Memory and reusable knowledge

Continuity preserves access to a conversation. Memory supports a different need: retrieving useful evidence when that conversation is no longer the active one.

A stored preference, a recalled excerpt, and a managed skill are not three names for the same object. Nor does storing something guarantee that the next relevant query will retrieve it. This part teaches a checkable loop: identify the evidence, understand its scope, inspect complete content before correction, and verify the relevant outcome.

Read the configuration as a snapshot

The source teaches a sanitized Mnemopi configuration dated 28 August 2026, with a configuration record at 00:01 UTC the following day. Its tables distinguish persisted global overrides from resolved defaults. They do not establish the health of a database, embedding worker, provider, or currently running session.

Mnemopi is the selected backend in that snapshot. The native local backend and Hindsight are alternatives, not extra active layers that should be added to the explanation. The recorded per-project scope derives from resolved cwd, not Git root. A session relocation or a launch from a subdirectory can therefore require a fresh scope investigation; retaining a conversation identity does not establish an unchanged memory bank.

Read the complete configuration before treating a threshold, budget, or automation switch as applicable elsewhere.

Use the complete fictional lab

The local Memory lab retains all five Cedar stories: deliberate preference retention, decision recall, reflection, exact-row correction, and turning a verified technique into a lesson or skill. Its selectable three-stage illustration, copy controls, disclosures, and lesson ticks remain interactive.

Selecting the durable-fact stage does not store a fact. Selecting later recall does not search a database. The lab’s window.memoryTutorial interface exists on that page only and operates tutorial state. Use the Memory browser-interface chapter for that interface, not the unified site’s control contract.

The original lab’s default-location examples for managed skills are not universal active-profile paths. The manuscript explains their location under the active agent configuration directory. Keep the default path illustration separate from your actual resolved configuration.

Three boundaries to carry forward

First, /memory view shows injected instructions and cached recalled text, not a database inventory or a new search. Second, a retain acknowledgement is not sufficient proof of a successful write, and a clipped preview is not enough content for a replacement edit. Third, local SQLite and local embeddings do not establish offline processing: the recorded online memory-model setting permits additional model use, and recalled content enters the main model’s context.

Do not confuse /clear with /memory clear or /memory reset. The former is a live-context reset that retains journal history; the latter commands request broad scoped memory-file deletion in the recorded controller and are warning-only here. Neither is a universal erasure mechanism.

Finally, when this source says to start a fresh session after startup-related configuration changes, do not silently substitute the /fresh command. Continuity established that /fresh refreshes local provider-facing state; it is not a general backend or tool-reload recipe.