diff --git a/packages/memory-service/src/episodic/index.js b/packages/memory-service/src/episodic/index.js
index 19f9c56..d18c5ec 100644
--- a/packages/memory-service/src/episodic/index.js
+++ b/packages/memory-service/src/episodic/index.js
@@ -98,27 +98,26 @@ function deleteSessionByExternalId(externalId) {
 
 // --Episodes --------------------------------------------------
 // Creates a new episode linked to a session, with user message, AI response, optional token count, and metadata
-async function createEpisode(sessionId, userMessage, aiResponse, tokenCount = null, metadata = null, projectId=null) {
+async function createEpisode(sessionId, userMessage, aiResponse, tokenCount = null, projectId=null) {
   const db = getDB();
 
   // Wrap insert + session touch in a transaction — both succeed or neither does
   const insert = db.transaction(() => {
     const stmt = db.prepare(`
-      INSERT INTO episodes (session_id, user_message, ai_response, token_count, metadata)
-      VALUES (?, ?, ?, ?, ?)
+      INSERT INTO episodes (session_id, user_message, ai_response, token_count)
+      VALUES (?, ?, ?, ?)
     `);
     const result = stmt.run(
       sessionId,
       userMessage,
       aiResponse,
       tokenCount,
-      metadata ? JSON.stringify(metadata) : null
     );
     touchSession(sessionId);
     return getEpisode(result.lastInsertRowid);
   });
 
-  const episode= insert();
+  const episode = insert();
 
   //embed ascynchronously after SQLite completes, non-blocking.  If embedding fail, the episode still saved.
   getEpisodeEmbedding(userMessage, aiResponse)
@@ -155,11 +154,12 @@ function getEpisodesBySession(sessionId, limit = EPISODIC.DEFAULT_PAGE_SIZE, off
 }
 
 // Retrieves recent episodes across all sessions, ordered by creation time descending, with a limit
-function getRecentEpisodes(limit = EPISODIC.DEFAULT_RECENT_LIMIT) {
+function getRecentEpisodes(sessionId, limit = EPISODIC.DEFAULT_RECENT_LIMIT) {
   // Cross-session recent episodes — useful for recency-based retrieval
   const db = getDB();
   const stmt = db.prepare(`
     SELECT * FROM episodes
+    WHERE session_id = ?
     ORDER BY created_at DESC
     LIMIT ?
   `);
diff --git a/packages/memory-service/src/index.js b/packages/memory-service/src/index.js
index 34cfe36..50357f4 100644
--- a/packages/memory-service/src/index.js
+++ b/packages/memory-service/src/index.js
@@ -83,9 +83,7 @@ app.patch('/sessions/by-external/:externalId', (req, res) => {
   }
 });
 
-
-
-// Updates the session's updated_at timestamp to now
+// Deletes a session and all associated episodes
 app.delete('/sessions/by-external/:externalId', (req, res) => {
   episodic.deleteSessionByExternalId(req.params.externalId);
   res.status(204).send();
@@ -103,13 +101,6 @@ app.post('/episodes', async (req, res) => {
   }
   const episode = await episodic.createEpisode(sessionId, userMessage, aiResponse, tokenCount, metadata, projectId);
 
-  console.log('[memory] create episode body:', {
-    sessionId,
-    userMessageLength: userMessage?.length,
-    aiResponseLength: aiResponse?.length,
-    tokenCount
-  });
-
   res.status(201).json(episode);
 });
 
diff --git a/packages/orchestration-service/src/chat/index.js b/packages/orchestration-service/src/chat/index.js
index 104b28a..a9d9c00 100644
--- a/packages/orchestration-service/src/chat/index.js
+++ b/packages/orchestration-service/src/chat/index.js
@@ -182,20 +182,15 @@ async function chat(externalId, userMessage, options = {}) {
   const result = await inference.complete(prompt, {...options, temperature, repeatPenalty, topP, topK});
 
   // 6. Write episode back to memory
-  memory
-    .createEpisode(
-      session.id,
-      userMessage,
-      result.text,
-      (result.evalCount || 0) + (result.promptEvalCount || 0),
-      session.project_id ?? null,
-    )
-    .catch((err) =>
-      console.error(`[orchestration] Failed to save episode`, err.message),
+  try {
+    await memory.createEpisode(
+        session.id, userMessage, result.text,
+        (result.evalCount || 0) + (result.promptEvalCount || 0),
+        session.project_id ?? null,
     );
-
-  // 7. Trigger summarization check (fire-and-forget)
-  // Pass full episodes list so summarization can sum tokens accurately
+  } catch (err) {
+      console.error('[orchestration] Failed to save episode:', err.message);
+  }
   const allEpisodes = await memory.getRecentEpisodes(session.id, 9999);
   triggerSummary(session, allEpisodes);
   
@@ -258,7 +253,6 @@ async function chatStream(externalId, userMessage, onChunk, options = {}) {
     );
 
     const entities = await getRelevantEntities(userMessage, session.project_id ?? null);
-    console.log('[orchestration] entity search projectId:', session.project_id ?? null);
 
     const prompt = buildPrompt(
       recentEpisodes,