Claude Secret Chat and Data Governance - Relationship with Audit Logs and Data Export

Introduction

Claude has a Secret Chat (Incognito Chats) feature that doesn't remain in history or memory^[1]. This is a chat-specific feature that doesn't exist in Claude Code or Cowork.

On September 18, 2025, Anthropic released the memory feature for Enterprise plans. If you introduce a feature to remember (memory), you also need the right to be forgotten (secret). Secret chat was released simultaneously with memory as an opt-out means for memory.

Difference between Chat History and Memory

To understand how secret chat works, you need to understand the difference between "chat history" and "memory" in the chat feature.

Chat history is the list of conversations displayed in the sidebar. It's used to reference and resume past chats. It's just a record within that conversation and doesn't affect other chats.

Memory is information that Claude retains across multiple conversations. It's a mechanism where information conveyed in one conversation is reflected in new chats.

Secret chat doesn't reference information learned from past conversations (memory), nor does it remember conversation content for future use.

Claude Code/Cowork Memory is Different from Chat Memory

Claude Code/Cowork doesn't have an equivalent to the secret chat feature.

Chat memory is stored on Anthropic's server side. On the other hand, Claude Code and Cowork memory works in a completely different way, managed as files on the local machine.

Taking Claude Code as an example, there are two types of memory that appear in the documentation:

• CLAUDE.md: A persistent instruction file written by the user. Describes project coding conventions, workflows, etc.
• Auto Memory: A mechanism that automatically writes what Claude has learned during a session to a markdown file. Saved to ~/.claude/projects/<project>/memory/. Reference

Of these, Auto Memory is the feature closest to chat memory.

Relationship with Data Governance

Secret chat doesn't remain in individual user history or memory, but it does remain in organizational management functions. Secret chat has a note that says "Chat history is still visible to your admin." More specifically, secret chat is subject to administrative functions such as audit logs (operation history) and data export (conversation content).

Finally

Secret chat is a privacy mode that pairs with the memory feature. Users can use secret chat for conversations they don't want to be remembered, and regular mode for everything else.

However, remember that while secret chat doesn't remain in user history or memory, it does remain in administrative records (audit logs and data exports).

References

• How Claude remembers your project | Claude Code Docs
• Using incognito chats | Claude Help Center
• Use Claude's chat search and memory to build on previous context | Claude Help Center