Hierarchical memory management in agent harnesses | LinkedIn
February 3, 2026
We’ve seen incredible momentum toward files as the memory layer for agents, and this has accelerated significantly over the last year. But why use the file system, and why use Unix commands? What are the advantages these tools provide over alternatives like semantic search, databases, and simply very long context windows?
What a file system provides for an agent, along with tools to search and access it, is the ability to make a fixed context feel effectively infinite in size.
Bash commands are powerful for agents because they provide composable tools that can be piped together to accomplish surprisingly complex tasks. They also remove the need for tool definition JSON, since bash commands are already known to the LLM.
It’s fascinating that a well over 50 year old operating system and approach to operating systems that are the Unix seems to empower agents to work autonomously. Here Aparna Dhinakaran looks why Unix commands and the Unix approach of small pieces loosely coupled and piping from one function to the next is so effective.
