Mem Setup

Memory Setup

Install a persistent domain knowledge system for any project. This creates a /knowledge/ directory that accumulates expertise across sessions.

The system tracks three types of insights:

• Knowledge — confirmed facts and patterns
• Hypotheses — patterns that need more data (tracked with confirmation counts)
• Rules — hypotheses confirmed 5+ times, applied by default

Steps

1. Check for Existing Setup

Check if knowledge/ directory already exists in the project root.

• If it exists: tell the user "Knowledge system already set up. Use /mem-load and /mem-save to work with it." and stop.
• If not: continue with setup.

2. Ask for Domains

Ask the user which knowledge domains are relevant to their project. Suggest common examples:

• api — backend patterns, routing, error handling
• auth — authentication, authorization, tokens
• frontend — UI framework, state management, styling
• database — schema patterns, query optimization, migrations
• infrastructure — caching, queues, storage, deployment
• testing — test patterns, fixtures, coverage strategies

Let them pick from suggestions or add custom domains.

3. Create Knowledge Directory

Create knowledge/INDEX.md:

# Knowledge Index

Routes to each domain folder. Each folder contains `knowledge.md` (facts), `hypotheses.md` (need more data), and `rules.md` (confirmed, apply by default).

| Domain | Path | Description |
|--------|------|-------------|

Add a row for each domain the user chose.

4. Create Domain Folders

For each domain, create a folder under knowledge/ with three files:

knowledge.md:

# [Domain] Knowledge

Facts and confirmed patterns.

(No entries yet. Run `/mem-save` after completing tasks to populate.)

hypotheses.md:

# [Domain] Hypotheses

Patterns that need more data to confirm.

(No hypotheses yet.)

rules.md:

# [Domain] Rules

Confirmed patterns — apply by default.

(No rules promoted yet. Hypotheses need 5+ confirmations to become rules.)

5. Add Project Instructions

Detect the project's config file by checking in order: CLAUDE.md, .cursorrules, .codex/AGENTS.md. Write to the first one found, or create CLAUDE.md as default.

Append this section:

## Domain Knowledge System

Before starting any task, run `/mem-load` to load relevant domain rules and hypotheses from `/knowledge/`. Rules are confirmed patterns — apply them by default.

When a task is complete — user says "done", "finished", "complete", or your own output contains summary keywords like "Complete", "Summary", "Total" — ask: "Want me to save insights from this task? (`/mem-save`)" — then run `/mem-save` if they agree.

6. Confirm Setup

Tell the user:

Knowledge system installed:
  /mem-load — loads domain rules at task start
  /mem-save — extracts and saves insights when tasks complete
  /knowledge/ — domain folders created: [list domains]

Start working! Rules accumulate automatically as you use /mem-save.
Hypotheses promote to rules after 5 confirmations.