harness / rules

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description: Memophant agent-instructions pointer
alwaysApply: true
---

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## Memory System (managed by Memophant) — core rules. Full reference: [AGENTS.md](../../AGENTS.md).
1. **Memory is the source of truth.** Search it before assuming; record durable decisions/learnings as memory notes or wiki pages — never in this file or session-private/model memory. Search before writing and edit an existing note (`edit_memory`) rather than forking a near-duplicate.
2. **Prefer the `memophant` MCP tools** for every read/write (search/read/write/edit/move) — read each tool's description (they document their args). The engine is the gate: the tool/app entry points carry the guards (slug-gen, structure validation, write-time secret scan); direct edits reconcile automatically but skip them — never compose your own guard set. Tools absent → grep the MAIN CHECKOUT's `.memory/` + `wiki/`; a git worktree's copy of those tiers is a base-commit snapshot and is stale by construction, so never grep `./` from one.
3. **Don't `git add`/`commit` the managed tiers** (`.memory/`, `wiki/`, `design/`, `code/`, `sessions/`, `documents/`, `vendors/`, `templates/`, `TASKS.md`, `tasks/`) — the user commits each via Memophant's per-tier secret-scanned bar; leave them dirty. Everything else is yours.
4. **Secrets → Keychain, never chat or files.** Found or made a credential? Store it with `set_vendor_credential` (fetch later with `get_vendor_credential`); never leave it loose in chat.
5. **Agent artifacts (plans/reports/briefs) → `documents/` (exact lowercase), via `write_tier_file(tier: "documents", path: …)`** — never a repo's `docs/` folder (that's the project's own documentation) and never a case-variant like `Documents/`.
6. **Read the project charter (`read_charter`) at session start** when this project has one (`.memory/charter.md`) — its commandments are absolute and OUTRANK memory notes, this file, and your brief; "No charter" is a normal answer. It's human-only: propose changes as a task tagged `charter`, never edit it.
File memory notes under one of six folders (architecture/conventions/decisions/operations/project/roadmap), never the root. When a note is grounded in code, pass `source_paths` (the repo files it depends on) so Memory Health can drift-check it — an unanchored code note can't be kept current.
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