docs/PHASE4: formulate — memory.jsonl + startup injection + :memory meta
Phase 4 formulate manifest. Three pillars per PHASE0 §11 row 4:
memory.jsonl persistent cross-session store, startup context injection
into the system prompt, and the :memory management surface +
opt-in :memory summarize for candidate extraction.
Resolutions baked in via §2:
- Storage: append-only JSONL at <history.dir>/memory.jsonl
- Format: {id, ts, kind, content, tags?, source?}
- Kinds: fact / pref / context (lightly typed v1)
- Forget: tombstone append, resolve at load (set-based)
- Cadence: manual :memory summarize only in v1; auto-trigger Q-listed
- Inject: dynamic [background] block on system prompt, capped at
2000 chars by default; LRU-by-ts selection if over-budget
- Order: DEFAULT → MCP block → [background] → NORRIS suffix
(Norris last so it dominates when active)
New module surfaces:
history.lua M.open_memory / memory:add / memory:forget / M.load_memory
context.lua ctx.memory_items + [background] composer
repl.lua :remember, :memory add/list/forget/clear/inject/summarize
config.lua commented-out memory = {...} example
Open questions (Q31-Q36) tracked in §11:
Q31 auto-summarize trigger (manual v1; auto-on-quit candidate)
Q32 in-place edit vs forget+re-add
Q33 Norris-mode interaction (proposal: both blocks stay)
Q34 split prefs into a dedicated prompt section?
Q35 redaction of sensitive content during summarize
Q36 duplicate detection on :memory add
5-commit roadmap in §12 (history → context → repl → summarize → config).
No new module files. No substrate amendments to PHASE0 — entirely
additive on top of Phase 1's history.lua pattern and Phase 3's
dynamic-suffix pattern in context.lua.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
marfrit
bea717534c