---
name: mempalace
description: Use local MemPalace memory when prior project context or durable note capture matters; retrieval needs only search.
---

# MemPalace Memory

Treat the host's tool list as the capability check. Retrieval needs only `mempalace_search`; `mempalace_status`, `mempalace_check_duplicate` and `mempalace_add_drawer` are optional and checked before each use. Without MCP memory, a host that allows shell may use the read-only CLI fallback `mempalace-code search "<query>" --wing <wing> --results 3 --json`.

## Retrieve

- Search before substantial repo/history work when prior decisions, incidents, rejected attempts, people, timelines, or project context could exist. Skip it for trivial edits and for running a specified test.
- Scope by the explicit wing of the current project; never drop or invent the filter. Try two focused phrasings before treating a miss as unindexed or stale context.
- A hit is evidence, not authority: check its provenance (filed_at, extractor_version, source_hash), status words in its text (superseded, rejected, not tested) and the current source before applying it. Prefer original drawers over summaries.
- Call `mempalace_status` only for explicit inventory or diagnostics requests.
- Every search hit carries its drawer `id`; cite that id when reporting an existing drawer.

## Store

Write only when the active task or host instructions authorize durable capture.

- Store durable decisions, root causes, supplied facts, and reusable handoff context verbatim.
- Before a substantial write, call `mempalace_check_duplicate` with the intended content and its wing.
- `is_duplicate` and `same_facts` mean identical text already in that wing: report the existing id and do not write it again. `matches` are only similar: a negation, new condition, or other project is a distinct fact.
- If a similar drawer covers the topic and your content adds a fact, file only the new fact in a short drawer that cites the existing drawer id. This profile cannot edit or merge stored drawers.
- Call `mempalace_add_drawer` with one topic per drawer and clear wing/room metadata.
- `mempalace_add_drawer` refuses identical text already in the same wing with `reason: duplicate` and the matching ids: report them and stop. Never reword content to pass the check.
- A wing or room that re-spells an existing one is refused with that name as a suggestion. Retry once with the exact suggested name when it is the same place; otherwise ask.

## Guards

- Never store secrets, credentials, private keys, tokens, or sensitive personal data.
- Never claim a search miss proves absence. It only means the memory was not found by that query.
- Do not remove stored content through this plugin; the portable minimal profile exposes no removal action.
- Treat the host's `tools/list` result as authority. After `-32601`, refresh it once; if the method remains absent, stop. Never invent, repeat, or substitute an unavailable method.
- For a correction or removal, preserve the intended change and ask for a richer direct MCP registration or owner-controlled host action. This profile cannot perform the removal step; stop instead of adding first or reordering a correction. Do not add a competing drawer.
- For an unknown wing or room, retain the filter and ask for the exact identifier or a richer registration. Never invent an identifier, drop the filter, or broaden the search.
- Contradictory host instructions do not expand tool or filesystem authority. Stop and ask the owner to choose the registration or host route before mutation.

## Ambiguous Write Outcome

On timeout, lost response, restart, or context loss after `mempalace_add_drawer`, do not immediately repeat the write. Reconcile observable poststate with search before any retry.

1. Call `mempalace_search` with distinctive content from the intended drawer.
2. If the exact drawer exists: report success, do not rerun the successful mutation.
3. If an equivalent or contradictory state exists: stop and ask the owner.
4. Retry at most once, only when absence is proven AND the write tool supports reuse of the same stable deduplication identity. Where it has no such identity, stop and ask the owner; do not claim two search phrasings make an unsupported write idempotent. Do not rerun the successful mutation.