retaining troubleshooting steps as an interaction proceeds. Salesforce’s April 2025 developer article calls these “structured short-term memory variables.” They can flow into and out of actions and help determine whether an action or topic runs; they are not a substitute for remembering a user in a later session.

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Profile context is for existing user attributes

Use profile fields for facts already represented on the user’s record, such as a locale or time zone. Because profile context is independent of Agent Memory, a personalized response based on a profile field does not mean that the agent saved the detail from a conversation.

Data Library is for organizational knowledge

Use retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) when an answer should draw on company material. A Data Library indexes supported organizational knowledge, fields, files, or web sources so the agent can retrieve relevant material for a response. That retrieval is complementary to personal memory: a policy document can ground an answer, but it does not by itself preserve what a particular user said in an earlier conversation.

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Plan a persistent-memory implementation

  1. Write down the persistence requirement. Specify whether context must survive only across actions, recur for the same user with one agent, or transfer across agents. Name the information to retain and the people or agents that may use it.
  2. Map information to the right mechanism. Use variables for structured interaction state, Agent Memory for user-specific continuity with one agent, Data 360 Agentic Memory and Context for governed cross-session or cross-agent continuity, profile fields for existing record attributes, and Data Library retrieval for organizational source material.
  3. Set the user-control experience. For Employee agents in Lightning Experience, account for the opt-in before capture. For Service agents, add the User Memory Management subagent if conversational management is required, and explain that Salesforce documents no separate opt-in step for those channels.
  4. Define identity and access boundaries. For Data 360 continuity, establish how memory is linked to a Unified Individual and verify that the documented object-, field-, and record-level controls align with the intended access. For Agent Memory, account for its per-user, per-agent separation.
  5. Verify Data 360 and source requirements. A Data Library requires Data 360 setup and consumes credits. Check source support, retriever permissions, and the Data Cloud One companion-org limitation before choosing a library design.
  6. Confirm product availability and licensing in the target org. Salesforce’s setup page says Agentforce (Default) stopped receiving new features or improvements and was no longer available in new Salesforce environments beginning June 17, 2025; it recommends migration to Agentforce Employee agent for continued enhancements and support. Edition availability and add-on licensing vary by agent type, so ask the org’s Salesforce administrator to verify current entitlements and migration plans rather than relying on an older setup guide.

What the available documentation does—and does not—establish

The product details above reflect Salesforce Help and Salesforce Developers documentation reviewed on October 7, 2026. The reviewed Agent Memory Help page was Norwegian-localized and did not display a publication year for the 50-memory limit; verify implementation details against the current English Help page and the target org. Salesforce’s descriptions establish documented capabilities, not independent evidence of memory-extraction accuracy, real-world improvement, or comparative cost and performance.

Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.

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