Project Memory

Overview

Maintain institutional knowledge for projects by establishing a structured memory system in docs/project_notes/. This skill sets up four key memory files (bugs, decisions, key facts, issues) and configures CLAUDE.md and AGENTS.md to automatically reference and maintain them. The result is a project that remembers past decisions, solutions to problems, and important configuration details across coding sessions and across different AI tools.

When to Use This Skill

Invoke this skill when:

• Starting a new project that will accumulate knowledge over time
• The project already has recurring bugs or decisions that should be documented
• The user asks to "set up project memory" or "track our decisions"
• The user wants to log a bug fix, architectural decision, or completed work
• Encountering a problem that feels familiar ("didn't we solve this before?")
• Before proposing an architectural change (check existing decisions first)
• Working on projects with multiple developers or AI tools (Claude Code, Cursor, etc.)

Core Capabilities

1. Initial Setup - Create Memory Infrastructure

When invoked for the first time in a project, create the following structure:

docs/
└── project_notes/
    ├── bugs.md         # Bug log with solutions
    ├── decisions.md    # Architectural Decision Records
    ├── key_facts.md    # Project configuration and constants
    └── issues.md       # Work log with ticket references

Directory naming rationale: Using docs/project_notes/ instead of memory/ makes it look like standard engineering organization, not AI-specific tooling. This increases adoption and maintenance by human developers.

Initial file content: Copy templates from the references/ directory in this skill:

• Use references/bugs_template.md for initial bugs.md
• Use references/decisions_template.md for initial decisions.md
• Use references/key_facts_template.md for initial key_facts.md
• Use references/issues_template.md for initial issues.md

Each template includes format examples and usage tips.

2. Configure CLAUDE.md - Memory-Aware Behavior

Add or update the following section in the project's CLAUDE.md file:

## Project Memory System

This project maintains institutional knowledge in `docs/project_notes/` for consistency across sessions.

### Memory Files

- **bugs.md** - Bug log with dates, solutions, and prevention notes
- **decisions.md** - Architectural Decision Records (ADRs) with context and trade-offs
- **key_facts.md** - Project configuration, credentials, ports, important URLs
- **issues.md** - Work log with ticket IDs, descriptions, and URLs

### Memory-Aware Protocols

**Before proposing architectural changes:**
- Check `docs/project_notes/decisions.md` for existing decisions
- Verify the proposed approach doesn't conflict with past choices
- If it does conflict, acknowledge the existing decision and explain why a change is warranted

**When encountering errors or bugs:**
- Search `docs/project_notes/bugs.md` for similar issues
- Apply known solutions if found
- Document new bugs and solutions when resolved

**When looking up project configuration:**
- Check `docs/project_notes/key_facts.md` for credentials, ports, URLs, service accounts
- Prefer documented facts over assumptions

**When completing work on tickets:**
- Log completed work in `docs/project_notes/issues.md`
- Include ticket ID, date, brief description, and URL

**When user requests memory updates:**
- Update the appropriate memory file (bugs, decisions, key_facts, or issues)
- Follow the established format and style (bullet lists, dates, concise entries)

### Style Guidelines for Memory Files

- **Prefer bullet lists over tables** for simplicity and ease of editing
- **Keep entries concise** (1-3 lines for descriptions)
- **Always include dates** for temporal context
- **Include URLs** for tickets, documentation, monitoring dashboards
- **Manual cleanup** of old entries is expected (not automated)

3. Configure AGENTS.md - Multi-Tool Support

If the project has an AGENTS.md file (used for agent workflows or multi-tool projects), add the same memory protocols. This ensures consistency whether using Claude Code, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, or other AI tools.

If AGENTS.md exists: Add the same "Project Memory System" section as above.

If AGENTS.md doesn't exist: Ask the user if they want to create it. Many projects use multiple AI tools and benefit from shared memory protocols.

4. Searching Memory Files

When encountering problems or making decisions, proactively search memory files:

Search bugs.md:

# Look for similar errors
grep -i "connection refused" docs/project_notes/bugs.md

# Find bugs by date range
grep "2025-01" docs/project_notes/bugs.md

Search decisions.md:

# Check for decisions about a technology
grep -i "database" docs/project_notes/decisions.md

# Find all ADRs
grep "^### ADR-" docs/project_notes/decisions.md

Search key_facts.md:

# Find database connection info
grep -A 5 "Database" docs/project_notes/key_facts.md

# Look up service accounts
grep -i "service account" docs/project_notes/key_facts.md

Use Grep tool for more complex searches:

• Search across all memory files: Grep(pattern="oauth", path="docs/project_notes/")
• Context-aware search: Grep(pattern="bug", path="docs/project_notes/bugs.md", -A=3, -B=3)

5. Updating Memory Files

When the user requests updates or when documenting resolved issues:

Adding a bug entry:

### YYYY-MM-DD - Brief Bug Description
- **Issue**: What went wrong
- **Root Cause**: Why it happened
- **Solution**: How it was fixed
- **Prevention**: How to avoid it in the future

Adding a decision:

### ADR-XXX: Decision Title (YYYY-MM-DD)

**Context:**
- Why the decision was needed
- What problem it solves

**Decision:**
- What was chosen

**Alternatives Considered:**
- Option 1 → Why rejected
- Option 2 → Why rejected

**Consequences:**
- ✅ Benefits
- ❌ Trade-offs

Adding key facts:

• Organize by category (GCP Project, Database, API, Local Development, etc.)
• Use bullet lists for clarity
• Include both production and development details
• Add URLs for easy navigation

⚠️ SECURITY WARNING - What NOT to Store in key_facts.md:

NEVER store passwords, API keys, or sensitive credentials in key_facts.md. This file is typically committed to version control and should only contain non-sensitive reference information such as:

✅ Safe to store:

• Database hostnames, ports, and cluster names
• Client names and project identifiers
• JIRA project keys and Confluence space names
• AWS account names and profile names (e.g., "dev", "staging", "prod")
• API endpoint URLs (public URLs only)
• Service account email addresses (not the keys!)
• GCP project IDs and region names
• Docker registry names
• Environment names and deployment targets

❌ NEVER store in git/key_facts.md:

• Passwords or passphrases
• API keys or authentication tokens
• Service account JSON keys or credentials
• Database passwords
• OAuth client secrets
• Private keys or certificates
• Session tokens
• Any secret values from environment variables

Where to store sensitive credentials:

• Use .env files (excluded via .gitignore)
• Use password managers (1Password, LastPass, etc.)
• Use secrets managers (AWS Secrets Manager, GCP Secret Manager, HashiCorp Vault)
• Use environment variables in CI/CD systems
• Use secure credential stores in your deployment platform

Important reminder: Always verify that sensitive files like .env are listed in .gitignore before committing. Use git status to check what will be committed. Never commit clear-text passwords or authentication keys to any git repository, even private ones.

Adding work log entry:

### YYYY-MM-DD - TICKET-ID: Brief Description
- **Status**: Completed / In Progress / Blocked
- **Description**: 1-2 line summary
- **URL**: https://jira.company.com/browse/TICKET-ID
- **Notes**: Any important context

6. Memory File Maintenance

Periodically clean old entries:

• User is responsible for manual cleanup (no automation)
• Remove very old bug entries (6+ months) that are no longer relevant
• Archive completed work from issues.md (3+ months old)
• Keep all decisions (they're lightweight and provide historical context)
• Update key_facts.md when project configuration changes

Conflict resolution:

• If proposing something that conflicts with decisions.md, explain why revisiting the decision is warranted
• Update the decision entry if the choice changes
• Add date of revision to show evolution

Templates and References

This skill includes template files in references/ that demonstrate proper formatting:

• references/bugs_template.md - Bug entry format with examples
• references/decisions_template.md - ADR format with examples
• references/key_facts_template.md - Key facts organization with examples
• references/issues_template.md - Work log format with examples

When creating initial memory files, copy these templates to docs/project_notes/ and customize them for the project.

Example Workflows

Scenario 1: Encountering a Familiar Bug

User: "I'm getting a 'connection refused' error from the database"
→ Search docs/project_notes/bugs.md for "connection"
→ Find previous solution: "Use AlloyDB Auth Proxy on port 5432"
→ Apply known fix

Scenario 2: Proposing an Architectural Change

Internal: "User might benefit from using SQLAlchemy for migrations"
→ Check docs/project_notes/decisions.md
→ Find ADR-002: Already decided to use Alembic
→ Use Alembic instead, maintaining consistency

Scenario 3: User Requests Memory Update

User: "Add that CORS fix to our bug log"
→ Read docs/project_notes/bugs.md
→ Add new entry with date, issue, solution, prevention
→ Confirm addition to user

Scenario 4: Looking Up Project Configuration

Internal: "Need to connect to database"
→ Check docs/project_notes/key_facts.md
→ Find Database Configuration section
→ Use documented connection string and credentials

Tips for Effective Memory Management

1. Be proactive: Check memory files before proposing solutions
2. Be concise: Keep entries brief (1-3 lines for descriptions)
3. Be consistent: Follow established formats and style guidelines
4. Be dated: Always include dates for temporal context
5. Be linked: Include URLs to tickets, docs, monitoring dashboards
6. Be honest: Document trade-offs and failures, not just successes
7. Be selective: Not every bug needs documentation, focus on recurring or instructive issues

Integration with Other Skills

The project-memory skill complements other skills:

• requirements-documenter: Requirements → Decisions (ADRs reference requirements)
• root-cause-debugger: Bug diagnosis → Bug log (document solutions after fixes)
• code-quality-reviewer: Quality issues → Decisions (document quality standards)
• docs-sync-editor: Code changes → Key facts (update when config changes)

When using these skills together, consider updating memory files as a follow-up action.

Success Criteria

This skill is successfully deployed when:

• ✅ docs/project_notes/ directory exists with all four memory files
• ✅ CLAUDE.md includes "Project Memory System" section with protocols
• ✅ AGENTS.md includes the same protocols (if file exists or user requested)
• ✅ Memory files follow template format and style guidelines
• ✅ AI assistant checks memory files before proposing changes
• ✅ User can easily request memory updates ("add this to bugs.md")
• ✅ Memory files look like standard engineering documentation, not AI artifacts