When Retrieval Fails Before It Begins: Structurally Indirect Prerequisite Eviction as a Retention Failure in Agentic Memory
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Minkyu Song
Author
Minkyu Song
Date
Terms in this piece · Glossary
AI agent — An AI system that doesn't just answer once but works toward a goal in a loop — taking actions, reading the results, and deciding what to do next.
token budget — A cap on how many tokens a task, session, or agent run may consume — the practical control on both cost and how long an agent will grind.
Why it matters
If your AI agentAn AI system that doesn't just answer once but works toward a goal in a loop — taking actions, reading the results, and deciding what to do next.Full definition →'s memory runs under a token budgetA cap on how many tokens a task, session, or agent run may consume — the practical control on both cost and how long an agent will grind.Full definition →, the block it needs can be evicted before retrieval ever runs — tracking what a chunk depends on, not just how well it matches the query, recovers it.
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