---
name: Session 2026-04-08 — External Auditor, MemPalace, session skills
description: Renamed reviewer to External Auditor, installed MemPalace (10K drawers), diagnosed replay bloat (#121), built /wake-up and /wrap-up skills. Memory palace technique study proposed.
type: project
---

## Session 2026-04-08 (evening + morning)

### What we did

**External Auditor naming**
- Renamed all references from reviewer's name to "the External Auditor" across OP-CN-01, CD-03, OP-SB-01, PENDING.md, memory files
- Block quote in OP-CN-01 preserved as historical record — only the jurist interpretation text was updated
- Prepared reviewer package: `observer-problem/REVIEWER-PACKAGE — Observer Problem.md` — reading order, pre-read advisory about his comment being in constitutional record, specific ask on Fault Lines 3/4/5

**BMF rebuild + replay**
- Pulled BetterMemories.io (Seb's c6689eb): Phase 2 fix, pairing persistence, recall ranking, entity BM25
- Our stashed replay-coordinator changes fully superseded by Seb's version (same fixes, his more thorough)
- Rebuilt, restarted via launchd (`com.capablemind.bmf`)
- Replay running but slow: 700 events in 9 hours, degrading from 14/min → 1.3/min

**Resource monitor diagnosis — filed #121**
- Thistleweld diagnostic chain: entity persist 98% of pipeline → CPU spinning despite sequential I/O → resource monitor pausing on replay's own load → frozen 5-sample latency baseline
- Morning follow-up: RSS 3.8GB at 700 events (memory bloat, not just load). Entity persist spikes to 33.5s during SurrealKV compaction. Throughput degrades over time because pausing doesn't free RSS.
- Added memory bloat finding to #121 comment

**MemPalace installed**
- Cloned to `~/_Dev/mempalace/`, Python venv, data in `.local-data/palace/`
- Mined: thinking docs (6,134 drawers), Claude transcripts (2,249), Obsidian vault (1,617) = **10,000 drawers**
- MCP wired at user scope — search tools always available
- Stray comment accidentally posted to milla-jovovich/mempalace#121 — deleted immediately

**Session lifecycle skills built**
- `/wake-up` — restores full context from MemPalace + memory files + governance + git. Proactive on session start. MemPalace is primary context engine, not fallback.
- `/wrap-up` — captures session state, files to MemPalace, checks loose ends, syncs vault

### What we decided — and why

1. **External Auditor designation is permanent.** His name not to appear in constitutional documents, design notes, governance records, or session outputs. Block quotes preserved for provenance.

2. **MemPalace as dev tooling, not a BMF component.** Use their solved problem (cheap persistent context) to free bandwidth for our unsolved problems (contamination, Freeman, observer). The verbatim-first approach and spatial retrieval finding are worth studying but BMF's classification-first thesis is not abandoned.

3. **Memory palace technique merits a deep study.** Not the Python package — the actual mnemonic technique (method of loci). David uses it for complex score memorization. Sources: Yates (*The Art of Memory*), Carruthers (*The Book of Memory*, *The Craft of Thought*), plus David's practice. Could inform BMF retrieval architecture: location-primary retrieval, traversal vs search, revisitation as maintenance.

4. **Session lifecycle should feel like waking up, not amnesia.** `/wake-up` uses MemPalace as primary context engine. The quality of wake-up depends on the quality of wrap-up. They're a pair.

5. **BMF health is a separate concern.** Not part of session lifecycle skills. Dedicated `/bmf-health`, `/bmf-logs`, `/bmf-restart` skills to be designed separately, especially as David takes more active role in L1 testing per Seb's request.

### What's unresolved

- **Reviewer package not yet sent** to the External Auditor. David needs to send it and initiate the conversation.
- **Memory palace technique study** — sources identified but study not started. Needs scoping: Chamber source extraction, standalone BMF design inquiry, or both?
- **BMF replay** at ~1.3/min with 21K+ events remaining. #121 filed but no fix yet. Seb's territory.
- **MemPalace wake-up needs testing** — `/wake-up` skill written but not yet tested after a `/clear`
- **CapableMind-AI has uncommitted work** — External Auditor renames in OP-CN-01, CD-03, OP-SB-01, .gitignore, plus new files (OP-02.md, REVIEWER-PACKAGE)
- **BetterMemories.io** has uncommitted `docs/issues/resource-monitor-replay-feedback.md`
- **chamber-library** has 5 unpushed commits (observer problem sources, rabbinic voices, Derrida, Mauss, Roman/phenomenology)
- **ARC** has unpushed commit b1f28d3 + arc-backup.bundle — push blocked on Gitea restart

### Next actions

1. **Test `/wake-up`** — `/clear` and see if context restores properly
2. **Send reviewer package** to the External Auditor
3. **Scope the memory palace technique study** — what form, what sources, what output
4. **Commit CapableMind-AI changes** — External Auditor renames + reviewer package + OP-02
5. **Design BMF-specific skills** with Seb's input

### Thistleweld observations — full diagnostic chain

Session produced a complete diagnostic chain on BMF replay performance:
1. Entity persist eats 98% of pipeline time (2.5-3.8s vs 30-60ms resolve)
2. Modules dispatch sequentially during replay (line 862, `for...of` with `await`) — by design (#78) to limit SurrealKV write pressure
3. Resource monitor (`SystemResourceMonitor`) fires CPU threshold (0.65) on replay's own load — feedback oscillation
4. Latency baseline freezes after 5 startup samples, never updates — can't detect saturation
5. Morning: RSS 3.8GB at 700 events — memory bloat, not load. Persist spikes to 33.5s during compaction. "Leak, not load" — the key distinction.

All filed to betterMemories_app#121.