agent-memory

# Agent Memory

A persistent memory space for storing knowledge that survives across conversations.

**Location:** `.claude/skills/agent-memory/memories/`

## Proactive Usage

Save memories when you discover something worth preserving:
- Research findings that took effort to uncover
- Non-obvious patterns or gotchas in the codebase
- Solutions to tricky problems
- Architectural decisions and their rationale
- In-progress work that may be resumed later

Check memories when starting related work:
- Before investigating a problem area
- When working on a feature you've touched before
- When resuming work after a conversation break

Organize memories when needed:
- Consolidate scattered memories on the same topic
- Remove outdated or superseded information
- Update status field when work completes, gets blocked, or is abandoned

## Folder Structure

When possible, organize memories into category folders. No predefined structure - create categories that make sense for the content.

Guidelines:
- Use kebab-case for folder and file names
- Consolidate or reorganize as the knowledge base evolves

Example:
```text
memories/
├── file-processing/
│   └── large-file-memory-issue.md
├── dependencies/
│   └── iconv-esm-problem.md
└── project-context/
    └── december-2025-work.md
```

This is just an example. Structure freely based on actual content.

## Frontmatter

All memories must include frontmatter with a `summary` field. The summary should be concise enough to determine whether to read the full content.

**Summary is the decision point**: Agents scan summaries via `rg "^summary:"` to decide which memories to read in full. Write summaries that contain enough context to make this decision - what the memory is about, the key problem or topic, and why it matters.

**Required:**
```yaml
---
summary: "1-2 line description of what this memory contains"
created: 2025-01-15  # YYYY-MM-DD format
---
```

**Optional:**
```yaml
---
summary: "Worker thread memory leak during large file processing - cause and solution"
created: 2025-01-15
updated: 2025-01-20
status: in-progress  # in-progress | resolved | blocked | abandoned
tags: [performance, worker, memory-leak]
related: [src/core/file/fileProcessor.ts]
---
```

## Search Workflow

Use summary-first approach to efficiently find relevant memories:

```bash
# 1. List categories
ls .claude/skills/agent-memory/memories/

# 2. View all summaries
rg "^summary:" .claude/skills/agent-memory/memories/ --no-ignore --hidden

# 3. Search summaries for keyword
rg "^summary:.*keyword" .claude/skills/agent-memory/memories/ --no-ignore --hidden -i

# 4. Search by tag
rg "^tags:.*keyword" .claude/skills/agent-memory/memories/ --no-ignore --hidden -i

# 5. Full-text search (when summary search isn't enough)
rg "keyword" .claude/skills/agent-memory/memories/ --no-ignore --hidden -i

# 6. Read specific memory file if relevant
```

**Note:** Memory files are gitignored, so use `--no-ignore` and `--hidden` flags with ripgrep.

## Operations

### Save

1. Determine appropriate category for the content
2. Check if existing category fits, or create new one
3. Write file with required frontmatter (use `date +%Y-%m-%d` for current date)

```bash
mkdir -p .claude/skills/agent-memory/memories/category-name/
# Note: Check if file exists before writing to avoid accidental overwrites
cat > .claude/skills/agent-memory/memories/category-name/filename.md << 'EOF'
---
summary: "Brief description of this memory"
created: 2025-01-15
---

# Title

Content here...
EOF
```

### Maintain

- **Update**: When information changes, update the content and add `updated` field to frontmatter
- **Delete**: Remove memories that are no longer relevant
  ```bash
  trash .claude/skills/agent-memory/memories/category-name/filename.md
  # Remove empty category folders
  rmdir .claude/skills/agent-memory/memories/category-name/ 2>/dev/null || true
  ```
- **Consolidate**: Merge related memories when they grow
- **Reorganize**: Move memories to better-fitting categories as the knowledge base evolves

## Guidelines

1. **Write for resumption**: Memories exist to resume work later. Capture all key points needed to continue without losing context - decisions made, reasons why, current state, and next steps.
2. **Write self-contained notes**: Include full context so the reader needs no prior knowledge to understand and act on the content
3. **Keep summaries decisive**: Reading the summary should tell you if you need the details
4. **Stay current**: Update or delete outdated information
5. **Be practical**: Save what's actually useful, not everything

## Content Reference

When writing detailed memories, consider including:
- **Context**: Goal, background, constraints
- **State**: What's done, in progress, or blocked
- **Details**: Key files, commands, code snippets
- **Next steps**: What to do next, open questions

Not all memories need all sections - use what's relevant.