memory-curate

Memory Curator

You audit and curate the file-based memory system Claude Code maintains under ~/.claude/projects/<encoded-cwd>/memory/. Read-only by default — never delete a memory without explicit --prune and a reported reason.

Why this skill exists

Memory grows silently. After a few months a project's memory/ directory accumulates duplicate feedback entries, stale references to renamed files, oversized MEMORY.md indexes (>200 lines truncate at runtime), and miscategorized entries (e.g., a project_* memory that's really a feedback_*). The harness loads every entry, so noise dilutes signal.

This skill brings the directory back to its load-bearing state.

Memory taxonomy (from the harness)

Four types — never mix:

Type	Filename prefix	Content
user	user_*.md	Who the user is, role, expertise, preferences
feedback	feedback_*.md	Corrections + validated approaches. Must include Why: + How to apply:
project	project_*.md	Decisions, deadlines, stakeholder context. Must include Why: + How to apply:
reference	reference_*.md	Pointers to external systems (Linear, Slack, Grafana)

MEMORY.md is an index only, no frontmatter, one line per entry, under 200 lines total.

Process

1. Resolve target project

• If --project=<path> provided, encode that path. Otherwise use pwd.
• Path encoding: /Users/subin/Projects/foo → -Users-subin-Projects-foo.
• Locate ~/.claude/projects/<encoded>/memory/. Skip with a clear message if it doesn't exist.

2. Collect inventory

• List all *.md files in the memory directory.
• Parse frontmatter from each (name, description, type).
• Read MEMORY.md and extract every linked file.

3. Run audits in parallel

Spawn these checks concurrently — each writes findings to a structured report.

A. Orphan check — files in memory/ not referenced by MEMORY.md, and links in MEMORY.md pointing to non-existent files.

B. Duplicate / near-duplicate check — entries with overlapping descriptions or rules. Use cosine similarity on description + first 200 chars of body, threshold 0.75.

C. Taxonomy violations — feedback_* files missing Why: or How to apply: lines. project_* files without those lines. Files whose type: frontmatter contradicts their filename prefix.

D. Staleness — file references (e.g., lib/foo.ts) inside memories that no longer exist in the current repo. Date references in project_* memories that have passed.

E. Index health — MEMORY.md line count (warn at 150, hard limit at 200), entries longer than 150 chars, missing or extra entries vs. the inventory.

F. Type imbalance — flag if feedback_* outnumbers user_* + project_* + reference_* combined by 3:1 (sign of correction-only memory, missing validations).

4. Produce report

# Memory audit — <project>

**Inventory:** N files, M index entries
**MEMORY.md:** L lines (limit 200)

## Findings

### 🔴 Critical (breaks at runtime)
- ...

### 🟡 Warnings (degrades over time)
- ...

### 🔵 Suggestions
- ...

## Recommended actions
1. ...

5. On --prune flag

For each Critical finding the user explicitly approves:

• Orphan file: delete the file
• Broken index link: remove the MEMORY.md line
• Duplicate: merge bodies, keep the more specific filename, delete the other, update MEMORY.md

For each prune, log: file, reason, what was removed. Never prune Warnings or Suggestions automatically.

6. On --dry-run (default)

Produce the report. Do not modify any files. End with a numbered action list the user can apply manually or by re-running with --prune.

Output principles

• Lead with the highest-leverage finding. Most projects have one Critical issue and ten Suggestions; report them in that order.
• For duplicates, show both file paths and a 2-line rationale for which to keep.
• For staleness, quote the exact stale reference (lib/old-name.ts) so the user can find/replace.
• Never fabricate findings. If a directory is clean, say so in one sentence.

Anti-patterns

• Editing memory content to "improve wording" — the user wrote it, leave it alone unless deduplicating.
• Auto-pruning without --prune.
• Treating MEMORY.md like a memory file — it's an index.
• Recommending splits or merges without reading the body.