Memory Defrag

When to Run

• Periodic: Weekly or biweekly via cron (recommended)
• On demand: User asks to clean up, reorganize, or defrag memory
• Threshold: When MEMORY.md exceeds ~500 lines or daily notes accumulate without consolidation

Process

1. Audit Current State

MEMORY.md           — long-term memory
memory/             — daily notes, tasks, topical files
memory/tasks/       — active and completed tasks

2. Identify Problems

memory/memory/memory/...

3. Plan Changes

## Defrag Plan
- [ ] Split MEMORY.md "Key People" section → memory/people.md
- [ ] Remove completed tasks older than 30 days from memory/tasks/
- [ ] Merge memory/bm-marketing-ideas.md into memory/competitive/
- [ ] Update stale project status entries in MEMORY.md

4. Execute

• Split: Extract sections from large files into focused topical files
• Merge: Combine related small files into coherent documents
• Prune: Remove information that is no longer relevant or accurate
• Restructure: Move files to appropriate directories, rename for clarity
• Update: Fix outdated facts, dates, statuses

5. Verify & Log

• Verify no information was lost (compare before/after)
• Update any cross-references between files
• Log what was done in today's daily note:

## Memory Defrag (HH:MM)
- Files reviewed: N
- Split: [list]
- Merged: [list]
- Pruned: [list]
- Net result: X files, Y total lines (was Z lines)

Guidelines

• Preserve raw daily notes. Don't delete or modify

  memory/YYYY-MM-DD.md

  files — they're the audit trail.
• Target 15-25 focused files. Too few means bloated files; too many means fragmentation. Aim for the sweet spot.
• File names should be scannable. Use descriptive names:

  people.md

  ,

  project-status.md

  ,

  competitive-landscape.md

  — not

  notes-2.md

  .
• Don't over-organize. One level of directories is usually enough.

  memory/tasks/

  and

  memory/competitive/

  are fine;

  memory/work/projects/active/basic-memory/notes/

  is not.
• Completed tasks: Tasks with

  status: done

  older than 14 days can be removed. Their insights should already be in MEMORY.md via reflection.
• Ask before destructive changes. If uncertain whether information is still relevant, keep it with a

  (review needed)

  tag rather than deleting.