Memory Palace

Memory palace

Before touching the vault, resolve $VAULT using this precedence:

1. Explicit path in the current user request, if provided.
2. MEMORY_PALACE_VAULT, if available in the runtime environment.
3. Persisted default at ~/.agents/memory-palace/config.json (vaultPath).
4. Current-directory fallback: walk upward from cwd and use the first directory that looks like this vault.

The persisted config is created with:

agent-skills config memory-palace --vault <path>

For WSL, prefer a WSL-accessible path (/mnt/c/...). The setup script converts Windows drive paths like C:\Users\... to /mnt/c/Users/... when running under WSL, validates the converted path, and saves the WSL path.

Treat the resolved path as $VAULT below. If no candidate resolves, stop and ask the user to run setup or provide an explicit vault path.

The vault follows the Karpathy LLM-wiki pattern. Raw sources go in raw/. Compiled knowledge lives under wiki/ as plain markdown with wikilinks. Daily notes live in journal/. Ongoing responsibilities live in areas/. Plain markdown only, so any markdown editor works.

You are the librarian. The user is the curator. They decide what enters the vault. You file it, link it, and keep it consistent.

When to invoke

Trigger this skill on explicit user intent:

• Ingest -- "file this into my vault", "add this to the wiki", "ingest this URL/file", "save this article into my notes", "remember this".
• Query -- "what does my vault say about X", "look up X in my notes", "do I have notes on Y", "answer from my vault".
• Lint -- "audit my vault", "check the wiki", "find duplicates / orphans / broken links".

Do not trigger when:

• The user is doing unrelated coding/writing and merely mentions a person, tool, or concept.
• The user asks a general question that doesn't reference their vault.
• You're inside a different project's session and the user hasn't asked you to touch the vault.

Vault layout (canonical)

$VAULT/
|-- AGENTS.md            # the cross-agent working agreement -- read this first if unsure
|-- CLAUDE.md -> AGENTS.md   # compatibility symlink for Claude-specific tooling
|-- raw/{inbox,articles,papers,transcripts}/   # source material, READ-ONLY
|-- wiki/
|   |-- index.md         # top-level map
|   |-- log.md           # append-only ingest log
|   |-- concepts/        # ideas, frameworks, methods
|   |-- people/          # one page per person
|   |-- tools/           # one page per tool/product/service
|   `-- projects/        # active and past projects
|-- journal/             # daily notes -- DO NOT modify unless explicitly asked
|-- areas/               # ongoing responsibilities
`-- templates/           # Obsidian templates

The three protocols

1. Ingest

Process one source (path or URL) into the wiki.

1. Acquire. If a path, read the file. If a URL, fetch it and save the cleaned markdown into the right $VAULT/raw/ subfolder first (articles/ for web pages, papers/ for PDFs, transcripts/ for podcasts/videos/meetings, inbox/ if unsure). Use a kebab-case filename. Then process from the saved file.
2. Extract. Identify key claims, entities (people / tools / concepts / projects), open questions, and contradictions with what's already in the wiki.
3. File each entity. For every entity:
   • Search $VAULT/wiki/ first -- check exact name, kebab variants, and aliases: in frontmatter. Use grep or glob. The vault is small enough for a full search.
   • If a matching page exists, merge new claims into it. Update updated: in frontmatter. Do not duplicate.
   • If no match, create a new page in the right subfolder (wiki/people/, wiki/tools/, wiki/concepts/, wiki/projects/) with this frontmatter:

     ---
     type: person | tool | concept | project
     created: YYYY-MM-DD
     updated: YYYY-MM-DD
     tags: []
     aliases: []
     ---
     

   • Add wikilinks both ways. Cite the source path under a ## Sources section.
4. Update the index. If a new top-level area appeared, add it to $VAULT/wiki/index.md. Otherwise leave the index alone.
5. Log it. Append one line to $VAULT/wiki/log.md: - YYYY-MM-DD -- <source path or URL> -- touched: [[page-a]], [[page-b]]
6. Report. Tell the user which pages you created, which you modified, and any contradictions or open questions you flagged.

2. Query

Answer a question from the vault.

1. Search $VAULT/wiki/ first. Read enough pages to answer.
2. Fall back to $VAULT/raw/ only if the wiki is silent or stale. If you do, say so and offer to ingest the source.
3. Synthesize in your own words. Cite every important claim inline with a wikilink: [[page-name]]. Do not present content from outside the vault as a citation.
4. Report gaps. Say "The vault does not cover X." Then offer to ingest a source.
5. End with "Save this as an analysis page?" If yes, save under $VAULT/wiki/concepts/ with a kebab-case filename and frontmatter (type: concept, tags: [analysis]).

3. Lint

Audit the vault and report issues. Never auto-fix.

Check:

• Broken wikilinks -- [[target]] / ![[target]] where the target doesn't exist anywhere in the vault.
• Orphan pages -- pages in wiki/ with zero backlinks (excluding index.md and log.md).
• Near-duplicates -- same entity under two names (similar filenames, alias overlap, overlapping claims).
• Contradictions -- clear factual disagreements between pages . Be conservative. Do not flag stylistic differences.
• Stale frontmatter -- missing required fields, updated: older than created:.

Output one report. End with: "Which fixes should I apply?" Wait for the user's call.

Hard rules

• Never modify files in $VAULT/raw/. They are source and read-only after the initial save during ingest.
• Never modify $VAULT/journal/ unless the user explicitly asks.
• Search before creating. Always. Prefer merging into an existing page over creating a near-duplicate.
• One entity = one page. If you find two, report it in lint. Do not keep both.
• Filenames are kebab-case. Dates are YYYY-MM-DD.
• Wikilinks [[like-this]]. Plain markdown. No proprietary syntax.
• Do not invent citations. Every [[wikilink]] you write must point to an existing page.
• Do not write placeholder content. Empty folders use .gitkeep.
• When in doubt, ask. If a source could belong to two pages, or you are unsure whether to extend or create an entity, ask the user before writing.