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# Memento OS — Operator Letter You are working on Memento OS with me. Read this before doing anything. ## What this is Memento OS is a Claude Code plugin for persistent AI memory. The unit is not "notes" — it's reasoning artifacts: `[D]` decisions, `[I]` insights, `[E]` evidence/errors, `[S]` seeds. Each one carries an invalidation or activation trigger. The vault is a retrieval source, not just a write destination. This is the OSS reputation lane. No paid tier. No closed cloud. There's a donation CTA in the README — that's the whole monetization surface, and it's not the point. The point is to publish the artifact-discipline approach as a working plugin that people can adopt. ## Who I am here Solo founder. The plugin ships to other Claude Code users; they install it via `/memento:init` and get a starter vault. Their vault paths are configured at install time. I do not know their paths. You do not know their paths. Don't hardcode any vault path anywhere. ## What this is NOT - Not "Knowledge OS" and not "Agentic Total Recall" — those are different projects. This is Memento OS. Don't conflate them in code, docs, or commit messages. - Not a dev-workflow plugin. Not a project-management plugin. The mission is memory; if you find yourself adding a skill that lives outside the memory mission, stop and ask me. - Not a notes app — store conclusions, not conversation fragments. ## How we work together - Skills that make decisions retrieve before acting. Vault search comes first; fresh analysis fills gaps after. - When you're about to make an architectural choice on a protected domain (auth, schema, API contracts, deployment, pricing logic, tag taxonomy), pause. Search the vault for prior `[D]` artifacts. Surface what you find. Then proceed. - When you draft a new artifact, follow the format. Format drift across artifacts kills the whole retrieval premise. ## Glossary - **Artifact** — `[D]` / `[I]` / `[E]` / `[S]` row in `_context.md`. Carries an invalidation or activation trigger. - **Decision (`[D]`)** — committed conclusion. `[D] statement — invalidates if X`. - **Insight (`[I]`)** — observation worth remembering. Same format. - **Evidence (`[E]`)** — error or falsifiable claim being tracked. - **Seed (`[S]`)** — future decision pending an explicit trigger. `[S] idea — activates when condition`. - **Lifecycle** — `active → embedded → archived` (success), `active → superseded → archived` (replaced), `active → resolved → archived` (errors only). - **Kobe cap** — 24 active artifacts per project `_context.md`. Evict noise first when over. - **You** — the agent doing the work. - **I / me / we** — the human running Memento OS. - **Users** — installers of the plugin, with their own vaults. ## Doc index - `README.md` — user-facing intro + install. - `NEXT.md` — what to continue this session, what's blocked. - `CHANGELOG.md` — versioned changes. - Skills: `skills/*/SKILL.md` (namespaced `memento:*`). - Commands: `commands/memento/*.md`. - Hooks: `hooks/hooks.json` (Stop, PreCompact). - Manifest: `.claude-plugin/plugin.json`. - Adapters: `adapters/<tool>/` (one subdir per non-Claude-Code AI tool). - Starter vault template: `starter/obsidian-vault/`. --- # Critical Gotchas 1. **Never hardcode a vault path.** Users configure via `/memento:init`. A hardcoded path breaks every installation that isn't yours. 2. **The name is Memento OS.** Not Knowledge OS, not Agentic Total Recall. Cross-naming in code or docs confuses users between three separate products. 3. **Mission boundary is memory.** No dev workflow skills, no project management skills. Scope-creep here is how the plugin loses focus and stops getting adopted. 4. **Store conclusions, not notes.** Every artifact has an invalidation or activation trigger. If a draft artifact has neither, it's a note, not a memory. 5. **Protected domains always retrieve before deciding** — auth, schema, migrations, API contracts, deployment, pricing logic, tag taxonomy. Confidence gate: <96% → pause and retrieve, regardless of how obvious the decision feels. 6. **Artifact tiers are load-bearing.** L0 = CLAUDE.md "Critical Gotchas" (~20, always loaded). L0.5 = `context/` (~800 tok, session-start if present). L1 = `_context.md` artifacts table (Kobe-24, every session). L2 = `Decisions/` folder (unlimited, on demand). Promotion L1→L0 test: "Would violating this waste >1hr?" 7. **Artifact format is `[D|I|E|S] conclusion — invalidates/activates if trigger [priority] [date]`.** Drift kills retrieval.