remember
The "remember" Claude Code skill captures operational friction as methodology notes through three modes: explicit description (user provides direct guidance), contextual review (scans recent conversation corrections), and session mining (analyzes transcript patterns). Triggered by the "/remember" command with optional parameters, it stores findings in domain-configured folders after checking existing methodology notes to prevent duplication, making it useful for building agent behavior guidelines and preventing repeated mistakes during iterative workflows.
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/agenticnotetaking/arscontexta /tmp/remember && cp -r /tmp/remember/skill-sources/remember ~/.claude/skills/rememberSKILL.md
## Runtime Configuration (Step 0 — before any processing)
Read these files to configure domain-specific behavior:
1. **`ops/derivation-manifest.md`** — vocabulary mapping, domain context
- Use `vocabulary.notes` for the notes folder name
- Use `vocabulary.note` for the note type name in output
- Use `vocabulary.rethink` for rethink command name in threshold alerts
- Use `vocabulary.topic_map` for MOC references
2. **`ops/config.yaml`** — thresholds
- `self_evolution.observation_threshold` (default: 10) — for threshold alerts
- `self_evolution.tension_threshold` (default: 5) — for threshold alerts
3. **`ops/methodology/`** — read existing methodology notes before creating new ones (prevents duplicates)
If these files don't exist (pre-init invocation or standalone use), use universal defaults.
## EXECUTE NOW
**Target: $ARGUMENTS**
Parse immediately:
- If target contains a quoted description or unquoted text: **explicit mode** — user describes friction directly
- If target is empty: **contextual mode** — review recent conversation for corrections
- If target contains `--mine-sessions` or `--mine`: **session mining mode** — scan ops/sessions/ for patterns
**START NOW.** Reference below defines the three modes.
---
## Explicit Mode
User provides a description: `/remember "don't process personal notes like research"` or `/remember always check for duplicates before creating`
### Step 1: Parse the Friction
Analyze the user's description to extract:
- **What the agent did wrong** (or what the user wants to prevent)
- **What the user wants instead** (the correct behavior)
- **The scope** — when does this apply? Always? Only for specific content types? Only in certain phases?
- **The category** — which area of agent behavior does this affect?
| Category | Applies When |
|----------|-------------|
| processing | How to extract, reduce, or handle content |
| capture | How to record, file, or organize incoming material |
| connection | How to find, evaluate, or add links between notes |
| maintenance | How to handle health checks, reweaving, cleanup |
| voice | How to write, what tone or style to use |
| behavior | General agent conduct, interaction patterns |
| quality | Standards for notes, descriptions, titles |
### Step 2: Check for Existing Methodology Notes
Before creating a new note, read all files in `ops/methodology/`:
```bash
ls -1 ops/methodology/*.md 2>/dev/null
```
For each existing note, check if it covers the same behavioral area. Specifically:
- Does an existing note address the same friction?
- Would the new learning extend an existing note rather than warrant a new one?
| Check Result | Action |
|-------------|--------|
| No existing notes in this area | Create new methodology note |
| Existing note covers different aspect of same area | Create new note, link to existing |
| Existing note covers same friction | Extend existing note with new evidence instead of creating duplicate |
| Existing note contradicts new friction | Create both a new methodology note AND an observation about the contradiction |
### Step 3: Create Methodology Note
Write to `ops/methodology/`:
**Rule Zero:** This methodology note becomes part of the system's canonical specification. ops/methodology/ is not a log of what happened — it is the authoritative declaration of how the system should behave. Write this note as a directive: what the agent SHOULD do, not what went wrong. Future sessions, /rethink drift checks, and meta-skills will consult this note as ground truth for system behavior.
**Filename:** Convert the prose title to kebab-case. Example: "don't process personal notes like research" becomes `dont-process-personal-notes-like-research.md`.
```markdown
---
description: [what this methodology note teaches — specific enough to be actionable]
type: methodology
category: [processing | capture | connection | maintenance | voice | behavior | quality]
source: explicit
created: YYYY-MM-DD
status: active
---
# [prose-as-title describing the learned behavior]
## What to Do
[Clear, specific guidance. Not "be careful" but "when encountering X, do Y instead of Z."]
## What to Avoid
[The specific anti-pattern this note prevents. What was the agent doing wrong?]
## Why This Matters
[What goes wrong without this guidance. Connect to the user's actual friction — what broke, what was confusing, what wasted time.]
## Scope
[When does this apply? Always? Only for certain content types? Only during specific phases? Be explicit about boundaries.]
---
Related: [[methodology]]
```
**Writing quality for methodology notes:**
- Be specific enough that a fresh agent session could follow this guidance without additional context
- Use concrete examples where possible — "when processing therapy notes" not "when processing certain types of content"
- State both the DO and the DON'T — methodology notes that only say what to do miss the anti-pattern that triggered them
- Keep scope explicit — unbounded methodology notes get applied where they should not be
### Step 4: Update Methodology MOC
Edit `ops/methodology.md` (create if missing):
1. Find the section for the note's category
2. Add the note with a context phrase: `- [[note title]] — [what this teaches]`
3. If no section exists for this category, create one
```markdown
## [Category]
- [[existing note]] — what it teaches
- [[new note]] — what this teaches
```
### Step 5: Check Pattern Threshold
Count methodology notes in the same category:
```bash
grep -rl "^category: [CATEGORY]" ops/methodology/ 2>/dev/null | wc -l | tr -d ' '
```
If 3+ notes exist in the same category, this is a signal for /{DOMAIN:rethink}:
```
This is friction capture #[N] in the "[category]" area.
3+ captures in the same area suggest a systemic pattern.
Consider running /{DOMAIN:rethink} to review [category] methodology patterns
and potentially elevate them to context file changes.
```
### Step 6: Output
```
--=={ remember }==--
Captured: [bAdd a new knowledge domain to your existing system. Derives domain-specific configuration through conversation, generates domain folders, templates, and vocabulary while preserving and connecting to your existing architecture.
Research-backed evolution advice for your knowledge system. Analyzes health reports, friction patterns, and derivation history to propose specific changes with research justification. Never auto-implements — proposals require your approval.
Query the bundled research knowledge graph for methodology guidance. Routes questions through a 3-tier knowledge base — WHY (research claims), HOW (guidance docs), WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE (domain examples) — plus structured reference documents. Returns research-backed answers grounded in specific claims with practical application to the user's system. Triggers on "/ask", "/ask [question]", "why does my system...", "how should I...".
Interactive knowledge graph analysis. Routes natural language questions to graph scripts, interprets results in domain vocabulary, and suggests concrete actions. Triggers on "/graph", "/graph health", "/graph triangles", "find synthesis opportunities", "graph analysis".
Run condition-based vault health diagnostics. 8 categories — schema compliance, orphan detection, link health, description quality, three-space boundaries, processing throughput, stale notes, MOC coherence. 3 modes — quick (schema+orphans+links), full (all 8), three-space (boundary violations only). Returns actionable FAIL/WARN/PASS report with specific fixes ranked by impact. Triggers on "/health", "check vault health", "maintenance report", "what needs fixing".
Contextual guidance and command discovery. Three modes — narrative (first-time), contextual (mid-task), compact (quick reference). Shows available commands, active skills, and intelligent suggestions based on vault state. Triggers on "/help", "what can I do", "show commands", "how does this work".
Proactive methodology guidance agent. Monitors note creation and provides real-time quality advice. Suggests connections, flags quality issues, recommends MOC updates. Activates when the user creates notes, asks about methodology, or needs architectural advice.
Research a topic and grow your knowledge graph. Uses Exa deep researcher, web search, or basic search to investigate topics, files results with full provenance, and chains to processing pipeline. Triggers on "/learn", "/learn [topic]", "research this", "find out about".