---
id: 89f32ef3-2d87-4b8c-aa6e-ce5a7f60566c
type: fix
title: "Fix: Partial UUID prefix matching in cognitive memory client (git-style)"
tags: [cognitive-memory, fix, uuid, mcp, client.py, claude-configs]
importance: 0.8
confidence: 0.8
created: "2026-02-28T06:03:13.780326+00:00"
updated: "2026-02-28T06:03:31.564486+00:00"
relations:
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    type: BUILDS_ON
    direction: outgoing
    strength: 0.8
    edge_id: 6100de8d-c1dc-4ec9-8981-5c65a396da0e
  - target: 59268a95-4712-48b4-bccb-6171c7885301
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---

# Partial UUID Prefix Matching in CognitiveMemoryClient

## Problem
Users had to type full UUIDs when referencing memories or edges via the client. This was inconvenient — git-style short prefix matching was missing.

## Solution
Added a `_resolve_prefix()` static method to `CognitiveMemoryClient` that resolves partial UUID prefixes to full IDs.

### Resolution logic:
1. Check for an **exact match** first (pass-through if full UUID provided)
2. Scan all IDs with `startswith(prefix)` for partial matches
3. **Single match** → returns the full ID
4. **Multiple matches** → raises `ValueError` with the list of candidate IDs
5. **No matches** → returns `None` (falls through to existing behavior)

### Applied to 4 functions:
- `_resolve_memory_path`
- `_resolve_edge_path`
- `edge_search` (both `from_id` and `to_id` params)
- `related()`

## Commit & Issue
- Committed as `471d870` on `cal/claude-configs` main branch
- Closes `cal/claude-memory#3`

## Important Note
The MCP server process must be **restarted** to pick up changes since it is long-running and does not hot-reload source files.