claude/skills/prune-memory/SKILL.md

name	description	argument-hint	disable-model-invocation	allowed-tools
prune-memory	Use when .claude/memory/ registries grow too large or noisy — superseded entries verbose, similar entries cluttering, journal stale, caveman style drifted. Curates the 5 registries via mark-superseded + merge + inline caveman compression. Append-only safe (no hard delete). Git is the backup. Triggers: "prune memory", "compact memory", "clean memory", "memory hygiene", "trier memoire", "nettoyer memoire", "registres trop longs", "compresse les memoires".	optional decisions|learnings|blockers|journal|evals — default all 5	false	Read Edit Write Bash Grep Glob AskUserQuestion

/prune-memory — Memory registry curation

Operates on .claude/memory/ in the current project (CWD). Curates the 5 registries: decisions.md, learnings.md, blockers.md, journal.md, evals.md.

Core principles

• Git is the backup. Skill writes in-place. PRECHECK refuses to run if working tree dirty on registry files.
• Append-only friendly. Marks entries status: superseded by <new-ID> or status: deprecated instead of deleting. Body of old entry stays for history.
• IDs stable. Never renumber. Merges create a new ID; sources keep their ID with superseded status.
• Caveman style enforced. Per CLAUDE.md memory rule, all writes are caveman-style English. Compression rewrites prose to fragments.
• User approves every category. No silent changes.

Quick reference

When	Use
Add new entry this session	/close
Token-compress one file (not curating)	/caveman:compress <file>
Curate: obsolete + merge + caveman	/prune-memory (this skill)

STEP 0 — PRECHECK

test -d .claude/memory/ || { echo "no .claude/memory/ in $(pwd)"; exit 1; }
git status --short .claude/memory/ 2>/dev/null

If working tree is dirty on any registry file → STOP with: "Commit or stash pending changes in .claude/memory/ first. Skill writes in-place. Git is the only backup."

STEP 1 — AUDIT (per registry)

For each target registry (filter by $ARGUMENTS or all 5):

Read file. Classify candidates into A/B/C/D below. Use today's date for age comparisons. Today's date is in the system context.

A. Obsolete — mark-superseded candidates

• Decisions status: proposed older than 90 days → propose status: deprecated (no follow-up).
• Decisions whose body contains "superseded by " but Index row still says accepted → propose Index row fix to superseded by <that-ID>.
• Blockers status: open whose root cause matches a commit in last 30 days (grep git log --since=30.days --grep=<keyword>) → propose status: resolved with commit ref.
• Journal entries older than 180 days with zero cross-reference from later entries → propose collapse into 1-line month summary (## YYYY-MM heading replaces detail).

B. Similar — merge candidates

• Two+ entries sharing root keyword in title (e.g. pandoc, client-handover, CSS overlay).
• Shared file paths in **Reference**: lines.
• Same week + adjacent IDs + same domain.
• Use semantic judgment on overlap; don't merge complementary entries that cover different angles of one concept.

C. Bloated — inline caveman-rewrite candidates

• Body > 150 words AND prose-heavy.
• Detect filler density: count \b(the|a|an|just|really|basically|actually|simply)\b matches; if > 5% of word count → bloated.

D. Index drift

• Body ## (BDR|LRN|BLK|EVAL)-NNN heading exists but no matching row in ## Index table → propose Index backfill.
• Index row exists but body entry missing → propose status: deleted (orphaned) tombstone or removal of Index row (user decides).

STEP 2 — PRESENT PLAN ★ MANDATORY STOP

Print one block per registry. Example:

PRUNE PLAN — decisions.md (N entries → M after if approved)

[A. Obsolete — mark superseded]
  BDR-003 — Gitignore wildcard pattern — status: proposed since 2026-03-12
            → mark: status: deprecated (no follow-up after 90 days)
  BDR-011 — Client handover 4-chapter — body says superseded by BDR-013
            → fix Index: status = "superseded by BDR-013"

[B. Similar — merge]
  LRN-014 + LRN-016 — both pandoc rendering quirks
            → propose: merge into NEW LRN-017 ("Pandoc rendering quirks")
              with both bodies appended + caveman pass; sources marked
              status: superseded by LRN-017

[C. Bloated — inline caveman rewrite]
  BDR-011 — body 612 words, filler density 7.2% → ~380 expected (-38%)

[D. Index drift]
  (none)

Approve per category? (all / a / b / c / d / edit <ID> / skip)

Wait for user input. Default = nothing applied.

STEP 3 — APPLY APPROVED CHANGES

Order: safe → destructive.

1. Index drift fixes — no body changes. Backfill missing rows, mark orphans.
2. Status flag updates — Index row status field only. Body untouched.
3. Merges — write new merged entry (next-free ID); source IDs marked status: superseded by <new-ID> in Index (body kept verbatim for history). Merged body:
   • Preserves all **Reference**: lines (dedupe identical paths).
   • Caveman pass on prose during merge.
   • Keeps frontmatter fields: id (new), date (today), title, status (accepted), references (union).
4. Inline caveman compression — preserve frontmatter exactly (id, date, title, status, references). Rewrite prose body to fragments:
   • Drop articles (a, an, the).
   • Drop filler (just, really, basically, actually, simply).
   • Short synonyms (big not extensive, fix not implement a solution for).
   • Keep code blocks, URLs, error messages, file paths VERBATIM.
   • Keep IDs (BDR-XXX, LRN-XXX, commit hashes) verbatim.

After each write, regenerate Index from body when rows changed.

STEP 4 — VERIFY

# All body entries have Index rows; no orphans
for f in .claude/memory/decisions.md .claude/memory/learnings.md .claude/memory/blockers.md; do
  prefix=$(basename "$f" .md | tr a-z A-Z | cut -c1-3)
  /usr/bin/grep -oE "^## (${prefix})-[0-9]+" "$f" | while read marker; do
    id="${marker##\#\# }"
    /usr/bin/grep -q "^| ${id} " "$f" || echo "MISSING INDEX: $id in $f"
  done
  /usr/bin/grep -oE "^\| (${prefix})-[0-9]+ " "$f" | while read row; do
    id=$(echo "$row" | awk '{print $2}')
    /usr/bin/grep -q "^## ${id} " "$f" || echo "ORPHAN INDEX: $id in $f"
  done
done

wc -l .claude/memory/*.md

Report:

PRUNE COMPLETE
  decisions.md : 226 → 184 lines (-19%)
  learnings.md : 190 → 165 lines (-13%)
  blockers.md  : no candidates
  journal.md   :  88 → 62 lines (-30%)
  evals.md     : no candidates

INDEX SANITY: OK
NEXT: review `git diff .claude/memory/`, then `/commit-change`

What NOT to prune

• Journal entries < 30 days old.
• Decisions / learnings with commit references < 14 days old.
• Entries the user marked status: accepted in the current session.
• The current session's just-capitalized entries (read journal.md tail to identify them).

Common mistakes

Mistake	Fix
Renumbering IDs after a merge	IDs are stable. Sources keep their ID + status: superseded. New merged entry gets next-free ID.
Hard-deleting "obsolete" entries	Forbidden by append-only rule. Use status: deprecated. Body stays.
Compressing code blocks / URLs / error messages	Caveman compression touches PROSE only. Code, URLs, IDs, error quotes stay verbatim.
Running on a dirty working tree	PRECHECK blocks this. Commit first.
Compressing the current session's journal entry	Excluded by "What NOT to prune" — current session capitalization is still useful.
Merging complementary entries that cover different angles	Merge only when same concept, same scope. Different angles = keep separate.

Failure paths

Situation	Behavior
.claude/memory/ missing	STOP: no .claude/memory/ in current directory; run from project root
Working tree dirty on registry files	STOP per PRECHECK; tell user to commit/stash first
User says skip at STEP 2	Exit cleanly, no writes
Merge produces an entry > 600 words	Re-split — merge was too greedy. Re-prompt user to keep separate.
Index sanity FAILED at STEP 4	Print exact missing/orphan IDs. Do NOT auto-fix — user re-runs or hand-edits.
Caveman compression result < 20% of original AND original had code blocks	Revert that entry's compression — flag as needing manual rewrite (likely stripped technical detail).
Same file already compressed in same session (e.g. via /caveman:compress)	Skip C-category for that file; warn user that double-pass risks technical drift.

Rules

• No silent writes — every change goes through STEP 2 approval gate.
• No renumbering — IDs are stable across all operations.
• No hard delete in v1 — only mark superseded. (Hard delete opt-in may arrive in v2 if explicit demand surfaces.)
• Working tree must be clean before any write — git is the only backup.
• Caveman compression touches prose only; code/URLs/error quotes verbatim per CLAUDE.md memory format rule.

TDD note (skill itself)

v1 ships without baseline test scenarios per superpowers:writing-skills Iron Law. Recommended before relying on the skill in production:

1. RED: spawn subagent, give it a real .claude/memory/ snapshot, ask "prune obsolete entries". Document what it does naturally.
2. GREEN: invoke /prune-memory on the same snapshot. Verify it follows STEP 0–4 + respects append-only rule.
3. REFACTOR: log any new rationalizations the subagent finds; add counters to the "Common mistakes" / "Failure paths" tables.

Until TDD is done, the skill is v1-untested. STEP 2 approval gate is the human safety net.