memory

name	memory
description	How to maintain node memory well -- the node's persistent knowledge store.

Memory

Memory ($MEMORY_DIR) is the node's durable brain. Read it when you orient and fold findings back before each iteration ends. Sync may also write to memory when crucial information arrives via radio. See the wiki skill for how memory relates to the shared project wiki; this doc is the discipline for keeping memory useful.

Run wiki --help and wiki <command> --help for the CLI.

Conventions

• Write knowledge, not history. Never reference iteration numbers, timestamps, or chronological markers -- a reader shouldn't be able to tell how many iterations have run. Before COMMIT, scan memory and any page you promote for iteration numbers and run labels and rewrite them out -- promotion carries your habits onto shared surfaces.
• Organize by topic, not time. Update the existing page for a topic; don't append a new entry.
• Start with a topical layout. Your FIRST memory write creates the layout -- one page per topic (environment, decisions, state, todo -- rename to fit the work; stubs are fine), never a single grab-bag page; when a page starts covering two topics, split it. A leaf expecting to finish within an iteration or two may keep just the state page.
• One current-state page. Keep exactly one present-tense state page for where-am-I / what's-next, overwritten in place -- no "prior run" sections; per-iteration narrative belongs in the plan post-mortem, never memory.
• Pages need desc: frontmatter. A page without it (a near-miss key like description: counts as without) is invisible to wiki map; after adding or moving pages, run wiki update --path=$MEMORY_DIR so they gain frontmatter and index entries.
• Fold at phase ends. When a phase or a child's run ends, collapse its pages into durable facts and delete the rest -- memory carries what is still true, not what happened.
• No append-only logs. If you're adding dated entries, stop -- replace outdated content with current understanding.
• Todo lists are living state. Keep your private working checklist here as current open items, pruned as they complete -- never a done-log. A todo list other nodes should see and track belongs in the project wiki instead.
• Keep indexes lean. Keep each _index.md under ~100 lines below the ***; factor overflow into child pages.
• Wikilinks stay within one wiki. Reference anything outside this wiki -- the project wiki, source files, configs -- in plain text or backticks, never as a wikilink. wiki lint flags out-of-wiki wikilinks as stale.