Consolidate Memory

Periodic refinement of MEMORY.md files across projects. Prunes redundant entries, merges overlapping knowledge, generates higher-order abstractions from accumulated patterns, and removes stale or superseded entries.

Inspired by npcsh's knowledge graph sleep/dream cycles — memory consolidation applied to research project knowledge.

When to Use

• Monthly maintenance (pair with /system-audit)
• When a MEMORY.md exceeds 100 entries
• After completing a major project milestone (e.g., paper submission)
• When starting a new session and MEMORY.md feels cluttered
• When the same correction keeps appearing across multiple projects

When NOT to Use

• During active work sessions — consolidation is a maintenance task
• When MEMORY.md has fewer than 10 entries — not enough to consolidate
• Immediately after recording [LEARN] tags — let knowledge accumulate first

Modes

Ask the user which mode to run:

Mode	Scope	What it does
Project (default)	Single project's MEMORY.md + .claude/state/personal-memory.md	Consolidate both tiers
Global	All MEMORY.md + personal-memory files across projects + Task Management	Consolidate all, cross-pollinate shared patterns

Workflow

Phase 1: Sleep (Consolidation)

Read the target MEMORY.md file(s) and .claude/state/personal-memory.md (if it exists) and perform:

1.1 Duplicate Detection

Find entries that say the same thing in different words.

Signals:

• Same correction direction (wrong → right) with different phrasing
• Same file/variable referenced in multiple entries
• Entries from different dates that record the same learning

Action: Merge into a single entry, keeping the most precise wording. Note the merge in a comment: <!-- merged from 2 entries -->.

1.2 Contradiction Resolution

Find entries that contradict each other (e.g., "use X" in one entry, "don't use X" in another).

Signals:

• Opposite correction directions for the same variable/convention
• Entries where a later one supersedes an earlier one

Action: Keep the most recent/correct entry. Flag contradictions for user review if the resolution isn't obvious.

1.3 Staleness Detection

Find entries that are no longer relevant.

Signals:

• References to files, variables, or conventions that no longer exist in the project
• Entries about bugs that have been fixed
• Entries about tools or APIs that have changed
• Entries marked with dates older than 6 months with no recent reinforcement

Action: Mark as [STALE?] and present to user for confirmation before removing. Never auto-delete.

1.4 Tier Routing Check

Check whether entries are in the correct tier (see learn-tags rule for the two-tier system).

Promotion candidates (personal-memory → MEMORY.md):

• Entries in .claude/state/personal-memory.md that would help a collaborator on a different machine
• Local workarounds that turned out to be general conventions
• Tool quirks that apply to all machines (not just this one)

Demotion candidates (MEMORY.md → personal-memory):

• Entries in MEMORY.md that reference local paths, machine-specific tool versions, or environment quirks
• Workarounds that only apply to this specific setup

Action: Present promotion/demotion suggestions to the user. Move entries only after explicit approval.

1.5 Strengthening

Entries that have been independently confirmed multiple times are high-confidence knowledge.

Signals:

• Same pattern recorded from different sessions
• Corrections reinforced by compilation errors or test failures
• Conventions confirmed by supervisor feedback

Action: Move to the top of their section. Add [CONFIRMED] marker if supported by 3+ independent occurrences.

Phase 2: Dream (Abstraction)

Generate higher-order patterns from the accumulated entries.

2.1 Cross-Entry Patterns

Look for patterns that span multiple entries:

• "Every time we work with X, we hit Y" → Record as a general rule
• "We always use convention A for project type B" → Record as a convention
• "Corrections in category C cluster around the same mistake" → Record the root cause

2.2 Cross-Project Patterns (Global mode only)

When consolidating across all projects, look for knowledge that applies everywhere:

• Notation conventions used consistently across 3+ projects → Promote to global MEMORY.md
• The same code pitfall appearing in multiple projects → Record once with cross-references
• Citation corrections that apply to shared bibliography entries → Consolidate

2.3 Abstraction Generation

For each pattern found, generate an abstraction:

## Abstraction: [Name]

**Pattern:** [What keeps happening]
**Root cause:** [Why it happens]
**Prevention:** [How to avoid it in future]
**Evidence:** [Which entries support this]

Present abstractions to the user. Only write the ones they approve.

Phase 3: Write

3.1 Restructure

Rewrite MEMORY.md with:

1. Abstractions at the top (new section: ## Patterns)
2. Confirmed entries next (high-confidence knowledge)
3. Regular entries in their standard sections (Notation Registry, Citations, Key Decisions, Anti-Patterns, Code Pitfalls)
4. Stale entries removed (only those confirmed by user)

If .claude/state/personal-memory.md exists, also rewrite it with consolidated machine-specific entries. Apply any user-approved promotions (move to MEMORY.md) and demotions (move from MEMORY.md to personal-memory).

3.2 Diff Report

Before writing, show a summary:

## Consolidation Summary

| Action | Count |
|--------|-------|
| Duplicates merged | X |
| Contradictions resolved | X |
| Stale entries flagged | X |
| Stale entries removed | X (user-confirmed) |
| Entries strengthened | X |
| Abstractions generated | X |
| Tier promotions (personal → generic) | X |
| Tier demotions (generic → personal) | X |
| Cross-project promotions | X (global mode) |

### Entries Before: XX
### Entries After: YY
### Net reduction: ZZ

3.3 Confirmation

Always show the full proposed MEMORY.md before writing. Wait for explicit approval. The user may want to keep entries flagged as stale, adjust abstractions, or revert merges.

MEMORY.md Sections (Reference)

Standard sections from the learn-tags rule:

Section	Columns
Patterns	Pattern / Root cause / Prevention / Evidence (NEW — added by this skill)
Notation Registry	Variable / Convention / Anti-pattern
Estimand Registry	What we estimate / Identification / Key assumptions
Citations	One-liner corrections
Key Decisions	Decision / Rationale / Date
Anti-Patterns	What went wrong / Correction
Code Pitfalls	Bug / Impact / Fix

Global MEMORY.md Location

The Task Management MEMORY.md at the project root:

MEMORY.md

Also check the auto-memory directory:

~/.claude/projects/-Users-user-Library-CloudStorage-YOUR-CLOUD-Task-Management/memory/MEMORY.md

Cross-References

• /system-audit — Run consolidation as part of periodic maintenance
• /learn — Creates the entries that this skill consolidates
• [LEARN] tags (rule) — The tagging system that feeds MEMORY.md
• /session-recap — May surface entries worth recording before consolidation