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Relay documents editable memory, resumable sessions, and a separate retry rule for autonomous gates. It does not document a general system that automatically records failed support recommendations and prevents them from recurring. The distinction matters: saved context can help Relay continue work, but it is not a promise that Relay will avoid repeating every unsuccessful troubleshooting step.
What Relay says it remembers
Relay’s documentation describes the /memory command, also available as /refine, for updating what Relay remembers. The documented items include notes, skills, and subagents. The documentation does not specify that Relay automatically logs failed support steps or learns to suppress them in future recommendations.
That makes the memory command an editable way to shape what Relay retains, not a documented failure-tracking system. If you want a useful lesson to carry forward, you can update memory yourself; the cited documentation does not promise that Relay will infer or record that lesson automatically.
How saved sessions differ from memory
Relay automatically saves sessions as flat JSONL files under ~/.relay/agent/sessions/. Its documentation says a user can continue or resume a session, while the --no-session option disables session saving.
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A resumed session can preserve the context of a prior interaction, including what happened during that interaction. That is different from a guarantee that Relay will recognize a failed suggestion and avoid offering it again, either later in the same session or in a new one. The documentation describes session persistence and resumption, not automatic suppression of repeated advice.
What happens when an autonomous gate fails
Relay documents one narrower case in its autonomous options guide: when a configured gate fails, bounded command output is supplied to the next continuation so the agent can attempt a repair. Relay says it avoids rerunning an unchanged failed gate and advances its attempt count instead.
This is a gate-specific retry behavior. It should not be generalized to ordinary support conversations, arbitrary tool calls, or troubleshooting recommendations. The documentation does not specify the contents or retention of the bounded output beyond its use in the next continuation.
How the three mechanisms compare
| Mechanism | What the documentation supports | What it does not establish |
|---|---|---|
Memory command (/memory or /refine) |
A user can update remembered notes, skills, and subagents. | Automatic logging of failed support steps or a guarantee against repeating them. |
| Saved session | Session data is saved automatically as JSONL under ~/.relay/agent/sessions/ and can be continued or resumed. |
A guarantee that Relay will identify failed advice and suppress it in later recommendations. |
| Autonomous gate handling | For a configured gate, bounded failure output goes to the next continuation; an unchanged failed gate is not rerun. | A general rule for every failed action, conversation, or recommendation. |
Does reaching an autonomous limit mean the task succeeded?
No. Relay’s autonomous usage guidance says a limit stops continuation; reaching that limit does not establish that the task succeeded. Treat completion as something to verify from the task’s actual result, rather than inferring success from the run ending.
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Practical takeaway
- Use a saved session when you need to resume work with its prior context.
- Use
/memoryor/refineto explicitly update the notes, skills, or subagents Relay should remember. - Expect unchanged-failure avoidance only for the documented case of configured autonomous gates—not as a universal promise about support steps.
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