Memory Reconcile

Memory Reconcile

Why this skill exists: The file-based GAAI runtime has no server-side enforcement. Drift between memory files and the decisions they reference accumulates silently between sessions. memory-ingest populates memory from validated outputs but does not cross-check existing entries for staleness or contradiction. memory-reconcile fills this gap by scanning existing memory for drift that memory-ingest misses. The Discovery Agent triggers it manually (or via cron) by invoking this skill.

Client-side LLM (per the active "LLM stays client-side" DEC in your registry, if present): This skill executes locally in the OSS layer. No data leaves the local filesystem.

Governance feed (per any active "three-layer governance enforcement" DEC): This skill feeds the soft and escalation governance layers by surfacing drift before it becomes a governance violation.

Purpose / When to Activate

Activate:

• On demand by the Discovery Agent after a significant batch of memory-ingest operations.
• After a major refactor has landed and existing memory files may reference superseded decisions.
• After a decision has been superseded and files referencing the old DEC need to be identified.
• When memory files have not been reconciled in more than 30 days.
• After an epic completes that modifies code structure — code-path staleness check surfaces architecture files that may need refresh.

This skill MAY be triggered by cron per orchestration.rules.md.

This skill reports issues — it does not fix them. See Non-Goals.

Process

1. Build scan manifest (memory + documentation + README) The scan manifest has two sources:

1a. Memory files — read contexts/memory/index.md. Extract the list of all active registered entries: file paths, categories, topic labels, and updated_at timestamps.

1b. Documentation and README files — discover files via two glob patterns run from the project root:

• **/docs/**/*.md — all Markdown files in any docs/ directory at any depth
• **/README.md — all README files at any depth

Exclude paths matching node_modules/, .git/, dist/, build/, or any other common vendored/generated directories. For each discovered file, extract updated_at from YAML frontmatter if present; if absent, use the file's git log -1 --format='%aI' (last commit date) as a proxy.

Tag each manifest entry with its source (memory or documentation) for reporting purposes. Do not register documentation files in contexts/memory/index.md — they remain outside the memory index.

2. Extract DEC references from overview, strategy, and architecture files For each file in the manifest whose category is project, decisions, patterns, or any strategy/architecture category: scan the file content for all occurrences of the pattern DEC-\d+. Record every reference found along with the source file path and the approximate line number where the reference appears.

3. Validate each DEC reference — classify as ACTIVE, SUPERSEDED, or MISSING For each DEC reference collected in Step 2: check whether the corresponding decision file (contexts/memory/decisions/DEC-{N}.md) exists and is active (not marked SUPERSEDED, RETRACTED, or OBSOLETE). Classify each reference as:

• ACTIVE — decision file exists and is active
• SUPERSEDED — decision file exists but carries a supersession marker
• MISSING — decision file does not exist on disk

4. Freshness check — detect stale files For each overview, strategy, or architecture file in the manifest: compare its updated_at against the updated_at of every DEC it references. If any referenced DEC has an updated_at newer than the file's own updated_at, flag the file as STALE. This indicates the file was written before the referenced decision changed and may no longer reflect current governance.

4b. Code-path freshness check Before proceeding to Step 5, run a supplementary check against git history for files that declare code-path dependencies.

Pre-condition: verify that git is available on the PATH (git --version). If git is unavailable, log the note "Code-path freshness check skipped: git not available." in the report and skip the remainder of this sub-step. The rest of reconciliation proceeds normally.

For each file in the scan manifest that has a non-empty depends_on.code_paths array:

1. Read the file's updated_at timestamp (from the index entry).
2. For each path listed in code_paths, run:

   git log --oneline --since="{updated_at}" -- "{path}"
   

3. If the command returns one or more lines (commits exist after updated_at), flag the memory file as a CODE_PATH_CHANGED finding. Record: the memory file path, the code path, the commit count, and the number of days elapsed since updated_at.

Files without depends_on, or with an empty code_paths array, are silently skipped — they do not produce a finding of any kind.

4c. Documentation proximity check For documentation files (source = documentation) that do NOT declare depends_on, apply an automatic proximity heuristic:

1. Determine the parent directory of the documentation file.
2. Identify the nearest source code directory (sibling or parent src/, lib/, api/, or equivalent).
3. Run:

   git log --oneline --since="{updated_at}" -- "{nearest_source_dir}"
   

4. If the command returns commits, flag the documentation file as a DOC_PROXIMITY_STALE finding. Record: the doc file path, the source directory checked, the commit count, and the number of days since updated_at.

This heuristic catches the common case where code evolves but nearby documentation is not updated. It applies ONLY to documentation files without explicit depends_on — files with depends_on are handled by Step 4b.

For **/README.md files: the proximity directory is the README's own parent directory (a README describes its enclosing module/package).

5. Produce reconciliation report Write the report to contexts/artefacts/reconciliation-reports/{YYYY-MM-DD}.reconciliation-report.md using the output format defined in the Output Format section. One file per scan run. If a file already exists for today's date, append a sequence suffix: {YYYY-MM-DD}-02.reconciliation-report.md (incrementing as needed).

6. Handle unreadable or missing files If any file registered in index.md does not exist on disk or is unreadable (permission error, corrupt content): log it as a finding of type MISSING_FILE in the report's Missing Files section and continue scanning. Do not abort the scan. The report must record the exact path that was unreadable and the error class (MISSING_FILE for file-not-found, UNREADABLE for permission error or corrupt content).

Output Format

Output path: contexts/artefacts/reconciliation-reports/{YYYY-MM-DD}.reconciliation-report.md

Report frontmatter:

---
skill: memory-reconcile
generated_at: YYYY-MM-DD
scan_manifest_source: contexts/memory/index.md
files_scanned: N          # total (memory + documentation + README)
memory_files_scanned: N
doc_files_scanned: N      # docs + README combined
findings_count: N
code_path_findings_count: N
doc_staleness_findings_count: N
---

Report sections (in order):

1. Stale Entries Files whose updated_at predates a referenced DEC's updated_at. Each entry: file path, stale DEC IDs, date delta (in days).

2. Superseded References References to DECs that are now SUPERSEDED or RETRACTED. Each entry: source file path, line number, DEC ID, supersession marker text found in the decision file.

3. Contradictions Cases where two memory files assert conflicting facts about the same entity or decision. Each entry: file A path, file B path, description of the conflict.

4. New Knowledge Candidates Patterns or decisions referenced in memory files but not yet represented by a dedicated memory entry. Each entry: candidate description, suggested category, source file path.

5. Missing Files Files registered in index.md that could not be read (see Process Step 6). Each entry: path, error class (MISSING_FILE | UNREADABLE).

6. Code-Path Staleness Memory files whose depends_on.code_paths reference one or more code paths that have received commits since the file's updated_at. Each entry: memory file path, code path, commit count since updated_at, days stale.

Example:

If the code-path freshness check was skipped (git unavailable), this section contains only the skip note: "Code-path freshness check skipped: git not available."

7. Documentation & README Staleness Documentation files (**/docs/**/*.md) and README files (**/README.md) that are flagged by Step 4b (explicit depends_on) or Step 4c (proximity heuristic). Each entry: doc file path, source type (depends_on or proximity), reference checked (code_path or nearest source dir), commit count since updated_at, days stale.

Example:

If no documentation files were discovered, this section contains: "No documentation or README files found in project."

Quality Checks

• Report identifies specific file paths and line numbers, not vague references.
• Every DEC reference in every scanned file is checked — no silent skips.
• Stale entries include the exact date delta (days) between file updated_at and DEC updated_at.
• Superseded references include the supersession marker text found in the decision file (e.g., > SUPERSEDED by DEC-XX).
• Report frontmatter files_scanned matches the actual count of files processed (including those that produced no findings).
• Missing files are logged in the Missing Files section, not silently omitted.

Non-Goals

This skill MUST NOT:

• Auto-modify any memory file — it produces a report for Discovery to action.
• Trigger memory-ingest directly.
• Delete or archive memory files.
• Auto-correct superseded references without human review.
• Run server-side — this skill is client-side only.

Identify drift. Never resolve it unilaterally. Discovery is the sole actor authorized to action the report.