Agentic Memory Skill (Experimental)

An A-MEM-inspired workflow that uses existing memex primitives to produce higher-quality memory cards through structured observation, enrichment, retrieval, and deliberate linking.

This skill is experimental and requires opt-in.

Prerequisite: Feature Flag Guard

Before proceeding, locate .memexrc using the same precedence as core memex:

1. $MEMEX_HOME/.memexrc (if MEMEX_HOME env var is set)
2. Walk up from the current directory looking for .memexrc
3. ~/.memex/.memexrc (fallback)

Check that experimental.agenticMemory is exactly true.

If the flag is missing, false, or not exactly `true`, STOP. Use the standard `memex-retro` skill instead. Do not proceed with the agentic workflow.

Tools Available

Three equivalent interfaces — use whichever your environment supports:

Resolution order: Try memex in PATH first. If not found, use the plugin fallback or MCP tools.

Workflow

Step 1: Input Triage

Identify whether there is a memory-worthy insight from the completed work.

Skip if the content is:

• Temporary or session-specific (current task state, in-progress work)
• Obvious or well-known (standard library usage, common patterns)
• Not reusable across future sessions

If nothing is worth remembering, stop here.

Step 2: Draft Atomic Card

For each insight, draft one card:

• Title: Short, descriptive
• Slug: English kebab-case (e.g., yaml-array-roundtrip-bug)
• Body: One atomic insight in your own words. Distill, don't copy.
• Context: Add explicit project/domain context when the insight would be

ambiguous without it

Step 3: Metadata Draft

Generate candidate metadata as simple string fields:

---
title: <title>
created: <YYYY-MM-DD>
source: <client>
category: <optional>
context: <one sentence explaining domain and purpose>
keywords: <3-8 salient terms, comma-separated>
tags: <broad categories, comma-separated>
---

Important: Store context, keywords, and tags as comma-separated strings, not YAML arrays. This avoids frontmatter serialization issues with the current stringifyFrontmatter implementation.

Step 4: Candidate Retrieval

Before writing, search for related existing cards.

Try semantic search first:

memex search "<topic query>" --semantic --compact --limit 8

If semantic search fails or is unavailable, fall back to keyword search:

memex search "<topic query>" --compact --limit 8

Read the top candidates that look relevant:

memex read <slug>

Limits to avoid runaway retrieval:

• Max candidate searches: 3
• Max cards read: 10
• Max link hops: 2

Step 5: Decision

Choose exactly one primary action per insight:

Rules:

• Merge/archive is out of scope for this version unless the user explicitly asks.
• Links must be chosen by the agent after reading candidate cards. Embedding

similarity or keyword match is only a candidate signal, not an automatic link decision.

• Updating existing cards is allowed only after preview (Step 6).

Step 6: Preview

Before writing, produce a preview of planned changes:

Planned memory changes:
- create: <slug> (<title>)
- update: <slug> because <reason why update is better than new card>
- links: [[a]], [[b]] because <relationship explanation>
- metadata: context/keywords/tags draft

For updates to existing cards, the agent MUST explain why updating is preferable to creating a new card.

Step 7: Write

Use existing memex write paths:

memex write <slug> << 'EOF'
---
title: <title>
created: <YYYY-MM-DD>
source: <client>
category: <optional>
context: <one sentence>
keywords: <comma-separated terms>
tags: <comma-separated categories>
---

<One atomic insight in your own words.>

This relates to [[existing-card]] because <explicit relationship explanation>.
EOF

On update, copy ALL existing frontmatter fields from the current card (title, created, source, category, context, keywords, tags, and any custom fields). Only modify the specific fields previewed in Step 6. Append new information to the body.

Step 8: Verify

After writing:

memex read <slug>

Confirm:

• Required frontmatter exists (title, created, source)
• Wikilinks are syntactically valid ([[slug]] format)
• Body contains the intended insight

Rules

• Atomic: One insight per card. Multiple insights = multiple cards.
• Own words: Distill and rephrase. Don't copy-paste.
• Links in context: [[links]] must appear in sentences explaining the relationship.
• Good: "This contradicts the approach in [[jwt-migration]] — stateless tokens can't be revoked."
• Bad: "Related: [[jwt-migration]]"
• No auto-linking: Never add links based solely on keyword overlap or embedding score.
• No silent mutation: Never update an existing card without the preview step.
• Preserve frontmatter: When updating, copy all existing frontmatter fields. Only change fields explicitly previewed.
• Metadata as strings: Use comma-separated strings for keywords/tags, not arrays.
• No raw secrets: Never search for or write actual secrets, credentials, tokens, or exact secret file contents. Use redacted examples and abstract descriptions instead.
• Fallback: If the feature flag is disabled, use memex-retro instead.