update-memory

name

update-memory

description

Process conversation content and update the memory system with categorized, linked information. Use when user says "remember this", "update memory", "save to memory", "store this", or asks you to remember any piece of information. Also trigger when the user shares important decisions, preferences, project details, or reference material that should persist across sessions — even if they don't explicitly say "save". If the user corrects you, shares a preference, mentions a new project, introduces a person, or makes a technical decision, that's a signal to save it. Don't wait for permission — important context that would help future sessions should be captured proactively.

Memory Update Skill

Purpose

Capture important information from the current conversation and persist it into the structured memory system so it's available in future sessions.

The value of this skill compounds over time — every piece of context you save makes future sessions smarter. When in doubt, save it.

Memory System Location

<MEMORY_PATH>

Process

1. Identify what to save

Extract these types of information:

• Decisions and their rationale (why something was chosen, not just what)
• Project details and status updates
• People, roles, and relationships
• Technical solutions and configurations
• User preferences and corrections (especially corrections — high signal)
• Reference links and resources

2. Check for existing content

Before writing, grep to avoid duplicates:

grep -r "<keyword>" <MEMORY_PATH> --include="*.md" -l

Read matching files to understand what's already captured. Update existing entries if the new info refines or supersedes them.

3. Categorize the content

Category	File/Directory	What goes here
Recent context	MEMORY.md	Always update — add timestamped entries under "Recent Context"
Agent behavior	AGENT.md	Communication style, behavioral rules, learned preferences
Soul / identity	SOUL.md	Core purpose, principles, identity. Rarely updated
User profile	USER.md	Preferences, role changes, personal details
Projects	Personal/Projects/	Non-customer projects
People	People/	Contacts, teams, roles, relationships
Knowledge	Knowledge/	Technical solutions, tool configs, reference docs
Decisions	Decisions/	Decisions with rationale and related context
Customers	Customers/	Customer companies and their engagements
Personal	Personal/	Life, interests, goals, hobbies, health, habits
Reference	Reference/	Articles, documentation, bookmarks, useful URLs
Technical	Technical/	Code snippets, debugging solutions, environment configs
Work	Work/	Meetings, processes, team dynamics, org context

For category directories: use README.md for brief or general entries. Create a dedicated file for substantial topics — e.g., Personal/Projects/Internal-Tool.md or People/Jane-Smith.md. For customers, create a subdirectory per company — e.g., Customers/Acme/README.md.

4. Update files

• Add, don't replace — append new information. Only modify existing entries when correcting or updating.
• Use bidirectional links — reference related files with [[filename]] syntax.
• Timestamp entries — prefix with date: - 2026-03-27: Decided to use Fastify.
• Keep entries concise — capture the essence, not the full conversation.

5. Handle notes.md (if processing notes)

If the source was notes.md:

1. Process and distribute content to appropriate files
2. Archive to .archive/YYYY-MM-DD-notes.md
3. Reset notes.md to its empty template

6. Confirm to the user

Briefly tell the user what you saved and where.

Good: "Saved the Fastify decision to Decisions/ and updated the project status in Personal/Projects/." Bad: "I have updated the following files in your memory system: MEMORY.md (added 2 entries)..."