Nmem Memory Distill

Distill Memory

Save proactively when the conversation produces a durable fact, preference, decision, plan, procedure, learning, event, or important context. Do not wait to be asked.

Good Candidates

• decisions with rationale
• repeatable procedures
• lessons from debugging or incident work
• durable preferences or constraints
• plans that future sessions will need to resume cleanly

Workflow

1. Scan the conversation history to identify candidates for distilled memories (facts, decisions, learnings, preferences, or repeatable procedures).
2. Draft a standalone memory card for each candidate with a clear title and context-complete description.
3. Write the drafted memories to a user-facing artifact named distilled_memories_draft.md under <appDataDir>/brain/<conversation-id>.
   • Set RequestFeedback: true and UserFacing: true in the ArtifactMetadata to present a "Proceed" button.
   • Format drafted memories using standard markdown header structure and list blocks (instead of tables or Alerts) to preserve paragraphs, lists, and code blocks, ensuring compatibility with nested code blocks:

     ### Card: [Title of Memory]
     - **Unit Type**: `learning` (or `fact`, `preference`, `decision`, `plan`, `procedure`, `context`, `event`)
     - **Importance**: `0.8`
     - **Space**: `lemonade`
     - **When / Event Time**: `past` / `2026-08` (bi-temporal context if applicable)
     - **Provenance**: `thread: <thread-id>`, `msg: <msg-id>`, `range: 12:18` (if distilled from a thread)
     
     **Content**:
     [Rich markdown contents, paragraphs, lists, and fenced code blocks are written natively here]
     

   • Use the native ask_question tool if the user needs to select or exclude a subset of memories.
4. Identify semantic relationships between the new memories and existing knowledge (e.g., a new decision superseding an older plan).
   • Draw a Mermaid flowchart (mermaid block) inside the distilled_memories_draft.md artifact to visualize the relationship graph.
   • Allow the user to review the entire package of memories and relations at once.
5. Once the user clicks "Proceed" or approves, verify if a duplicate or similar memory exists:
   • If yes: update the existing memory (preferring MCP memory_update or mem_fs write to prevent terminal permission prompts).
   • If no: add it as a new memory (preferring MCP memory_add or mem_fs write).
   • Create the relationship edges (preferring MCP memory_relation_add or mem_fs write).
   • Only fall back to nmem CLI write commands if MCP tools are unavailable.

Always seek explicit confirmation before creating or updating memories. Do not perform write operations silently.