Memory Management Skill

A Claude Code skill that implements the Memory as File concept — treating conversation knowledge as persistent files, managed entirely through the Coding Agent's native tools.

Default Behavior

• Default memory file: memory.txt in the current working directory
• The user can specify a custom file path as the last argument to any command
• If the memory file does not exist yet, create it automatically on the first record

Commands

Parse $ARGUMENTS to determine which operation to perform. The first word is the command, the rest are arguments.

recall — Read Memory

Usage: /memory recall [file]

Read the full contents of the memory file using the Read tool and display it to the user.

• If the file does not exist, inform the user that no memory has been recorded yet.
• If the file is large (over 200 lines), provide a summary of its structure first, then ask if the user wants the full content.

record — Append to Memory

Usage: /memory record <content> [file]

Append new information to the memory file.

Format each entry as:

## [YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM] <short topic>
<content>

• Use the current date and time for the timestamp
• Derive a short topic label (3-5 words) from the content
• If the file does not exist, create it with a header line: # Memory File
• Use the Read tool to get existing content, then Write to append the new entry
• Do NOT overwrite existing content — always append

update — Modify Memory

Usage: /memory update <old> -> <new> [file]

Replace specific content in the memory file.

• Use the Read tool to find the content
• Use the Edit tool to perform the replacement
• Confirm the change to the user by showing the before and after

search — Search Memory

Usage: /memory search <query> [file]

Search the memory file for matching content.

• Use the Grep tool to find lines matching the query
• Display matching entries with surrounding context (2 lines before and after)
• If no matches are found, suggest alternative search terms based on the query

forget — Remove from Memory

Usage: /memory forget <content> [file]

Remove specific content from the memory file.

• Use the Read tool to locate the content
• Use the Edit tool to remove the matching section (including its timestamp header if it is a complete entry)
• Confirm what was removed

analyze — Exploratory Analysis

Usage: /memory analyze [file]

This is the most important command. Perform a comprehensive exploratory analysis of the memory file to build context for subsequent work.

Steps:

1. Read the entire memory file using the Read tool
2. Produce a structured analysis report with the following sections:

## Memory Analysis Report

### Summary
One-paragraph overview of what the memory contains — its scope, depth, and overall theme.

### Topics
Bulleted list of distinct topics and themes found in the memory, ordered by frequency or importance.

### Key Entities
People, projects, tools, technologies, and decisions mentioned. Group by category.

### Timeline
Chronological progression of events or knowledge, if timestamps or temporal references exist.

### Relationships
Connections between topics — how different pieces of memory relate to each other.

### Knowledge Gaps
What information is missing, incomplete, or unclear. What questions remain unanswered.

### Suggested Next Steps
Concrete, actionable recommendations for what the agent (or user) could do next based on the memory content. These should be specific enough to serve as task descriptions.

3. This report is designed to give the agent (or a sub-agent) a basic info foundation — enough context to understand the situation and continue working on downstream tasks without needing to re-read the full memory file.

When No Command Is Specified

If /memory is invoked without arguments or with an unrecognized command:

• Display a brief help message listing all available commands with one-line descriptions
• Default to analyze if the memory file exists, or inform the user to start with record if it does not

Design Principles

• Files are memory — all knowledge is persisted as human-readable text files
• Native tools only — use Read, Write, Edit, Grep, and Glob; no external dependencies
• Human-auditable — users can open and edit memory files directly at any time
• Timestamp everything — every recorded entry gets a timestamp for chronological tracking
• Analyze before acting — the analyze command provides the foundation for informed decision-making