permanent-memory-loader

name	permanent-memory-loader
description	Loads permanent_memory.md summary lines (≤120 always-loaded tokens, hard cap 200). Surfaces durable wisdom from past Epics into the current session. Silent if .claude/memory/ does not exist.
when_to_use	Every Claude turn when .claude/memory/permanent_memory.md exists; loads section headers + 1-line summaries only, never the full body
autoInvoke	true
allowed-tools	Read, Glob
effort	low
user-invocable	false

AI-consumed reference. Optimized for Claude to read during execution. Human-readable explanation: see docs/architecture/HIERARCHICAL_PLANNING.md or docs/getting-started/ depending on topic.

Permanent Memory Loader

STATUS — v3.7.0-alpha.4 (Milestone C interim). Auto-invoke complement to epic-summarizer.

Behavior (in order)

1. Detect: if .claude/memory/permanent_memory.md does NOT exist → exit silently (no overhead)
2. Read the file, extract:
   • Each ## Epic: <ID> — <intent> header
   • For each Epic, the first non-empty line of each subsection (Architectural decisions, Gotchas discovered, Anti-patterns to avoid, Patterns that worked, Conflicts encountered)
3. Compose a compact context block: 1 line per Epic, 1 sub-line per subsection (≤120 chars each)
4. Stamp with trust: file per memory-trust-policy.md (memory content is read-verified, not user-canonical)

Token budget

budget[3]{layer,target,hard_cap}:
  always_loaded,120,200
  per_epic_summary,12,20
  per_subsection_line,1,2

Auto-degradation when budget exceeded:

1. Drop Tentative subsection lines first
2. Trim "Patterns that worked" lines (keeping decisions + gotchas)
3. Show Epic IDs only — no subsection lines
4. Skip entirely if file > 8000 tokens (extreme; suggests epic-summarizer cap was bypassed)

What this skill loads (example output)

[permanent-memory | trust:file]
Epic FEAT-007 (JWT auth):
  decisions: token storage in httpOnly cookie (DEC-001)
  gotchas: refresh-token rotation requires CSRF re-issue
Epic FEAT-008 (Profile avatars):
  decisions: deferred to S3 over base64 inline
  anti-patterns: never store image bytes in postgres TEXT

What this skill does NOT do

• Does NOT load the full Epic body — only summary lines
• Does NOT load .claude/memory/manual_overrides.md (that's user-curated; treated separately)
• Does NOT modify memory files (read-only)
• Does NOT make decisions based on memory content (caller decides)
• Does NOT trigger across projects (project-isolated; per .claude/memory/ is per-project)

Memory staleness

If an Epic section is older than 90 days (parsed from its **Completed:** line), the loader prefixes it with (>90d may be outdated). This is per spec §29 risk register: "Permanent memory stale wisdom".

Tie-Ins

• Spec: §9.6, §19.2 (permanent_memory.md structure)
• Producer: agents/epic-summarizer.md — only writer of the content this skill loads
• Producer (manual): .claude/memory/manual_overrides.md — user-curated; loaded separately by name (not via this skill)
• Rule: rules/core/memory-trust-policy.md — defines trust: file semantics for loaded content
• Rule: rules/workflow/session-reset-policy.md — defines what's preserved across reset (this content is)
• Companion auto-invoke skill: plan-loader — both fire silently when their files don't exist