Memory update

Memory Update

When to Use

• End of every working session in a dissertation project
• User says "we're done for today", "save progress", "end session", or "I'm stopping"
• Before switching to a different project or task
• After a significant decision that should not be forgotten

Procedure

1. Review the session

Scan the current conversation to identify:

• What was done — concrete actions taken (e.g., "outlined section 2.1", "integrated bail2018 into literature review", "revised hypothesis statement")
• Decisions made — any choice that affects future work (e.g., "chose panel data over cross-sectional", "removed sub-section on X", "adopted GB/T 7714 citation style")
• Open questions — unresolved issues that need follow-up (e.g., "need to check if zhangwei2021 covers platform context", "advisor feedback pending")
• Next steps — what should happen at the start of the next session
• Section state changes — any chapter sections that changed status (e.g., from [OUTLINED] to [DRAFTING])

Be concise. Do not dump the entire session. Extract the signal.

2. Read current meta/memory.md

Read meta/memory.md to understand the existing state before updating.

If meta/memory.md does not exist, create it with the standard structure (see Output Format below).

3. Update meta/memory.md

Apply the following changes:

Current Focus — Update to reflect what the project is focused on after this session. Replace the previous value if the focus has shifted.

Recent Decisions — Prepend new decisions with today's date. Keep the last 5–10 decisions; archive or remove older ones that are no longer relevant. Format:

- YYYY-MM-DD: [Decision made]

Open Questions — Add new open questions. Remove any that were resolved during this session.

Key Insights — Add any significant findings or realizations that should persist. Do not add minor observations.

Next Session — Replace with a clear, actionable list of what to do next session. This is what checkin will surface first.

4. Update relevant status.md files

For each chapter that had section state changes during the session:

1. Read writings/<ch>/status.md
2. Update the relevant section's state marker (e.g., [TODO] → [OUTLINED], [OUTLINED] → [DRAFTING])
3. Update the Last Updated field with today's date and by memory-update
4. Add any new blockers that emerged
5. Remove blockers that were resolved

If writings/<ch>/status.md does not exist and chapter work was done, create it:

# Chapter [N] Status

## Sections
- [section number and name]: [STATE] — [brief note]

## Blockers
[none, or list]

## Last Updated
YYYY-MM-DD by memory-update

4a. Update milestones.md

If meta/milestones.md exists and any milestones were reached during this session, check them off in milestones.md. Add a timestamp next to completed milestones:

| First draft complete | 2026-04-11 | [x] ✓ completed 2026-04-11 |

4b. Mark completed tasks as [DONE]

If the user completed tasks from meta/tasks/ during the session, mark those task files as [DONE]:

• Add status: done frontmatter to the task file, or rename it with a -done suffix
• This prevents stale tasks from appearing in every future checkin briefing

Example: add to top of the task file:

---
status: done
completed: YYYY-MM-DD
---

5. Confirm what was written

Report back to the user:

Memory updated.

Recorded:
- [1-2 key decisions]
- [any section state changes]

Next session: [the Next Session content, summarized in one line]

Files updated:
  - meta/memory.md
  - writings/<ch>/status.md (if applicable)

memory.md Output Format

# Memory

## Current Focus
[What the project is currently focused on — one or two sentences]

## Recent Decisions
- YYYY-MM-DD: [Most recent decision]
- YYYY-MM-DD: [Earlier decision]
...

## Open Questions
- [Unresolved question]
- [Another unresolved question]

## Key Insights
- [citekey or concept]: [Insight that should persist]
...

## Next Session
- [First action to take]
- [Second action to take]

Inputs

• Current conversation (what happened this session)
• meta/memory.md — existing cross-session brain
• writings/*/status.md — per-chapter section states

Outputs

• Updated meta/memory.md — with new decisions, updated focus, refreshed next session
• Updated writings/<ch>/status.md — for any chapters with state changes

Notes

• Timestamp all entries with today's date in YYYY-MM-DD format
• Keep Recent Decisions to the last 5–10 entries — older decisions that are still relevant should be promoted to Key Insights
• Never delete open questions without confirming they were actually resolved
• Be concise — the goal is a compact state that checkin can read in seconds
• If nothing significant happened (e.g., a very short session), still update Next Session and Last Updated
• The end of session trigger is the most important time to run this skill — skipping it breaks session continuity
• Do not include raw conversation text in memory.md — only extracted decisions and state