> For clean Markdown of any page, append .md to the page URL. > For a complete documentation index, see https://docs-beta.getzep.com/llms.txt. > For AI client integration (Claude Code, Cursor, etc.), connect to the MCP server at https://docs-beta.getzep.com/_mcp/server. # Unified context > Core Zep concepts: unified context, temporal Context Graphs, the Context Lake, governance, retrieval, facts, and Observations. > **Tip** > > Use [Get started with Zep](/use-cases) to select the graph scope and implementation path for your task. Context is the information that an agent needs to complete a task. Unified context combines related information from business systems, documents, and conversations so agents and applications can use it together. Zep is the unified context layer for enterprise data. Teams use Zep for three main solutions: * **Enterprise context graphs** combine knowledge about projects, products, operations, and business domains. * **Agent memory** provides context from previous conversations, activity, and changes. * **Customer and account context** combines records, conversations, and events for a customer or account. A [Context Graph](/graph-overview) represents facts, their relationships, and changes over time. The [Context Lake](/context-lake) manages and serves Context Graphs as one system. [Governance](/governance) controls who can manage Zep and what context each agent or application can retrieve. Source episodes provide provenance for facts and other graph data. Audit Logs record dashboard activity, and API Logs record supported API request activity. [Retrieval](/assembling-context) returns selected context from a Context Graph. The application decides how to place that context in a model request and whether an agent can use a tool or take an action. Flex Plus and Enterprise accounts can also use [Observations](/observations). These records describe patterns that Zep identifies in graph data. | Concept | Description | Docs | | ------------------------------------------ | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Unified context | Related information from different sources that agents and applications can use together. | [Docs](/concepts) | | Context Lake | Zep's system for managing and serving Context Graphs with shared governance controls. | [Docs](/context-lake) | | Context Graph | A temporal graph that represents facts, relationships, source episodes, and changes over time for a user, customer, account, project, or other subject. | [Docs](/graph-overview) | | Agent memory | Context from previous interactions, activity, and changes that an agent can retrieve for later tasks. | [Docs](/quick-start-guide) | | Zep's Context Block | An assembled string that contains relevant context types from a user's Context Graph. | [Docs](/retrieving-context#zeps-context-block) | | Context Types | The distinct primitives Zep produces from a user graph: facts, entities, episodes, thread summaries, observations, and user summary. Choose the type that fits the agent's task. | [Docs](/context-types) | | Fact Invalidation | When new data invalidates a prior fact, the time the fact became invalid is stored on that fact's edge in the Context Graph. | [Docs](/facts) | | JSON, text, and message | Data types that you can ingest into a Context Graph. | [Docs](/adding-business-data) | | Custom Entity/Edge Types | Feature allowing use of Pydantic-like classes to customize creation/retrieval of entities and relations in the Context Graph. | [Docs](/customizing-graph-structure#custom-entity-and-edge-types) | | Graph | A Context Graph addressed with `graph_id`. Use it for shared or domain context that is not owned by one Zep user. | [Docs](/create-graph) | | User graph | A Context Graph that stores context for one application user. | [Docs](/users-and-user-graphs) | | User | A Zep representation of an application user. Each user has a user graph and thread history. | [Docs](/users-and-user-graphs) | | Threads | Conversation threads of a user. By default, all messages added to any thread of that user are ingested into that user's graph. | [Docs](/threads) | | Documents | Grouping for episodes of the same source on a graph. Pass `document_id` when ingesting chunks of a PDF, export, or channel. | [Docs](/documents) | | Provenance | Source information that connects facts and graph artifacts to the episodes from which Zep derived them. | [Docs](/episodes) | | Governance | Controls for team access, agent and application access to context, source traceability, and audit activity. | [Docs](/governance) | | `graph.add` and `thread.add_messages` | Methods that add business data and chat messages, respectively. | [Business data](/adding-business-data) [Messages](/adding-messages) | | `graph.search` & `thread.get_user_context` | Low level and high level methods respectively for retrieving from the Context Graph. | [Docs](/searching-the-graph) [Docs](/retrieving-context) | | User summary instructions | Up to five instructions that specify how Zep generates a user summary. | [Docs](/user-summary-instructions) | | Debug mode | Time-limited project mode for capturing per-episode workflow logs. Flex, Flex Plus, and Enterprise accounts also capture LLM reasoning traces for selected ingestion steps. | [Docs](/debug-mode) | | Agent tool | A tool that lets an agent retrieve information from a Context Graph. | [Docs](/implement-zep-with-agents) |