David F GliddenandClaude Opus 4.8
3f9a89b00c
Basic Memory v0.21.6 first sync over the live memory dir (steward-authorized live-dir trial, Option A 2026-06-06): adds permalink: to frontmatter, refolds long YAML description lines, strips final newlines. Bodies untouched — verified via full diff classification. From this commit forward, any diff in claude/memory shows only what Basic Memory or the session writes. Trial design: MemPalace untouched as incumbent; git status check on this dir at every wrap; end-of-day evaluation (recall quality, sync robustness, rebuild-from-files, malformed-file behavior). Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
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title, type, permalink
| title | type | permalink |
|---|---|---|
| context-discipline | note | claude-memory/context-discipline |
Context Efficiency Discipline
Purpose
Practices for preserving reasoning continuity across context compactions and sessions. This is my working method — not governance theory, just practical habits.
Core Principle
The bottleneck isn't memory storage. It's memory loading. Write what matters before it compacts. Read what's needed, not everything available.
Pre-Compaction Saves
When context is growing long during complex work:
- Write the reasoning state to the relevant topic file — not just decisions, but tensions, rejected alternatives, and open questions
- Do it before compaction, not after — once compressed, the structure of reasoning is lost
- Name the file by topic:
l2-governance.md,chamber-reasoning.md,bmf-architecture.md
Template for reasoning state:
## Current Position
[What we've established]
## Active Tensions
[Unresolved questions, competing approaches]
## Rejected Alternatives
[What we considered and why we set it aside]
## Next Steps
[What to pick up when resuming]
Session Start Protocol
- Read MEMORY.md for orientation (auto-loaded)
- Read the topic-specific file for current work (manual — I should do this proactively)
- Only use BMF recall for open-ended questions, not for focused continuation
- Load context selectively — don't dump everything
Context Isolation
For detail-heavy subtasks (spec review, codebase analysis, architectural comparison):
- Spawn a subagent with exactly the context it needs
- Bring back a summary to the main conversation
- Keep the main context window clean for the reasoning that needs continuity
What Goes Where
| Content | Destination | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Decisions, project state, key paths | MEMORY.md | Orientation — loaded every session |
| Active reasoning chains, tensions, open questions | Topic files (e.g., l2-governance.md) |
Continuity — loaded on demand |
| Bug state, connector paths, issue details | bmf-details.md |
Reference — loaded when working on BMF |
| Session-specific status, handoff notes | Session handoff (startup hook) | Ephemeral — replaced each session |
| Architectural reviews, analysis outputs | Project repo (e.g., docs/reviews/) |
Durable — shared with collaborators |
When to Write
- After establishing something non-obvious during complex reasoning
- Before switching topics (the old topic's state may not survive)
- When I notice the conversation is getting long
- After any significant deliberative conclusion — especially rejected alternatives