version: "1.0.0" name: memory-timeline-manager description: Manage short-term timeline memory and long-term MEMORY.md curation safely (capture daily notes, label retention, promote snippets, and run review sweeps). Use when asked to add to timeline memory, promote notes to long-term memory, or organize/prune memory files.

Memory Timeline Manager

Use this skill for the memory workflow: 1) Capture quickly in memory/YYYY-MM-DD.md 2) Curate durable facts in MEMORY.md 3) Promote important snippets from timeline to long-term memory 4) Keep changes safe and reversible

Safety rules (always)

• Allowed write targets:
• MEMORY.md
• memory/*.md
• Never write outside those paths unless user explicitly asks.
• Prefer additive edits over destructive rewrites.
• Before deleting or bulk-pruning memory files, ask for confirmation.
• For uncertain/large edits, create a dated backup file in memory/ first.

Fast routing

• "remember this" / daily logs / quick note → append to memory/YYYY-MM-DD.md
• stable preferences / decisions / recurring schedule / project truths → MEMORY.md
• "promote this" → append snippet to MEMORY.md with timestamp heading
• cleanup/review requests → follow retention sweep in references/retention.md

Standard operations

1) Capture timeline note

• Target file: memory/<today>.md
• If file missing, create it with a date heading.
• Append concise bullet(s), preserving chronology.

2) Promote snippet to long-term memory

Use scripts/promote_snippet.py when available for deterministic formatting.

• Add heading:

## Promoted from Timeline (YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS)

• Add cleaned snippet text.
• Keep entries short and factual.

3) Retention labeling (lightweight)

Use labels in note text or sidecar metadata when requested:

• keep
• review
• archive
• delete-candidate

When labels are in text, use [#label] suffix on bullets for compatibility.

4) Weekly review sweep

• Read recent memory/YYYY-MM-DD.md files
• Identify durable items worth keeping
• Promote to MEMORY.md
• Optionally mark stale notes as archive / delete-candidate

See references/retention.md for checklist.

File conventions

• Timeline files: memory/YYYY-MM-DD.md
• Long-term memory: MEMORY.md
• Avoid creating extra docs unless user asks.

References

• Retention & review checklist: references/retention.md
• Section taxonomy guidance: references/memory-taxonomy.md