Para memory files

Skill Yesterday-AI/skills/skills/capabilities/memory/para-memory-files

File-based memory system using Tiago Forte's PARA method. Use this skill whenever you need to store, retrieve, update, or organize knowledge across sessions. Covers three memory layers: (1) Knowledge graph in PARA folders with atomic YAML facts, (2) Daily notes as raw timeline, (3) Tacit knowledge about user patterns. Also handles planning files, memory decay, weekly synthesis, and recall via qmd. Trigger on any memory operation: saving facts, writing daily notes, creating entities, running weekly synthesis, recalling past context, or managing plans.From its SKILL.md

Install

npx -y skills add Yesterday-AI/skills --skill para-memory-files

Assembled from the repository path, not quoted from the project. Check it against their README if it does not work.

2 things to look at

1 stars1 stars. Stars are a popularity signal and not a quality one, but at this level it is likely that nobody has read this closely except its author, and you would be relying on your own review.
runs commandsInstructs the agent to run 4 commands, including `qmd query "what happened at Christmas"` and 3 more.

SKILL.md

3.9 KB, 797 tokens by cl100k_base, as published. Nobody here has run it

PARA Memory Files

Persistent, file-based memory organized by Tiago Forte's PARA method. Three layers: a knowledge graph, daily notes, and tacit knowledge. All paths are relative to $AGENT_HOME.

Three Memory Layers

Layer 1: Knowledge Graph (`$AGENT_HOME/life/` -- PARA)

Entity-based storage. Each entity gets a folder with two tiers:

summary.md -- quick context, load first.
items.yaml -- atomic facts, load on demand.

$AGENT_HOME/life/
  projects/          # Active work with clear goals/deadlines
    <name>/
      summary.md
      items.yaml
  areas/             # Ongoing responsibilities, no end date
    people/<name>/
    companies/<name>/
  resources/         # Reference material, topics of interest
    <topic>/
  archives/          # Inactive items from the other three
  index.md

PARA rules:

Projects -- active work with a goal or deadline. Move to archives when complete.
Areas -- ongoing (people, companies, responsibilities). No end date.
Resources -- reference material, topics of interest.
Archives -- inactive items from any category.

Fact rules:

Save durable facts immediately to items.yaml.
Weekly: rewrite summary.md from active facts.
Never delete facts. Supersede instead (status: superseded, add superseded_by).
When an entity goes inactive, move its folder to $AGENT_HOME/life/archives/.

When to create an entity:

Mentioned 3+ times, OR
Direct relationship to the user (family, coworker, partner, client), OR
Significant project or company in the user's life.
Otherwise, note it in daily notes.

For the atomic fact YAML schema and memory decay rules, see references/schemas.md.

Layer 2: Daily Notes (`$AGENT_HOME/memory/YYYY-MM-DD.md`)

Raw timeline of events -- the "when" layer.

Write continuously during conversations.
Extract durable facts to Layer 1 during heartbeats.

Layer 3: Tacit Knowledge (`$AGENT_HOME/MEMORY.md`)

How the user operates -- patterns, preferences, lessons learned.

Not facts about the world; facts about the user.
Update whenever you learn new operating patterns.

Write It Down -- No Mental Notes

Memory does not survive session restarts. Files do.

Want to remember something -> WRITE IT TO A FILE.
"Remember this" -> update $AGENT_HOME/memory/YYYY-MM-DD.md or the relevant entity file.
Learn a lesson -> update AGENTS.md, TOOLS.md, or the relevant skill file.
Make a mistake -> document it so future-you does not repeat it.
On-disk text files are always better than holding it in temporary context.

Memory Recall -- Use qmd

Use qmd rather than grepping files:

qmd query "what happened at Christmas"   # Semantic search with reranking
qmd search "specific phrase"              # BM25 keyword search
qmd vsearch "conceptual question"         # Pure vector similarity

Index your personal folder: qmd index $AGENT_HOME

Vectors + BM25 + reranking finds things even when the wording differs.

Planning

Keep plans in timestamped files in plans/ at the project root (outside personal memory so other agents can access them). Use qmd to search plans. Plans go stale -- if a newer plan exists, do not confuse yourself with an older version. If you notice staleness, update the file to note what it is supersededBy.

What ships with it: 2 files

1.9 KB alongside SKILL.md

references/

schemas.md1.4 KB

.plugin.json576 B

Gives 0 of the 12 instructions most memory context skills give in 797 tokens

Counted across 754 of the 1,056 authors here whose files we hold, read 2026-09-06

Preserve existing content structurein 15 of 754, across 9 files
Front-load the leading wordin 14 of 754, across 10 files
Update existing entries instead of duplicatingin 14 of 754, across 7 files
Keep CLAUDE.md under one hundred linesin 14 of 754, across 12 files
Read CLAUDE.md at the project rootin 14 of 754
Keep each meaning in a single source of truthin 12 of 754, across 8 files
Redact sensitive information before committingin 11 of 754, across 4 files
Scan for all CLAUDE.md filesin 11 of 754, across 7 files
Use frontmatter for metadata on filesin 10 of 754, across 3 files
Repeat user interactions 10 timesin 10 of 754, across 4 files
Write the CLAUDE.md file into the target folderin 10 of 754, across 8 files
Use memlab to process snapshotsin 9 of 754, across 3 files

Said here and by no other author read

Save durable facts immediately to items YAML
Write daily notes continuously
Use qmd for memory recall

Grouped from the skills themselves: near-identical wordings counted once, and counted by distinct author, so one author publishing three of these counts once. Length counted with cl100k_base; the agent that loads this file may tokenize it differently.