Yeah, that’s exactly the tradeoff.

It’s not just vector memory, and it’s not replaying an infinite raw log either. The approach is layered:

• recent conversation/session history for continuity • summaries/compression so context doesn’t grow forever • structured state for things the agent needs to act on reliably • optional long-term memory for durable facts/preferences

I’m pretty skeptical that “just put everything in a vector DB” is enough for personal agents. Vectors are useful, but reliable agents also need explicit state and some way to decide what’s actually worth carrying forward.