meta-collect-knowledge

name

meta-collect-knowledge

description

Use to pull in knowledge from your OTHER projects or trees that is relevant to the current one - on "collect knowledge", "/collect-knowledge", when starting/seeding a fresh project, or when a learning reveals a topic this project now touches. Cascade only flows down one ancestor chain, so useful knowledge filed in a sibling project or another knowledge tree is otherwise invisible here; this gathers it in safely. Also runs as the inbound pass of bitranox:meta-dream-crosstree.

meta-collect-knowledge

Memory cascades DOWN one ancestor chain, so knowledge filed in a SIBLING project - or in a completely different knowledge TREE (a machine can carry several independent tree tops) - never reaches the current project on its own. This skill is the inbound gather: find knowledge elsewhere that is relevant here and bring it in safely.

REQUIRED BACKGROUND: the storage spec (trees/anchors, slug store, engine fail-loud contract) is bitranox:meta-self-improve -> references/memory-backend.md.

When to run

• Manual: "collect knowledge", /collect-knowledge.
• New-project init: seed a fresh project from the existing tree so it starts informed.
• Opportunistic: a captured learning reveals a topic this project now touches - gather that topic.
• As bitranox:meta-dream-crosstree's inbound pass (the dream delegates here).

Relevance needs a topic (descriptor-first)

The query is the project's scope descriptor (the bitranox:self-learning block in its CLAUDE.local.md) or the topic of the triggering learning. At a brand-new project: first infer the descriptor (README, dir name, package metadata, the parent's descriptor); if scope is still unknown, defer - a blind gather pulls noise.

Procedure (grep -> inspect -> import)

1. Stage 1 - cheap grep (no model). python3 <this-skill-dir>/gather_scan.py --topic "<scope or topic>" --self "<cwd>". It greps other projects' curated slug-store bodies + native memory and prints candidates GROUPED BY KNOWLEDGE TREE (TREE: <top> headers; the native tier is labeled machine-local). With cross_tree_search=false (the knob defaults to true) the scan stays inside the CURRENT tree; pass --cross-tree for a deliberate cross-tree gather. Nothing matched -> stop (the whole gather cost one grep).
   • Optional MCP boost: with the mcp_search knob auto and a covering basic-memory index, the same command prints MCP-CANDIDATES (read-only search, never the store; the keyword grep is always the base).
2. Stage 2 - inspect (model, context-isolated). Dispatch a sonnet subagent to read the candidate files and return only what is genuinely useful to THIS project, privacy-scrubbed; discard near-misses. (Tier per bitranox:process-agents-subagent-driven-development.)
3. Stage 3 - import by the tree rules:
   • Same tree, useful beyond this project -> LIFT to the lowest common ancestor level (engine move/add at that level; honor the promotion corroboration gate; keep it concrete).
   • Same tree, only relevant here -> self-contained COPY into this project's memory (engine add), marked as gathered (--source gathered:<origin-slug>) so a later dream does not re-promote it as a fresh discovery.
   • ANOTHER tree -> ALWAYS a self-contained, labeled COPY (--source gathered-cross-tree:<top>); trees share no ancestor, so lifting is impossible and a cross-tree [[reference]] would dangle. Never link across trees.
4. Privacy scrub on anything crossing a boundary. Scrub secrets/PII before writing; never carry a credential across. Concrete operational detail (paths, hostnames) is the useful part - keep it.
5. Debounce. Record the (project, topic) as gathered (out-of-store) so the same topic is not re-grepped on every trigger.
6. Verify + report. reconcile_memory_index.py --check <altitude chain> (home: <plugin>/skills/meta-self-improve/reconcile_memory_index.py, launch via hooks/run-python.sh) must end TOTAL problems: 0. Report lifted vs copied, one line each; nothing relevant -> one line.

Deliverables (a completed gather has ALL of these)

• A topic/descriptor stated BEFORE scanning (no blind gather).
• Stage-1 candidate list with per-tree TREE: labels (or a one-line "nothing matched").
• Every import via the engine, marked gathered:/gathered-cross-tree: in its provenance.
• Privacy scrub applied to everything copied across a boundary (no credential carried across).
• Zero cross-tree or downward [[references]] introduced (reconcile 0 problems).
• The lifted-vs-copied report.

Rationalizations (these do not fly)

Excuse	Reality
"A reference to the other tree's fact is cheaper than a copy"	It is not loaded here and dangles when that tree moves or dies. Cross-tree is ALWAYS a copy.
"Skip the TREE labels, the paths make it obvious"	The labels are the boundary-crossing audit trail; the dream and the user read them.
"Seed everything, the project is new"	A blind gather imports noise the dream then has to prune. Descriptor first, topic-matched only.
"cross_tree_search is false but this one fact is fine"	The wall is the user's setting. Cross it only with the explicit --cross-tree act, as a labeled copy.

Common mistakes

• Gathering without a topic (blind, irrelevant pulls).
• A cross-tree reference instead of a labeled copy (dangles on deletion).
• Re-promoting a gathered copy on the next dream (the gathered: provenance mark prevents it).
• Importing an ancestor's knowledge the cascade already provides (the scan groups it under this tree's top - check before copying).