Memory Architect

Split a monolithic MEMORY.md into three tiers plus a structured entity graph.

Architecture

MEMORY.md              → Router (30 lines max). Points to tiers.
memory/protocols.md    → HOT: Stable workflows, shortcuts, procedures. Read on session start.
memory/active.md       → WARM: Current projects, waiting-on, live context. Check before acting.
memory/archive.md      → COLD: Completed work, historical reference. Search when needed.
memory/ontology/graph.jsonl → Structured entities + relations (JSONL append-only)

Process

1. Analyze the existing MEMORY.md

Read the full file. Classify each section:

2. Create the tier files

Write each tier file with a header comment explaining its purpose and update frequency.

protocols.md rules:

• Only procedures that rarely change
• Include the exact commands (copy-pasteable)
• No project-specific state

active.md rules:

• Only things with a next action or pending status
• Include "Waiting On" section at bottom
• Prune completed items to archive on each update

archive.md rules:

• Completed work grouped by date or category
• Reference data (contacts, accounts, chat IDs)
• Keep searchable — use headers and tables

3. Extract entities to ontology

For each named person, organization, project, property, or location, create a JSONL entry:

{"op":"create","entity":{"id":"p_alice","type":"Person","properties":{"name":"Alice","email":"alice@example.com","role":"Engineer"}},"timestamp":"2026-01-01T00:00:00Z"}
{"op":"relate","from":"p_alice","rel":"member_of","to":"org_acme","timestamp":"2026-01-01T00:00:00Z"}

ID conventions:

• People: p_shortname
• Organizations: grp_name or org_name
• Projects: proj_name
• Properties/locations: prop_name or loc_name

Relation types: member_of, owns, collaborates_on, interested_in, guides, uses, listed_by, located_at

4. Rewrite MEMORY.md as router

Replace MEMORY.md with a ~25-line index that:

• Lists the three tiers with one-line descriptions
• Notes the ontology location
• Preserves any system directives (NO_REPLY rules, heartbeat instructions)
• Contains zero project-specific content

5. Verify

wc -l MEMORY.md memory/protocols.md memory/active.md memory/archive.md memory/ontology/graph.jsonl

Targets: MEMORY.md under 30, protocols under 100, active under 80, graph = 1 line per entity/relation.

Maintenance

On each session

• Read memory/protocols.md (always)
• Scan memory/active.md (always)
• memory/archive.md — only on memory_search or explicit request

When adding new information

• New procedure → protocols.md
• New project/active item → active.md
• Completed item → move active → archive
• New person/org/project → append to graph.jsonl

Entity queries

grep "p_forrest" memory/ontology/graph.jsonl
grep '"type":"Project"' memory/ontology/graph.jsonl
cat memory/ontology/graph.jsonl | jq -r 'select(.entity?.type=="Person") | .entity.properties.name'