archive-project

Archive and offload a project in one pass so nothing is left pointing at the old location, all regenerable caches are removed, temporary deadweight is stripped, and the notes reflects the move.

Steps

1. Confirm the target. Resolve the project's current absolute path and its document at $VAULT/projects/<Name>.md. A project with no document skips the notes step; flag it and continue.
2. Strip regenerable weight first so the move is fast. Delete venv, .venv, node_modules, build, out, dist, .next, .turbo, __pycache__, .mypy_cache, .pytest_cache, checkpoints, wandb, target, DerivedData, .build, .swiftpm, Pods, .gradle, and any appropriate files aside from src/, docs/, output/, tests/, README.md, etc. Any data the user named all stay.
3. Move to the archive: mv "<path>" "$HOME/Home/Projects/.archive/<name>", keeping the folder name. This crosses trees, so mv rather than git mv.

4. Fold the Notes document into archived.md. Add a row to the table in $VAULT/projects/archived.md carrying the project name, its priority, and one clause naming why it was archived, then delete projects/<Name>.md. The durable part of an archived project is the reason it was set down, so a row without one is not done. This skill overrides the read-only rule on status, because archiving is the one unambiguous case that rule exists to protect.

   Never hand-edit projects/README.md. Its table is spliced between markers by reindex.py, so a hand-removed line returns on the next run. Deleting the note is the whole edit; the table follows.

5. Repair what the deletion broke. Removing projects/<Name>.md orphans every [[<Name>]] pointing at it, and per $VAULT/.claude/rules/notes.md a link broken by a deletion is a hole rather than a note worth writing. Repoint each at [[archived]], then:

   python3 $VAULT/.scripts/reindex.py

   Work every line it reports. If the archive touched enough notes that the report runs long, hand the rest to notes-heartbeat.

6. Kill the strings that respawn it. Grep the old absolute path across:
   • ~/Library/LaunchAgents/*.plist, checking ProgramArguments, StandardOutPath, StandardErrorPath, and more.
   • Scan documentation and codebase for any automated or background runs and remove them at the source, ensuring they do not regenerate (comment out code if you need to)
   • Run launchctl bootout gui/$(id -u) <plist> and delete the plist; all automations retire with the project.
   • crontab -l, $VAULT/.claude/scheduled-tasks/, $VAULT/.claude/skills/, $VAULT/.claude/settings.json, and any .mjs, .sh, or config file that hardcodes the path.
   • A borrowed interpreter counts. A skill can point at another project's .venv for libraries it never installed globally; analyze-video points at briefing's. Archiving strips .venv in step 2, so the dependent breaks with a missing-interpreter error that names nothing about the archive. Grep $VAULT/.claude/skills/ for the path before the move, not after.
   • This background/automated behavior check must be extremely thorough. Scan a wide range of folders, check, verify it's gone, and double check until they're gone.
7. Verify. The old path is gone and stays gone, launchctl list plus a grep show no loaded agent still referencing it, archived.md carries the new row, reindex.py runs clean, and no note file still links to the deleted document.