`observation_add` / `memory_add` fail with 400 in server-beta mode

[arclabch]

Before submitting

• I searched existing issues and confirmed this is not a duplicate

---

📝 Manual Bug Report

Bug Description

observation_add and memory_add MCP tools always fail with a 400 ValidationError in server-beta mode. The content field is provided by the caller but arrives as undefined at the server.

Server beta POST /v1/memories returned 400:
{"error":"ValidationError","issues":[{"expected":"string","code":"invalid_type","path":["content"],"message":"Invalid input: expected string, received undefined"}]}

Root cause: In mcp-server.cjs, the buildAddObservationPayload method in the ServerBetaClient class maps the content value to the legacy field name narrative instead of content:

buildAddObservationPayload(e) {
  let r = e.content,           // ← reads content correctly
      n = e.kind ?? "manual",
      ...
  return {
    projectId: e.projectId,
    kind: n,
    type: n,
    narrative: r,              // ← BUG: should be `content: r`
    ...
  }
}

The server-beta POST /v1/memories endpoint expects content, not narrative. The field narrative is the legacy worker-mode name and was not updated when the server-beta payload builder was written.

Read operations (observation_search, get_observations, timeline) are unaffected — they use a separate buildSearchPayload method that doesn't touch the content/narrative field.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Configure claude-mem in server-beta mode (PostgreSQL + Valkey/BullMQ)
2. Call the observation_add MCP tool with a content parameter
3. Receive 400 ValidationError — content is undefined
4. Same result with memory_add (and its narrative legacy alias)

Expected Behavior

The observation should be created and returned with the provided content.

Environment

• Claude-mem version: 13.6.1 (latest on npm)
• Claude Code version: 2.1.179
• OS: Linux 6.12.90+deb13.1-amd64 x86_64
• Platform: Debian 13, server-beta mode with PostgreSQL + Valkey

Logs

The 400 error is surfaced client-side in the MCP tool result, not in the worker log. Worker log shows no corresponding error for these calls — the request is rejected by the server-beta HTTP layer before reaching the queue.

Server beta POST /v1/memories returned 400:
{"error":"ValidationError","issues":[{"expected":"string","code":"invalid_type","path":["content"],"message":"Invalid input: expected string, received undefined"}]}

Additional Context

• Fix confirmed locally: changing narrative: r to content: r in buildAddObservationPayload resolves the issue — write-read round-trip verified after patching and restarting the session.
• Only the write path is affected. All read/search tools work correctly.
• The memory_add compatibility alias constructs content from t?.content ?? t?.narrative ?? "" then feeds it into the same broken buildAddObservationPayload, so it fails identically.

[arclabch]

Closing — no longer pursuing these changes. Project uninstalled on our end. Thank you for the project.