memory-compress

name	memory-compress
description	Fact-dense rewrite of agent memory prose (tier-0 notes, digests) without losing technical substance. Companion to /memory-distill. Zero external deps.

Memory Compress

Optional brevity pass for memory content — not a full distillation (no tier promotion). Goal: same facts, fewer tokens, so session loads stay lean.

When

Caller	When
/memory-distill	Optional pre-step on raw tier-0 rows before digest LLM (if user asks, or MEMORY_COMPRESS=1)
Manual	User asks to compress cortex/lessons/memory prose

Skip when MEMORY_COMPRESS=0 or content is already bullet-dense.

Rules (MUST)

1. Preserve every technical fact — names, paths, IDs, versions, constraints, decisions, “do not” rules
2. Prefer bullets over paragraphs; one fact per line when possible
3. Drop greetings, hedges, restatements, “as discussed”, process narration
4. Keep code snippets, commands, and error strings byte-exact
5. Do not invent facts or change meaning
6. Do not delete archived markers or tier semantics — this is prose only

Output shape

- Fact one (path/to/file: detail)
- Fact two — constraint
- DO NOT: <rule>

Target: roughly 40–60% fewer tokens on verbose narrative; already-tight bullets may stay near 100%.

Protocol snippet

# Example: dump one agent's tier-0 for compress, then UPDATE content after rewrite
_gc=$(git rev-parse --git-common-dir 2>/dev/null) \
  && MROOT=$(cd "$(dirname "$_gc")" && pwd) \
  || MROOT=$(pwd)
MEMDB="$MROOT/.claude/memory/memory.db"
# Caller selects rows, rewrites with this skill's rules, writes back via
# memory-store UPDATE protocol — never delete history without distill.

When rewriting .md fallback files (cortex.md / memory.md / lessons.md), preserve headers; compress body sections only.