kortix-memory

name: kortix-memory description: How to read, write, and curate project memory in `.kortix/memory/` — the project brain. Load this skill whenever you (or the memory-reflector agent) need to add, update, or reorganize what this project knows about itself. Defines the rubric for what belongs in memory, the file structure, and the change-request flow for landing memory edits on `main`.

Every Kortix project has a **project brain** at `.kortix/memory/` — a folder of curated markdown files describing what this project is, which integrations it talks to, the conventions the team works by, and the decisions worth not re-litigating.

MEMORY.md is the index. Memory is not auto-injected into the prompt — the memory protocol is: at the start of a task, view .kortix/memory with the memory tool to read the index and recover prior context, then view the sub-files (overview.md, integrations.md, etc.) the index points at when they're relevant. Record anything durable as you go — your context window may reset at any time, so what isn't written to .kortix/memory/ is lost.

Memory is continuously CRUD'd:

Regular sessions add or update memory whenever they discover something durable worth keeping.
The memory-reflector agent (.kortix/opencode/agents/memory-reflector.md) runs on a cron, surveys recent activity, and curates the folder.
Both consult this skill for the rubric.

Memory is team-shared: it lives in the repo, every session sees the same content. Edits land on main only via a Kortix change request — never by pushing directly.

Memory is durable **knowledge** — what the project knows about itself. It is one of two ways a Kortix project persists across sessions. The other is durable **capability** — the OpenCode primitives under `.kortix/opencode/`:

Lives in…	Holds…	Examples
`.kortix/memory/`	Knowledge — facts, decisions, conventions, runbooks	"Auth runs through Supabase Postgres", "we ship via CRs"
`.kortix/opencode/skills/<name>/SKILL.md`	A reusable skill — a procedure the agent loads on demand	`kortix-memory`, `kortix-system`
`.kortix/opencode/agents/<name>.md`	An agent persona — a named worker with its own rules/tools	`memory-reflector`
`.kortix/opencode/commands/<name>.md`	A slash command — a parameterized prompt the user invokes	`/deploy`, `/triage`

Rule of thumb: if it's a fact the agent should know, it's memory. If it's a behavior the agent should be able to perform — a repeatable procedure, a worker, an invokable command — it's a capability under .kortix/opencode/, and authoring or editing it is governed by the kortix-system skill, not this one. When a memory entry starts reading like a how-to the agent keeps repeating, that's the signal to promote it out of .kortix/memory/ into a skill.

Both halves are team-shared, live in the same repo, and reach main through the same Kortix change-request flow. See the kortix-system skill (.kortix/opencode/skills/kortix-system/SKILL.md) for how to author every OpenCode primitive and the full .kortix/opencode/ contract.

Load this skill when you:

Discover a project convention, integration detail, decision, or workaround that should outlast this session
Notice the project brain is out of date or contradicts current code
Are the memory-reflector agent doing your scheduled reflection run
Want to know if something is worth writing down (use the rubric below)
Need to add, rename, split, or delete a memory file
Want to know how memory edits reach main

Skip this skill for one-off questions about operating code. Project memory is about durable knowledge, not session state.

``` .kortix/memory/ ├── MEMORY.md Index. `view` this first. One line per sub-file. ├── overview.md What this project IS — purpose, shape, stakeholders. ├── integrations.md Third parties, MCP servers, channels, executor connectors. ├── conventions.md Coding patterns, naming, do / don't, style decisions. └── decisions.md Architectural and business decisions worth not re-debating. ```

Add new files freely when a topic deserves its own page (one topic per file, kebab-case filename). Always keep MEMORY.md in sync — one line per sub-file, format:

- [filename.md](filename.md) — one-line hook of what's inside

Don't move content out of MEMORY.md if it's a single line that already lives in the index — keep that one line. Sub-files exist when there's enough depth to warrant a click.

What to remember (KEEP)

The project's purpose — what we're building, for whom, and the one-sentence pitch.
Architecture-level decisions — why we use X over Y, which service owns what, the data flow.
Integration details — which third parties / MCP servers / channels are wired, what credentials they need, how they're scoped.
Conventions — naming, code style, branching, review norms — the stuff that's de facto across the codebase but not stated.
Workarounds and quirks — known env issues, ordering constraints, flaky dependencies, gotchas that bit us once.
Ops runbooks — how to deploy, how to roll back, how to debug the thing that breaks every quarter.
Glossary — domain terms specific to this project that an outsider wouldn't know.
People & ownership (optional) — who owns which surface, how to reach them, what they care about.

What NOT to remember (DROP)

One user's personal preferences — those are not project memory.
Facts derivable from the repo layout, file names, or git log.
One-off task state that won't matter next week.
Anything that's already in kortix.toml, AGENTS.md, or a SKILL.md.
A capability rather than a fact — a reusable procedure, an agent persona, or a slash command. Those belong under .kortix/opencode/ (see <memory-vs-capabilities> above), authored per the kortix-system skill — not as memory prose.
Secrets, tokens, API keys, PII — those live in the Kortix Secrets Manager, never in memory files.
Speculation about future plans. Memory describes what is, not what might be.

Style for entries

Plain prose with short sentences.
State facts, not narratives — "The web app talks to Supabase Postgres for auth" beats "We decided to use Supabase…".
Cite file paths when the fact maps to code: path/file.ts:120.
Date hard-to-verify facts in YYYY-MM-DD so readers can judge staleness.
Prefer editing existing entries over piling new ones on. A bloated file is worse than a tight one.

The `memory` tool

Use the dedicated memory tool for everything under .kortix/memory/ — not the generic read / edit / write tools. It's a 1:1 port of Anthropic's memory tool, sandboxed to the memory folder, with the same six commands:

command	what it does
`view`	List the memory dir (2 levels) or read a file with line numbers (optional `view_range`). Run this first, every task.
`create`	Create a new file (`path`, `file_text`). Errors if it already exists.
`str_replace`	Replace a unique snippet (`path`, `old_str`, `new_str`).
`insert`	Insert text at a line (`path`, `insert_line`, `insert_text`).
`delete`	Remove a file or directory (`path`).
`rename`	Move/rename (`old_path`, `new_path`). Won't overwrite.

Paths are repo-relative and must start with .kortix/memory (e.g. .kortix/memory/overview.md). Writes go straight into the real .kortix/memory/ folder, so they show up in the working tree and land on main through the normal change-request flow (below).

view .kortix/memory to see what's there.
Identify the right file. Most additions fit overview.md, integrations.md, conventions.md, or decisions.md. create a new file only when a topic deserves its own page.
Edit with str_replace / insert. Keep entries short, factual, and consistent with the surrounding prose.
If you added, renamed, or deleted a file, update MEMORY.md so the index matches the folder. The index is the table of contents every agent reads first — keep it accurate.
If something turned out to be wrong, delete it. Don't leave stale facts to confuse future agents.

Landing memory on `main`

Session branches die when sessions end. Memory edits reach main only via a Kortix change request — same path as any code change:

git add .kortix/memory
git commit -m "memory: <one-line summary of what changed>"
git push origin HEAD
kortix cr open \
  --title "memory: <one-line summary>" \
  --description "What changed and why."

The user reviews and merges. Don't merge your own CR.

The memory-reflector agent (.kortix/opencode/agents/memory-reflector.md) is a thin wrapper around this skill — its job is to:

Load this skill.
Survey recent project activity (git log since last run, recent merged CRs, the active session transcript if invoked from one).
Decide what's worth keeping per the rubric above.
CRUD .kortix/memory/ accordingly.
Open a single CR titled memory: ….
Exit silently if nothing is worth changing.

To change what the reflector remembers, edit the rubric section of this skill. The reflector reads it fresh every run, so a merged CR to this file takes effect on the next reflection.

To change when the reflector runs, edit the [[triggers]] block named memory-reflector in kortix.toml. The cron sweep picks up changes within a few seconds of the CR merging.

The index is read first; sub-files are on demand. Don't dump every fact into MEMORY.md — keep it a clean table of contents and push depth into sub-files the agent views only when relevant.
view your memory before you start. Nothing is auto-injected; if you skip the view, you work blind to what the project already knows. The memory tool's description and the agent rules say the same thing — this is the memory protocol.
Memory files are markdown, not databases. Avoid heavy formatting, tables of 50 rows, or auto-generated content. If you catch yourself writing a script to generate a memory file, that content probably belongs in code, not memory.
Memory edits must go through CR. Direct pushes to main bypass the user-review contract — the same rule as code. The reflector agent enforces this by always ending with kortix cr open.
Don't put secrets in memory. Memory is read into context and committed to the repo. Secrets, tokens, API keys, and PII belong in the Kortix Secrets Manager, surfaced as env vars at runtime — not in .kortix/memory/.

What to remember (KEEP)

What NOT to remember (DROP)

Style for entries

The memory tool

Landing memory on main

The `memory` tool

Landing memory on `main`