memory-hygiene

Memory Hygiene

Agent memory is append-only by habit: every session adds a note, none removes one. The result is the same rot as unused skills — every future session pays to read superseded, duplicate, or orphaned notes. The canonical failure mode (observed in ~/.dotfiles AGENTS.md): a defect is recorded in one bullet and declared fixed three bullets later — both survive forever.

Scope

• AGENTS.md "Notes to self" sections (repo-level memory contract)
• bd memories entries where beads is in use
• CLAUDE.md files only for factual drift (paths/commands that no longer exist) — their instructions are the user's, not yours to compact

Workflow

1. Inventory: read the target store end-to-end. For each entry record: subject, date (if any), and whether its subject still exists (file paths, skill names, flags — verify with a quick ls/rg, don't trust the note).
2. Classify each entry:
   • superseded — a later entry updates or reverses it (the defect-then-fixed pair merges into one resolved-state note)
   • duplicate — same fact stated twice with different wording
   • orphaned — subject was deleted/renamed (e.g. notes about a skill path that moved to skills/archive/)
   • live — still accurate and load-bearing
3. Propose the compaction as a diff — merged entries keep the current truth plus the date; history belongs to git, not to the note. Never silently drop a note that encodes a hard-won lesson ("do not reintroduce X") — those stay even when old, they are guardrails, not status.
4. Apply on approval, one store per commit, with before/after entry counts in the commit message.
5. For bd memories: list with bd memories, then retire/update via the bd commands available in that version (bd remember to restate; check bd --help for delete semantics before assuming).

Judgment lines

• A note is a guardrail if removing it could cause a regression (anti-pattern warnings, "don't reintroduce" rules) — keep, even if old.
• A note is status if it describes a point-in-time state ("X is broken", "Y pending") — verify current state and either update or delete.
• When a store mixes both per entry, split the entry rather than keeping the stale half alive.

Hard stops

• Never compact another agent's active coordination state (beads notes fields used as heartbeats, .pm/ folders) — memory hygiene is for durable knowledge stores only.
• Preserve the memory contract header/format of the file you compact; the next session must still know where to append.