mempalace-conventions

name	mempalace-conventions
description	Canonical reference for how mempalace commands and agents integrate with the MemPalace MCP server. Use when authoring or maintaining a mempalace command or agent — exact tool naming, palace vocabulary, and error-handling rules live here.
user-invocable	false

MemPalace Conventions

What It Does

Documents the integration conventions for the MemPalace MCP server: tool naming, palace structure terminology (wings/rooms/halls/tunnels), memory type classifiers, search filter patterns, knowledge graph triple format, error handling, graceful degradation, and input validation.

When to Use

Load when authoring or maintaining mempalace commands and agents — anywhere you need the canonical MCP tool name, palace vocabulary, error-handling table, or input validation rules.

Usage

MCP Tool Naming

All tools follow the pattern: mcp__plugin_yellow-mempalace_mempalace__mempalace_<tool_name>

Example: mcp__plugin_yellow-mempalace_mempalace__mempalace_search

Palace Structure Terminology

Term	Description	Example
Wing	Top-level container (project, person, topic)	wing_myproject
Room	Specific subject within a wing	auth-migration
Hall	Memory type classifier within a wing	hall_facts
Tunnel	Cross-wing connection (room in multiple wings)	jwt-setup in both auth and myproject
Closet	Summary pointing to original content	Compressed overview
Drawer	Original verbatim content (never summarized)	Raw source text

Memory Types (Halls)

Hall	Purpose	Example Content
hall_facts	Decisions and locked-in choices	"We chose GraphQL over REST"
hall_events	Sessions, milestones, debugging	"Auth migration completed 2026-03-15"
hall_discoveries	Breakthroughs and insights	"ChromaDB performs 3x better with room filtering"
hall_preferences	Habits, opinions, likes	"Team prefers conventional commits"
hall_advice	Recommendations and solutions	"Use pipx for Python tools to avoid PEP 668"

Search Filter Patterns

Use mempalace_search for all semantic queries. It accepts optional wing and room filter parameters that narrow the embedding scan to the named location:

1. Unfiltered: mempalace_search(query) — broad search across the entire palace
2. Wing-scoped: mempalace_search(query, wing=<name>) — narrows to a single wing for higher precision
3. Room-scoped: mempalace_search(query, wing=<name>, room=<name>) — narrowest scope; use when both location terms are known

There is no hall filter parameter on mempalace_search. Hall types (hall_facts, hall_events, etc.) categorize content but are not selectable via the search API; surface this as a known limitation if a caller asks for hall-filtered results.

Knowledge Graph Triple Format

subject --predicate--> object
  valid_from: YYYY-MM-DD
  valid_to: YYYY-MM-DD (or null if still valid)
  source_closet: reference to source

• Use mempalace_kg_query with as_of date to see point-in-time state
• Use mempalace_kg_invalidate to end a fact's validity (never delete)
• Use mempalace_kg_timeline for chronological entity history

Error Handling

Error	Action
MCP tool not found	Run ToolSearch to discover tools; suggest /mempalace:setup
MCP execution error	Report error; suggest checking mempalace status
Palace not initialized	Suggest mempalace init or /mempalace:setup
Empty search results	Suggest broadening query or checking /mempalace:status
Duplicate detected	Show existing drawer; ask user whether to proceed

Graceful Degradation

• If MCP tools are unavailable: report clearly, suggest /mempalace:setup
• If palace is empty: guide user to /mempalace:mine for initial indexing
• If ChromaDB cold start delays: first MCP call may take 2-5 seconds — this is normal
• Never silently fail — always report the issue to the user

Input Validation

• Search queries: strip HTML tags, max 1000 characters
• Wing/room names: lowercase, alphanumeric with hyphens
• KG entities: non-empty strings, max 200 characters
• Content for drawers: non-empty, verbatim (never summarize before filing)