memory-reflect

Original：🇺🇸 English

Translated

Sleep-time memory reflection: review recent conversations and daily notes, extract insights, and consolidate into long-term memory. Use when triggered by cron, heartbeat, or explicit request to reflect on recent activity. Runs as background processing to improve memory quality over time.

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Sourcebasicmachines-co/basic-memory-skills

Added on2026-02-23

NPX Install

npx skill4agent add basicmachines-co/basic-memory-skills memory-reflect

SKILL.md Content

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Memory Reflect

Review recent activity and consolidate valuable insights into long-term memory.

Inspired by sleep-time compute — the idea that memory formation happens best between active sessions, not during them.

When to Run

Cron/heartbeat: Schedule as a periodic background task (recommended: 1-2x daily)
On demand: User asks to reflect, consolidate, or review recent memory
Post-compaction: After context window compaction events

Process

1. Gather Recent Material

Read the last 2-3 days of daily notes from

memory/YYYY-MM-DD.md

. Also check:

Recent conversation transcripts (if accessible)
Any files modified in
```
memory/
```
in the last 48 hours
Active tasks in
```
memory/tasks/
```

2. Evaluate What Matters

For each piece of information, ask:

Is this a decision that affects future work? → Keep
Is this a lesson learned or mistake to avoid? → Keep
Is this a preference or working style insight? → Keep
Is this a relationship detail (who does what, contact info)? → Keep
Is this transient (weather checked, heartbeat ran, routine task)? → Skip
Is this already captured in MEMORY.md or another long-term file? → Skip

3. Update Long-Term Memory

Write consolidated insights to

MEMORY.md

following its existing structure:

Add new sections or update existing ones
Use concise, factual language
Include dates for temporal context
Remove or update outdated entries that the new information supersedes

4. Log the Reflection

Append a brief entry to today's daily note:

markdown

## Reflection (HH:MM)
- Reviewed: [list of files reviewed]
- Added to MEMORY.md: [brief summary of what was consolidated]
- Removed/updated: [anything cleaned up]

Guidelines

Be selective. The goal is distillation, not duplication. MEMORY.md should be curated wisdom, not a copy of daily notes.
Preserve voice. If the agent has a personality/soul file, reflections should match that voice.
Don't delete daily notes. They're the raw record. Reflection extracts from them; it doesn't replace them.
Merge, don't append. If MEMORY.md already has a section about a topic, update it in place rather than adding a duplicate entry.
Flag uncertainty. If something seems important but you're not sure, add it with a note like "(needs confirmation)" rather than skipping it entirely.
Restructure over time. If MEMORY.md is a chronological dump, restructure it into topical sections during reflection. Curated knowledge > raw logs.
Check for filesystem issues. Look for recursive nesting (memory/memory/memory/...), orphaned files, or bloat while gathering material.