The update method modifies an existing memory record’s content or metadata. It returns the updated CognisMemoryRecord after the change is applied.
update() is a hosted-only method. The open-source lyzr-cognis package handles updates automatically — when you add() messages containing updated facts, the extraction pipeline deduplicates and updates existing memories based on similarity thresholds.
Basic Usage
from lyzr import Cognis
cog = Cognis(api_key="sk-your-api-key")
updated = cog.update(
memory_id="mem_abc123",
content="User's name is Alice Johnson (updated)",
)
print(updated.content)
Method Signature
cog.update(
memory_id: str,
content: str | None = None,
metadata: Dict[str, Any] | None = None,
owner_id: str | None = None,
) -> CognisMemoryRecord
Parameters
| Parameter | Type | Required | Description |
|---|
memory_id | str | Yes | The ID of the memory to update. |
content | str | No | New content to replace the existing memory text. |
metadata | Dict[str, Any] | No | New metadata to attach to the memory. |
owner_id | str | No | Owner identifier for scoping. |
Response
Returns the updated CognisMemoryRecord with all fields reflecting the changes:
{
"id": "mem_abc123",
"content": "User's name is Alice Johnson (updated)",
"owner_id": "user_alice",
"version": 2,
"is_current": true,
"updated_at": "2025-01-15T12:00:00Z"
}
Update Content
# Search for the memory first
results = cog.search(query="user's name", owner_id="user_alice")
memory_id = results[0].id
# Update the content
updated = cog.update(
memory_id=memory_id,
content="User's name is Alice Johnson, she recently got married.",
)
print(f"Updated: {updated.content}")
print(f"Version: {updated.version}")
updated = cog.update(
memory_id="mem_abc123",
metadata={"category": "personal", "confidence": 0.95},
)
print(updated.metadata)
# {"category": "personal", "confidence": 0.95}
Update Both Content and Metadata
updated = cog.update(
memory_id="mem_abc123",
content="User prefers Python 3.12 for new projects.",
metadata={"topic": "programming", "last_verified": "2025-01-15"},
)
Search, Update, and Verify Workflow
A common pattern is to search for a memory, update it, and verify the change:
# 1. Search for relevant memory
results = cog.search(query="programming language", owner_id="user_alice")
if results:
memory_id = results[0].id
print(f"Found: {results[0].content}")
# 2. Update it
updated = cog.update(
memory_id=memory_id,
content="User is proficient in Python, TypeScript, and Rust.",
)
# 3. Verify
verified = cog.get_memory(memory_id=memory_id)
print(f"Verified: {verified.content}")
Async Usage
import asyncio
from lyzr import Cognis
async def main():
async with Cognis(api_key="sk-your-api-key") as cog:
updated = await cog.aupdate(
memory_id="mem_abc123",
content="Updated memory content",
metadata={"source": "manual_update"},
)
print(updated.content)
asyncio.run(main())
Use include_historical=True in cog.get() to retrieve previous versions of a memory after updating it. This lets you track how a memory has changed over time.
