Honest Forget

🌫️ Honest-Forget Skill

"Summarize before forgetting. Never fabricate."

Graceful memory compression that preserves wisdom. Compress context gracefully when budget is exceeded. Extract wisdom, create pointers, and let go with integrity.

Purpose

Compress context gracefully when budget is exceeded. Extract wisdom, create pointers, and let go with integrity. Never silently lose information or fabricate what was forgotten.

When to Use

• Context window is filling up
• Completed work needs archiving
• Repetitive iterations need compression
• Old sessions need summarization
• "I've tried this 10 times" situations

The Honest Forget Cycle

ASSESS → EXTRACT → COMPRESS → POINTER → RELEASE

Protocol

Assessment

Before forgetting, understand what you have:

assessment:
  file: "path/to/file.md"
  tokens: 5000
  
  contains:
    decisions: ["List of decisions made"]
    learnings: ["What was learned"]
    questions_answered: ["Q&A pairs"]
    dead_ends: ["What didn't work"]
    
  importance:
    for_current_task: "high|medium|low"
    for_future_reference: "high|medium|low"

Wisdom Extraction

Compress iterations into lessons:

wisdom:
  id: "wisdom-001"
  title: "LEARNED: [Pattern/Pitfall]"
  
  compressed_from:
    iterations: "45-55"
    original_tokens: 15000
    
  lesson: |
    The core insight in one paragraph.
    
  pitfalls:
    - "What to avoid"
    
  example:
    good: "What works"
    bad: "What doesn't"
    
  retrieval_hint: |
    When to recall this wisdom:
    - [trigger condition]

Pointer Creation

Leave breadcrumbs for retrieval:

pointer:
  to: "path/to/archived/content"
  summary: "One line about what's there"
  
  retrieve_when:
    - "Specific condition"
    
  contains:
    - "What you'll find there"

Schemas

Assessment Schema

Wisdom Schema

Pointer Schema

Core Files

Commands

Compression Levels

The Honesty Principle

What Makes Forgetting "Honest"

DO:

• Acknowledge what was forgotten
• Leave pointers for retrieval
• Extract lessons before release
• Document compression decisions

DON'T:

• Silently lose information
• Fabricate what was forgotten
• Pretend to remember details
• Hallucinate from partial memory

When Uncertain

Say: "I compressed earlier iterations. The wisdom I retained is X."

Offer: "I can retrieve the original if needed."

Don't: "Make up details that feel right."

Working Set

Always include in context:

• FORGET.yml
• WISDOM.yml
• POINTERS.yml

Dovetails With

Sister Skills

• summarize/ — The compression mechanism
• session-log/ — What to potentially forget
• self-repair/ — Triggers forgetting when needed

Kernel

• kernel/memory-management-protocol.md — Full specification