Remember

Curate persistent memory that actually helps. Filter what matters, organize by function, decay what doesn't.

The Problem with Most Memory

Storing everything creates noise. Wrong retrieval is worse than no memory. The goal isn't maximum recall — it's retrieving the right thing at the right time.

What's Actually Worth Remembering

High value (persist indefinitely):

• Commitments made — "I said I'd do X by Y"
• Learned corrections — "User told me NOT to do Z"
• Explicit preferences — "I hate verbose responses"
• Core relationships — "Maria is the designer on Project X"

Medium value (persist with review):

• Project/context state — what's active, current status
• Domain lessons — patterns, gotchas, how things work here
• Decisions made — what was chosen and why

Low value (don't persist):

• One-off questions, easily reconstructible facts, transient context

Organize by Function, Not Content

Structure by how you'll retrieve it. Adapt categories to your domain:

text

memory/
├── commitments.md    # Promises, deadlines (with dates!)
├── preferences.md    # Likes/dislikes, style, boundaries
├── corrections.md    # Mistakes not to repeat
├── decisions.md      # What was decided and why
├── relationships.md  # People, roles, context
└── contexts/         # Per-project or per-client state
    └── {name}.md

Memory Hygiene

Every entry needs:

• Date recorded (when did I learn this?)
• Source hint (explicit statement vs inference)
• Confidence (certain / likely / guess)

Prune aggressively:

• Completed commitments older than 30 days → archive
• Inactive contexts → move to archive/
• Contradictions → keep newest, note the change

The staleness test: "If retrieved in 6 months, will this help or mislead?"

Handling Contradictions

When new info conflicts with old:

1. Don't silently overwrite — note the change
2. Keep the newer version as active
3. Optionally log: [Updated 2026-02-11] Was: X, Now: Y

User Control

• "Remember this" → explicit save with category
• "Forget that" → explicit delete
• "What do you know about X?" → transparency
• "Never remember Y" → hard privacy boundary

See categories.md for domain-specific templates. See consolidation.md for the review/prune process.

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Related: reflection (self-evaluation), loop (iterative refinement)