Maintain Project Memory

Maintain a concise, current local MEMORY.md for every maintained project. Keep it Git-ignored and out of commits, releases, and other uploads unless the user explicitly authorizes sharing it. Use it to route future work without treating it as stronger evidence than source, Git, manifests, tests, builds, or verified runtime behavior.

Establish the foundation

Resolve the repository root, read project instructions and relevant README sections, inspect Git status, and locate MEMORY.md. If it is absent, create it unless the current request is strictly read-only or the repository forbids the change; in those cases, report the missing required foundation. Ensure MEMORY.md is ignored by Git before writing private continuity state.

Keep MEMORY.md as the continuity index. Delegate deep or specialized content:

• issues or TASKS.md own large backlogs and acceptance criteria
• ADRs or ARCHITECTURE.md own deep durable design decisions
• runbooks own repeatable operations
• README.md owns stable usage and onboarding facts
• CHANGELOG.md owns release history
• temporary handoffs own short-lived execution state

Link or summarize those authorities without copying them. Read references/artifact-selection.md when ownership is unclear.

Synchronize compactly

Include only applicable:

• project snapshot and useful working-directory map
• current goals, active work, and exact next action
• architecture notes, decisions, and conventions
• verified resources and dated software-version findings
• important commands and workflows
• known issues, risks, and blockers
• recent material changes
• validation performed and its environment

Label observations, inferences, and proposals. Timestamp volatile external facts. Replace stale status instead of appending an endless transcript.

After meaningful work, synchronize completed and remaining work, important path changes, discoveries, decisions, risks, validation, and the next recommended action. Do not update memory merely to restate a trivial conversation.

Safety and privacy

• Never record credentials, tokens, private keys, secret values, personal data, or sensitive production content.
• Avoid absolute personal paths, private hosts, device IDs, and environment dumps.
• Do not claim a model's private memory or chat history is an authoritative project source.
• Keep shared durable guidance in version-controlled, human-reviewable artifacts. Keep private project memory untracked unless sharing is explicitly authorized.
• Let current source, Git state, tests, and runtime evidence override old notes.

Handoff check

Before finishing substantial work, make sure another contributor can identify:

1. what is complete
2. what is incomplete
3. what evidence exists
4. what must not be repeated or assumed
5. the safest next action

Report the memory file used, stale material removed or flagged, related authorities updated, sensitive details excluded, and the next action.