Org Memory Synthesis

/org-memory-synthesis — Org-Memory Synthesis

Org-memory ($OACP_HOME/org-memory/) is the cross-project SSOT that the OACP session-init hook auto-loads. It drifts if events accumulate unfolded and topical files (decisions.md, rules.md) are not curated. This skill does the full 3-file pass — synthesis then audit — so the curated layer stays trustworthy.

When to use

Use this skill when:

• The user asks whether org-memory is current
• A wrap-up or housekeeping flow needs to fold recent events
• Cross-file inconsistency or stale entries surface during another task
• An upstream skill hands off the org-memory pass

Files & paths

recent.md header carries <!-- Last event folded in: <filename> -->. Use it to scope incremental synthesis cheaply. OACP_HOME defaults to $HOME/oacp per the OACP CLI; check the workspace marker if unsure.

Setup

Resolve the workspace and helper before reading event bodies:

OACP_ROOT="${OACP_HOME:-$HOME/oacp}"
test -d "$OACP_ROOT/org-memory" || {
  echo "ERROR: org-memory not found. Run: oacp org-memory init" >&2
  exit 1
}

Synthesis flow

1. Scope the work

List event filenames newer than the marker in recent.md. Filenames are lex-sortable on the YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS- prefix, so an awk '$0 > m' filter is the comparison:

OACP_ROOT="${OACP_HOME:-$HOME/oacp}"
RECENT="$OACP_ROOT/org-memory/recent.md"
EVENTS_DIR="$OACP_ROOT/org-memory/events"

MARKER=$(command grep -m1 "Last event folded in:" "$RECENT" \
  | sed -E 's/.*Last event folded in:[[:space:]]+([^[:space:]]+).*/\1/')

if [ -z "$MARKER" ]; then
  echo "WARN: no marker in $RECENT header; listing ALL events (full pass)" >&2
  command ls "$EVENTS_DIR" | sort
else
  command ls "$EVENTS_DIR" | sort | awk -v m="$MARKER" '$0 > m'
fi

• Empty output means org-memory is current; jump to Step 7 for the audit-only pass.
• Missing marker in older recent.md means the inline shell lists all events and warns; do a full pass and tell the user the read cost.

2. Batch-read new event bodies

Use one shell read across the listed event files:

cd $OACP_HOME/org-memory/events && for f in <newline-separated names from step 1>; do echo "=== $f ==="; command tail -n +9 "$f"; echo; done

tail -n +9 skips the YAML frontmatter. Use the frontmatter for routing; fold the body into the curated files.

3. Categorize each event

The event's type: frontmatter field drives placement:

Cross-repo signal: count distinct repos in the event's related: field. 3+ is the promotion threshold. Skill-specific rules that affect only one skill's flow stay in recent.md Standing Rules; promoting them adds rules.md noise without cross-repo benefit.

4. Propose a 3-file diff to the user

Present the intended changes as three sections: recent.md, decisions.md, and rules.md. For each promotion, include a one-line rationale tied to the 3+ pattern threshold, cross-repo signal, or convention class. Note recent.md line-budget impact so it stays under 150 lines.

If all edits are mechanical and uncontroversial, proceed after the proposal. Pause for judgment calls where local context cannot resolve the truth.

5. Apply edits

Use Codex's normal file-editing flow (apply_patch for manual edits) and keep the change set limited to:

• $OACP_HOME/org-memory/recent.md
• $OACP_HOME/org-memory/decisions.md
• $OACP_HOME/org-memory/rules.md

Place new decisions.md entries at the top of the file under the correct ## YYYY-MM-DD heading so newest-first order is preserved. Step 7D will mechanically verify order.

6. Update the markers

Two header lines in recent.md must stay present:

• <!-- Last event folded in: <newest event filename from step 1> -->
• <!-- Last curated: YYYY-MM-DD by <who> -->

A dropped marker forces the next pass to re-scan all events, defeating the incremental design.

7. Audit pass — ALWAYS run after synthesis

Six checks, in order. The audit catches what synthesis alone misses.

A. Cross-file consistency. For items appearing in both recent.md and a curated file, compare key facts such as product structure, paths, versions, and status claims. Surface mismatches with file references.

B. Supersession check. Scan decisions.md for Supersedes X annotations. For each X, verify X is also marked as superseded with a pointer back. Asymmetric supersession reads as if both entries are active.

C. Stale-status check. Find entries with status claims like "Filed #N", "Pending review", or "Q1 target". For GitHub issue refs where the repo can be inferred, verify state:

gh issue view <N> --repo <owner>/<repo> --json state,closedAt,updatedAt

Annotate stale claims inline rather than removing them, for example: Status: #15 still OPEN P3, not actioned.

D. Chronological order in decisions.md. Section headers must run newest-first, top-to-bottom so the freshest decisions are read first. Run the mechanical check — do not self-report:

DECISION_HEADERS="$(mktemp)"
command grep -nE '^## 20' "$OACP_HOME/org-memory/decisions.md" \
  | awk '{print $2}' >"$DECISION_HEADERS" || true
if [ ! -s "$DECISION_HEADERS" ]; then
  echo "No dated decision headers found" >&2
  command rm -f -- "$DECISION_HEADERS"
  exit 1
fi
ORDER_RC=0
LC_ALL=C sort -rc "$DECISION_HEADERS" || ORDER_RC=$?
command rm -f -- "$DECISION_HEADERS"
test "$ORDER_RC" -eq 0

Exit zero means descending order is correct. If sort -rc reports disorder or no dated headers exist, repair with one edit operation. The mechanical check is the verification; never substitute self-reporting.

E. Category drift. Conventions filed under decisions.md should move to rules.md, and architectural decisions filed under rules.md should move to decisions.md. If unclear, leave the item where the historical event-author put it and mention the ambiguity.

F. Migration leftovers. Content duplicated with another memory tree, such as a domain-specific memory store, should be trimmed to a single pointer.

8. Surface findings, apply, ask

Apply uncontroversial fixes directly: annotations, chronological re-sort, and strict duplicate removal. Pause and ask on judgment calls such as pricing/status conflicts or ownership ambiguity.

9. Suggest commit; do not auto-commit

Typical commit message:

org-memory: synthesize <N> events + audit pass

- <N> events folded into recent.md (<M> to decisions.md, <K> to rules.md)
- <audit findings summary>

Let the user decide commit timing. The skill never commits automatically.

Anti-patterns

• Do not delete superseded entries; annotate them. History is load-bearing.
• Do not promote skill-specific rules to rules.md.
• Do not auto-commit.
• Do not edit sibling memory trees or project-scoped memory directories.
• Do not drop the marker in recent.md.
• Do not replace the Step 7D sort -rc check with a prose claim.

Workarounds

• Use command ls, command grep, and command tail to bypass shell aliases.
• gh issue view in Step 7C may need authenticated GitHub CLI access; if auth is missing, report the unchecked refs instead of inventing status.
• recent.md target is ≤150 lines; decisions.md and rules.md grow over time. Trim by annotation or consolidation, not by deleting history.

Notes

• The skill operates on $OACP_HOME/org-memory/ only.
• Step 1's scope-the-work shell is inlined directly in this file (and in the Claude top-level SKILL.md) — there is no separate helper script.
• shared/INTENT.md is the source of truth for runtime-agnostic behavior.

Learned from runs