telos

name	telos
description	Personal context management. Use when discussing goals, beliefs, challenges, identity, updating telos, life context, changing a goal, what do I believe, current obstacles, mission, or strategies.
argument-hint	["area to view or update"]

Manage the user's TELOS files — from Greek τέλος (télos), meaning end/purpose/goal. The persistent personal context that orients PAL around who the user is and what they're working toward.

TELOS Files

All files live in ~/.pal/telos/:

File	Contains
GOALS.md	Short/medium/long-term goals
BELIEFS.md	Core principles and values
CHALLENGES.md	Current obstacles
MISSION.md	Purpose and direction
STRATEGIES.md	Approaches and plans
IDEAS.md	Ideas to explore
LEARNED.md	Key lessons
MODELS.md	Mental models
NARRATIVES.md	Narrative context

Reading

Read the file directly from ~/.pal/telos/ when the user asks about any area. Summarize what's relevant — don't dump the entire file unless asked.

Updating

Appends content, creates backup, logs the change:

bun ~/.pal/skills/telos/tools/update-telos.ts <FILE> "<content>" "<description>"

Routing

Intent	Action
"my goals", "what are my goals"	Read GOALS.md, present current state
"update goals/beliefs/challenges"	Read the target file, discuss changes with user, then run update tool
"what do I believe", "my principles"	Read BELIEFS.md
"current obstacles", "challenges"	Read CHALLENGES.md
"I learned something", "lesson"	Discuss, then append to LEARNED.md via tool
"I have an idea"	Discuss, then append to IDEAS.md via tool
General "update telos", "telos"	Ask which area to review/update

Examples

Updating goals

User: "I finished the migration, update my goals"
→ Read GOALS.md to see current state
→ Discuss what changed — what's done, what's next
→ Run tool with updated content
→ Remind: CLAUDE.md regenerates next session

Anti-patterns

• Don't dump raw file contents. Summarize what's relevant to the user's question. They can ask for the full file if needed.
• Don't update without confirming. Always show what you'll change and get a "yes" before running the tool.
• Don't create new TELOS files. Only the 9 listed files are valid. If something doesn't fit, suggest the closest match.
• Don't mix TELOS with identity. AI/principal identity lives in pal-settings.json, not TELOS. TELOS is personal context — goals, beliefs, challenges.
• Don't reference stale data. If TELOS was loaded earlier in the session via context routing, re-read the file before updating — it may have changed.

Rules

• Always read the file first before making changes — match the existing format exactly
• Confirm changes with the user before running the update tool
• Always use the tool for writes — never edit TELOS files directly
• CLAUDE.md auto-regenerates from these files on next session start