Compare
MADB vs RAG
RAG retrieves knowledge. MADB remembers experience.
| Dimension | RAG | MADB |
|---|---|---|
| Source | External document corpus | The agent’s own actions and results |
| Question answered | "What does the corpus say?" | "What did I do, and why?" |
| Causality | None | caused_by + trace_cause |
| Persistence | Static knowledge base | Memory that grows as the agent works |
| Together | — | Use RAG for knowledge, MADB for memory |
RAG and MADB aren’t rivals — RAG grounds an agent in external knowledge, MADB grounds it in its own memory and decision lineage. Many teams run both.