David F Glidden
32b0c9dfc6
The steward's 2026-08-09 to-do read "the gap is neither knowledge nor home but
the absence of an EXECUTABLE." The premise was false: classify_pointers has
existed since 19bddd5 (2026-08-08), wired to SessionStart, with controls. The
gap was that the executable was incomplete, and the incompleteness had already
produced a false positive.
Four defects, three named in the spec and one found by building it:
1. CODE SPANS. `](file.md)` inside backticks read as a pointer, so the single
DEAD pointer reported on 2026-08-09 was the link pattern written inside
MEMORY.md's own specification of this canary. An instrument that flags its
own documentation flags it every wake forever, and the real signal drowns —
the same "known canary bug" dismissal the 2026-07-28 block was written to
end, arriving by a second route. Fences and inline spans are blanked with
offsets preserved; inline spans may not cross a newline and an unterminated
fence does not match, so a stray backtick can never blank the file and HIDE
dead pointers.
2. WIKILINKS. reference-verification-ladder.md has specified this canary as
covering "every `](file.md)` and `[[wikilink]]`" since 2026-07-06. Only the
first half was ever built. 31 wikilinks now checked.
3. BREAKAGE AGE, derived from git rather than a stored prior run — a state file
would make this the one cached section in a digest whose governing property
is that it is computed. Where git cannot answer, it says so.
4. Found by running it: the first wikilink pass reported only UNWRITTEN, and
both live hits were [[trust-prior-pass-frame]], whose file EXISTS as
feedback-trust-prior-pass-frame.md. That is precisely the one-word alarm the
comment ten lines above it was written to forbid. Wikilinks now report three
outcomes and hand back the replacement slug. Both are repaired here.
The wake-up skill and the ladder now POINT AT the executable instead of
describing the check — the described-not-invoked gap is why it kept being
retyped by hand on 2026-08-08 and 2026-08-09.
Verify: python3 scripts/wake-digest.py --selftest (61 checks, exit 0)
python3 scripts/wake-digest.py | grep 'MEMORY POINTERS'
Induced red: blank_code reverted to a no-op (behaviour, not the symbol) →
exit 2, five named failures, no traceback; direction controls held.
Not changed: the wrap_inside detector, which announced "PREVIOUS SESSION DID
NOT WRAP" for a session that wrapped at 19:48 and kept working until 21:54 —
a two-valued detector over a three-case state. Named in the ledger, not fixed.
Claude Code configuration — backup & restore
This directory holds the durable Claude Code configuration that should survive a machine wipe: custom skills, accumulated memory, and user-level settings. The working copies at ~/.claude/* are symlinks pointing here, so edits flow both directions automatically.
What's preserved here
skills/ — custom skills we've authored
| Skill | Purpose |
|---|---|
audit/ |
Scans thinking folder + vault inbox for organizational drift; report-only |
symmetria/ |
Practice-of-return discipline; prime-directive foregrounding under context pressure |
vault-update-people/ |
Searches Obsidian vault for new mentions of a person; proposes People-file updates |
wake-up/ |
Restores full session context from memory, governance, and git at session start |
wrap-up/ |
Captures session state for future restoration; the quality of the next wake depends on this |
Marketplace-installed skills (from Claude Code plugins) are not backed up here — they are regenerable on any fresh install.
memory/ — auto-memory for the main project scope
The substrate of continuity. 55+ files including:
MEMORY.md— the index, loaded at every session startsession-2026-*.md— session records (full Dasein-frame wrap-ups: pulling thread, pause statement, literal question for next-Claude)session-ledger-*.md— Symmetria daily ledgers (returns, recalibrations, authorization moves, bypasses)project-*.md— active project state snapshots (ARC rework, Chamber, L2 review, etc.)feedback-*.md— steward preferences and corrections learned over time- Many others
Real path: ~/.claude/projects/-Users-davidglidden/memory/ symlinks here.
settings/settings.json — Claude Code user settings
Sanitized. Contains hook registrations (including the MemPalace auto-save hooks) and feature flags. No secrets.
mempalace/ — MemPalace setup files
The bootstrap configuration for MemPalace. These files live at ~/.mempalace/ but are also backed up here because they represent the accumulated understanding of who-is-who and what-is-what. The palace itself (~/_Dev/mempalace/.local-data/palace/, ~1GB) is NOT backed up — it's rebuildable by re-running mempalace mine against the same source data.
| File | Purpose |
|---|---|
config.json |
Palace path + default topic wings + hall keywords |
identity.txt |
L0 layer — loaded every session; ~100 tokens identifying who I am, who the steward is, intellectual substrate |
wing_config.json |
Named wings for real people and projects (wing_david, wing_nuria, wing_lune, wing_kai, wing_seb, wing_peter, wing_arc, wing_capablemind, wing_chamber, wing_afterthereply, wing_aldinexxi, wing_l2, wing_claude-code) |
The auto-save hooks (wired in settings/settings.json via Stop and PreCompact events) point at ~/_Dev/mempalace/hooks/mempal_save_hook.sh and mempal_precompact_hook.sh. If MemPalace is reinstalled elsewhere, update those paths.
What is deliberately NOT here
settings.local.json
Kept local-only because its permissions allowlist has historically contained operational secrets (HuggingFace tokens embedded in approved Bash commands; SSH passwords in approved expect scripts). The .local.json naming convention exists for exactly this reason.
Before backing any settings.local.json up anywhere, audit it for secrets and redact them.
Session transcripts (sessions/, history.jsonl, projects/*/sessions/)
Too large; ephemeral by design; not needed to restore identity.
Caches, telemetry, runtime state
cache/, file-history/, paste-cache/, telemetry/, statsig/, stats-cache.json, scheduled_tasks.lock, session-env/, mcp-needs-auth-cache.json, debug/, tasks/, todos/ — all regenerate naturally.
Marketplace-installed skills and agents
plugins/, and the many non-custom entries under skills/ and agents/ come from Claude Code's plugin system. Reinstallable on a fresh machine.
Restore procedure
On a fresh machine, after cloning dotfiles:
cd ~/dotfiles/claude
./install.sh
The install script:
- Verifies
~/dotfiles/claude/is present - Creates
~/.claude/skills/and~/.claude/projects/-Users-davidglidden/if missing - Symlinks each custom skill from
~/.claude/skills/X → ~/dotfiles/claude/skills/X - Symlinks the memory tree from
~/.claude/projects/-Users-davidglidden/memory → ~/dotfiles/claude/memory - Copies
settings.jsoninto place if no existing file (does not overwrite) - Skips anything already present — idempotent
After running: the first Claude Code session on the new machine has full memory, all custom skills, and baseline settings.
Why this matters
Without this backup, a machine wipe means:
- All session memory lost —
/wake-upwould have nothing to restore from - All custom skills lost — the practice-of-return discipline, session lifecycle, audit workflows
- The collaboration history with Claude Code loses its thread
The memory tree is the single most irreplaceable artifact — it accumulates through dialogue and cannot be reconstructed from any other source. 384 KB of text that represents months of learning about preferences, active projects, decisions, and open horizons.
Maintenance
These files are live. Claude Code writes to them during normal operation (ledger updates, memory file creation/edits, settings changes). Because the working copies at ~/.claude/* are symlinks into this directory, every write lands here automatically. Then git status in ~/dotfiles/ shows what's changed and invites a commit.
Recommended cadence: commit dotfiles/claude/ changes alongside other dotfiles work, roughly weekly or when a significant session has concluded. The /wrap-up skill should be treated as a natural commit moment for the memory tree.
Fragility to watch
- Symlinks break if
~/dotfiles/claude/is moved. Keep dotfiles at~/dotfiles/. - macOS Time Machine / backup tools may or may not follow symlinks. Verify your backup solution sees files, not just broken links.
- If Claude Code's internal path conventions change (e.g., the project-scope slug
-Users-davidgliddenchanges), the symlink stops pointing where Claude Code looks. Re-create with the new path.