PARA Memory Files

Persistent, file-based memory organized by Tiago Forte's PARA method. Three layers: a knowledge graph, daily notes, and tacit knowledge. All paths are relative to $AGENT_HOME.

Three Memory Layers

Layer 1: Knowledge Graph ($AGENT_HOME/life/ -- PARA)

Entity-based storage. Each entity gets a folder with two tiers:

1. summary.md -- quick context, load first.
2. items.yaml -- atomic facts, load on demand.

$AGENT_HOME/life/
  projects/          # Active work with clear goals/deadlines
    <name>/
      summary.md
      items.yaml
  areas/             # Ongoing responsibilities, no end date
    people/<name>/
    companies/<name>/
  resources/         # Reference material, topics of interest
    <topic>/
  archives/          # Inactive items from the other three
  index.md

PARA rules:

• Projects -- active work with a goal or deadline. Move to archives when complete.
• Areas -- ongoing (people, companies, responsibilities). No end date.
• Resources -- reference material, topics of interest.
• Archives -- inactive items from any category.

Fact rules:

• Save durable facts immediately to items.yaml.
• Weekly: rewrite summary.md from active facts.
• Never delete facts. Supersede instead (status: superseded, add superseded_by).
• When an entity goes inactive, move its folder to $AGENT_HOME/life/archives/.

When to create an entity:

• Mentioned 3+ times, OR
• Direct relationship to the user (family, coworker, partner, client), OR
• Significant project or company in the user's life.
• Otherwise, note it in daily notes.

For the atomic fact YAML schema and memory decay rules, see references/schemas.md.

Layer 2: Daily Notes ($AGENT_HOME/memory/YYYY-MM-DD.md)

Raw timeline of events -- the "when" layer.

• Write continuously during conversations.
• Extract durable facts to Layer 1 during heartbeats.

Layer 3: Tacit Knowledge ($AGENT_HOME/MEMORY.md)

How the user operates -- patterns, preferences, lessons learned.

• Not facts about the world; facts about the user.
• Update whenever you learn new operating patterns.

Write It Down -- No Mental Notes

Memory does not survive session restarts. Files do.

• Want to remember something -> WRITE IT TO A FILE.
• "Remember this" -> update $AGENT_HOME/memory/YYYY-MM-DD.md or the relevant entity file.
• Learn a lesson -> update AGENTS.md, TOOLS.md, or the relevant skill file.
• Make a mistake -> document it so future-you does not repeat it.
• On-disk text files are always better than holding it in temporary context.

Memory Recall -- Use qmd

Use qmd rather than grepping files:

qmd query "what happened at Christmas"   # Semantic search with reranking
qmd search "specific phrase"              # BM25 keyword search
qmd vsearch "conceptual question"         # Pure vector similarity

Index your personal folder: qmd index $AGENT_HOME

Vectors + BM25 + reranking finds things even when the wording differs.

Planning

Keep plans in timestamped files in plans/ at the project root (outside personal memory so other agents can access them). Use qmd to search plans. Plans go stale -- if a newer plan exists, do not confuse yourself with an older version. If you notice staleness, update the file to note what it is supersededBy.