diff --git a/tools/plugins/memory-bridge/scripts/remember.sh b/tools/plugins/memory-bridge/scripts/remember.sh
index c2a1bb89e7..d6e0b76662 100644
--- a/tools/plugins/memory-bridge/scripts/remember.sh
+++ b/tools/plugins/memory-bridge/scripts/remember.sh
@@ -25,9 +25,45 @@ PERSONA="$(resolve_agent_persona)"
 [ -n "${PERSONA:-}" ] || { echo "remember: could not resolve agent persona (airc peer id)" >&2; exit 1; }
 SCOPE="$(basename "$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel 2>/dev/null || pwd)")"
 
-if "$CONTINUUM" memory/remember --persona_id "$PERSONA" --content "$CONTENT" --scope "$SCOPE" 2>/dev/null | grep -q '"appended"\|"remembered"\|"id"'; then
+# BOUND THE CALL AND KEEP THE REAL ERROR.
+#
+# This was `... 2>/dev/null | grep -q ...` with no timeout, and it had two
+# defects that compounded into "the memory system silently does nothing":
+#
+#   1. NO TIMEOUT. `memory/remember` dispatches to a running core. With no core
+#      up, the CLI blocks indefinitely, so this script HUNG instead of failing.
+#      Measured 2026-08-13: an agent's `remember` sat 300s and was killed by the
+#      caller's timeout (exit 143). Nothing stored, nothing reported, and the
+#      lesson it was preserving was the one about not hand-rolling around
+#      governed paths.
+#   2. `2>/dev/null` DISCARDED THE CAUSE. The fallback line could only GUESS
+#      ("is the server up?"), so the one diagnostic that would have named it —
+#      the CLI's own stderr — was thrown away on every failure.
+#
+# A memory tool that fails silently is worse than none: the agent believes the
+# correction is durable, stops carrying it in context, and re-learns it next
+# session. That is the whole failure mode this plugin exists to prevent.
+#
+# 20s is generous for a local IPC round-trip and short enough that a missing
+# core is reported while the operator is still watching.
+REMEMBER_TIMEOUT="${REMEMBER_TIMEOUT:-20}"
+err_file="$(mktemp)"
+trap 'rm -f "$err_file"' EXIT
+
+if out="$(timeout "$REMEMBER_TIMEOUT" "$CONTINUUM" memory/remember \
+      --persona_id "$PERSONA" --content "$CONTENT" --scope "$SCOPE" 2>"$err_file")" \
+   && printf '%s' "$out" | grep -q '"appended"\|"remembered"\|"id"'; then
   echo "remembered (scope: $SCOPE): ${CONTENT:0:80}"
 else
-  echo "remember: continuum memory/remember failed (is the server up? try: continuum ping)" >&2
+  status=$?
+  err="$(tr -d '\r' < "$err_file" | tail -3)"
+  if [ "$status" -eq 124 ]; then
+    echo "remember: TIMED OUT after ${REMEMBER_TIMEOUT}s — the continuum core did not answer." >&2
+    echo "  NOTHING WAS STORED. Start the core (npm start), then re-run." >&2
+  else
+    echo "remember: continuum memory/remember FAILED (exit $status) — NOTHING WAS STORED." >&2
+    [ -n "$err" ] && echo "  cause: $err" >&2
+    echo "  check the core is up: continuum ping" >&2
+  fi
   exit 1
 fi