memory-conventions

name	memory-conventions
description	Read and write durable agent memory in the personal Obsidian vault at $AGENT_MEMORY_VAULT. Use at session start to recall context, when the user states a lasting preference, decision, or fact, or when asked to remember, recall, or forget something.

Memory Conventions

Durable, cross-harness agent memory lives in the vault at $AGENT_MEMORY_VAULT. Access is direct file operations — no CLI or app required, works headless on every harness.

Layout

The agent/ directory is an OKF-conformant bundle (markdown + YAML frontmatter; permissive consumption — never reject a malformed fact).

$AGENT_MEMORY_VAULT/
  agent/
    index.md        # the only file loaded at session start
    log.md          # append-only history (temporal layer)
    facts/<slug>.md # one fact per note, semantic kebab-slug filename

Session start

Read agent/index.md only (hard cap 200 lines / 25KB). Load individual facts on demand when their hook matches the task.

index.md is a pure listing (OKF §6): a heading and link entries, nothing else. Its only frontmatter is okf_version: "0.1" at the bundle root. Conventions prose lives here in this skill, never in the index.

Writing a fact

When the user states something durable (preference, decision, constraint, reference):

1. Create agent/facts/<kebab-slug>.md — the slug names the concept, never a timestamp (concept = identity; update in place):

---
type: user|feedback|project|reference
title: <display name>
description: <one line — becomes the index hook>
created: <ISO 8601 with seconds, UTC, e.g. 2026-07-12T18:42:07Z>
updated: <same format>
source: <where this came from>
---

<the fact, one per note; absolute dates; [[wiki-links]] to related facts>

2. Add one index line: a markdown list item linking the fact — link text is the title, target is facts/<slug>.md, followed by — <description>.
3. Append to agent/log.md under a ## YYYY-MM-DD heading (newest day first). Entry: bold operation verb (**Create**, **Update**, **Delete**), the fact's title linked to its file, — <reason>, and the UTC time (HH:MM:SSZ).

Maintaining

• Update or delete stale facts; never duplicate them.
• Check the index for an existing fact before creating a new one.
• Session-scoped notes stay in the harness's native memory, not here.

Guardrails

• The vault must be personal storage — never an employer-synced location (sync doctor enforces this).
• If $AGENT_MEMORY_VAULT is unset or missing, say so and skip memory operations; do not invent a location.