Minimal Memory Management

Keep agent memory lean, searchable, and actionable through structured categorization and two-tier storage.

Core Principle

MEMORY.md = Long-term essentials (GOOD/BAD learnings only)
memory/YYYY-MM-DD.md = Daily operations (GOOD/BAD/NEUTRAL tagged)

Information Categorization

Tag every memory entry with its value:

Writing Rules

1. 1. Always tag new entries in daily files
2. Be specific: What worked/failed and why
3. One tag per entry - pick the strongest category
4. NEUTRAL expires: Archive after 30 days unless promoted to GOOD/BAD

What Goes Where

MEMORY.md (Categorized Learnings)

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memory/YYYY-MM-DD.md (Daily Log)

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Quick Commands

Search Memory

Daily Memory

Cleanup

Workflow

When Writing a Memory

1. 1. Tag it: Is this GOOD, BAD, or NEUTRAL?
2. Write to daily file with tag prefix
3. Weekly review: Promote GOOD/BAD to MEMORY.md
4. Archive NEUTRAL after 30 days

When Searching

1. 1. Use search script for fast grep across all files
2. Check MEMORY.md first for established patterns
3. Fall back to daily files for specific context
4. Prefer recent entries unless looking for historical

Weekly Cleanup

1. 1. Read last 7 days of daily files
2. Extract [GOOD] and [BAD] entries
3. Add to MEMORY.md "GOOD" and "BAD" sections
4. Remove duplicates, condense similar items
5. Ensure MEMORY.md < 150 lines

Anti-Patterns

❌ Don't skip tagging - every entry needs a category
❌ Don't put NEUTRAL in MEMORY.md
❌ Don't let MEMORY.md grow past 200 lines
❌ Don't keep NEUTRAL entries forever (30 day max)
❌ Don't create topical files - use daily + search

✅ Do search before asking user "did we try this?"
✅ Do migrate GOOD/BAD weekly
✅ Do be specific in failure/success descriptions
✅ Do trust the search script to find context

Migration from Old System

If MEMORY.md has untagged content:

1. 1. Read entire MEMORY.md
2. Categorize each entry: GOOD/BAD/NEUTRAL
3. Move NEUTRAL to appropriate daily file
4. Keep GOOD/BAD in MEMORY.md with tags
5. Future entries: always tag in daily files first