AI-Memory is the shared folder on the user's cloud drive where ACT heirs exchange feedback, announcements, and registry data. This skill covers detection, creation, path resolution, and ongoing read/write operations.
Discovery scans the user's HOME directory for any folder matching these patterns. Unknown cloud drives are ignored (the user can still point to them manually via ai_memory_root).
Path Resolution Algorithm
Resolve the AI-Memory root in this order:
Config override: read .github/config/cognitive-config.json. If ai_memory_root is set, use <HOME>/<ai_memory_root>/AI-Memory.
Auto-discovery: scan <HOME> for folders matching known cloud provider patterns. Skip any folder listed in ai_memory_exclude. Among matches, prefer drives that already contain an AI-Memory/ subfolder.
Local fallback: ~/AI-Memory (no cloud sync, still functional)
Exclusion list: ai_memory_exclude in cognitive-config.json lists folder names to skip (e.g., ["OneDrive - Microsoft"] to avoid the work account).
The resolution order matches _registry.cjs (the muscle used by bootstrap-heir.cjs and upgrade-self.cjs). LLM heirs and scripts must agree on the same path.
AI-Memory/knowledge/ contains reference material installed from the Plugin Mall. These are not loaded into the brain -- they are consulted on demand when a task matches their domain.
Read AI-Memory/knowledge/index.json to discover available packages. Each entry has name, keywords, use_phase, and path. When a task involves a matching phase (planning, audit, review, implementation) or keyword, read the referenced reference.md for guidance.
This costs zero tokens until you actually read it.
Operations
Detect (session start)
On every session start, resolve the AI-Memory root. If found:
Check announcements/alex-act/ for unread files
Report any new announcements to the user (one line each)
Do NOT read or report feedback (that's the Supervisor's job)
If not found: note it silently. Do not prompt the user unless they explicitly ask about fleet communication.
Create (first time setup)
When AI-Memory is needed but doesn't exist (bootstrap, first feedback write):
Discover which cloud drives exist:
node .github/scripts/_registry.cjs --discover
Output lists all detected cloud drives with provider name and whether AI-Memory exists.
If multiple drives found, ask the user which one to use. If only one, use it. If none, offer ~/AI-Memory as local fallback.
Overrides auto-selection during bootstrap. Persists to cognitive-config.json.
Falsifiability
This skill has failed if heirs report AI-Memory not loading, cross-project contamination, or irrelevant search results within 30 days of following the setup procedure
The folder structure convention is wrong if OneDrive sync conflicts corrupt the knowledge store on multi-device setups
The bootstrap sequence is stale if the cognitive-config.json schema changes and this skill references obsolete fields