nanobot-runtime/skills/keep/SKILL.md

name, description

name	description
keep	Stores durable personal facts, preferences, and decisions about the user as terse one-line entries in a persistent keep file. Use when the user wants something remembered ("keep X", "remember X", "/keep X") or asks to compact the store. Not for reference material, notes, or URLs to file and search later (that is note), and not for facts scoped to one named project (that is project).

Keep

Explicit memory store. User says "keep X" → reformulate, write to workspace/keep.md, dedup, compact when too long.

File

workspace/keep.md. Flat bullet list. One entry = one line: - <terse fact>. No dates. Date adds noise, has no value for keep/discard decisions.

Triage — before writing anything

keep.md is read on every turn, so only a durable fact / preference / decision about the user belongs here. Check the input against these first and redirect instead of writing:

• A rule about how the agent should work (conventions, tooling, workflow) → AGENTS.md. Tell the user that is where it goes.
• Something to try or read later, a link, an article, reference material → /note.
• A fact that only matters inside one named project → /project (projects/<slug>/).
• A scheduled reminder → /remind.

Only when it is genuinely a durable user fact, continue with the write protocol below. Mixed input (a fact plus a to-do) → split it and route each part.

Write protocol

1. Extract the core fact. Drop filler ("you know", "important is that", "watch out for", "remember please").
2. Rewrite as a 5–15 word terse fact. Telegraphic style. Dashes / parentheses for context. Preserve the language of the input — never translate. Czech input → Czech entry, English input → English entry.
   • Input: "you know, Honza from marketing is allergic to peanuts"
   • Entry: Honza (marketing) — peanut allergy
   • If the entry is a decision, preference, or dead-end (not a plain fact), append the reason inline on the same line: <fact> — because <terse why>. Plain facts (allergy, deploy window, name) get no reason.
   • If it is a decision/preference/dead-end but the input gives no reason, ask the user once for the why before storing. If they supply it → append it. If they decline or it is self-evident → store without it.
3. Read workspace/keep.md (create if missing).
4. Read workspace/memory/MEMORY.md and check if a semantically similar fact already exists there (Dream may have already distilled it).
   • If similar fact in MEMORY.md → tell the user ("Already in MEMORY.md: <existing fact>. Keep anyway?") and act on their answer. Default: skip.
5. Check duplicates: case-insensitive substring match against existing lines.
   • If duplicate → ask user: replace, append as variant, or skip.
6. Append the new line.
7. If line count > 150 → run compaction (below) before responding.
8. Confirm: Kept: <terse fact>. Respond in the user's language (the model localizes the confirmation itself).

Compaction

Trigger: line count > 150, or the user asks for compaction.

1. Read full keep.md.
2. Rewrite under ~120 lines (headroom). Strategies:
   • Merge duplicates and near-duplicates.
   • Drop stale one-shot info (past meetings, transient states, expired notes).
   • Shorten verbose entries.
3. Write the new file in one go.
4. Report: Compaction: 151 → 117 lines.

Edge cases

• /keep with no content → ask "What should I remember?".
• Vague input ("remember this", "that thing") → ask for the concrete fact; do not store a placeholder.
• File missing → create it on first write.
• Multi-line input → collapse newlines to spaces; one entry = one line.

Rules

• Never store the verbatim input. Always reformulate.
• Never store an agent working rule, a link, or a to-try item — route those per Triage above.
• Reason (why) only for decisions / preferences / dead-ends — never for plain facts. Always terse and inline on the same line; never a separate Why: block.
• Preserve input language; never translate.
• Do not store smalltalk or meta-commentary about memory itself.
• Keep is separate from MEMORY.md and Dream. Read MEMORY.md only for the dedup check (step 4); never edit it or any Dream file from this skill.
• Touch keep.md only via this skill. Other agent paths should read it (per USER.md reference) but not edit it.