Scaling Patterns

Volume Thresholds

Scale	Entries	Strategy
Small	<100	Single memory.md, no namespacing
Medium	100-500	Split into domains/, basic indexing
Large	500-2000	Full namespace hierarchy, aggressive compaction
Massive	>2000	Archive yearly, summary-only HOT tier

When to Split

Create new namespace file when:

• Single file exceeds 200 lines
• Topic has 10+ distinct corrections
• User explicitly separates contexts ("for work...", "in this project...")

Compaction Rules

Merge Similar Corrections

BEFORE (3 entries):
- [02-01] Use tabs not spaces
- [02-03] Indent with tabs
- [02-05] Tab indentation please

AFTER (1 entry):
- Indentation: tabs (confirmed 3x, 02-01 to 02-05)

Summarize Verbose Patterns

BEFORE:
- When writing emails to Marcus, use bullet points, keep under 5 items,
  no jargon, bottom-line first, he prefers morning sends

AFTER:
- Marcus emails: bullets ≤5, no jargon, BLUF, AM preferred

Archive with Context

When moving to COLD:

## Archived 2026-02

### Project: old-app (inactive since 2025-08)
- Used Vue 2 patterns
- Preferred Vuex over Pinia
- CI on Jenkins (deprecated)

Reason: Project completed, patterns unlikely to apply

Index Maintenance

index.md tracks all namespaces:

# Memory Index

## HOT (always loaded)
- memory.md: 87 lines, updated 2026-02-15

## WARM (load on match)
- projects/current-app.md: 45 lines
- projects/side-project.md: 23 lines
- domains/code.md: 112 lines
- domains/writing.md: 34 lines

## COLD (archive)
- archive/2025.md: 234 lines
- archive/2024.md: 189 lines

Last compaction: 2026-02-01
Next scheduled: 2026-03-01

Multi-Project Patterns

Inheritance Chain

global (memory.md)
  └── domain (domains/code.md)
       └── project (projects/app.md)

Override Syntax

In project file:

## Overrides
- indentation: spaces (overrides global tabs)
- Reason: Project eslint config requires spaces

Conflict Detection

When loading, check for conflicts:

1. Build inheritance chain
2. Detect contradictions
3. Most specific wins
4. Log conflict for later review

User Type Adaptations

User Type	Memory Strategy
Power user	Aggressive learning, minimal confirmation
Casual	Conservative learning, frequent confirmation
Team shared	Per-user namespaces, shared project space
Privacy-focused	Local-only, explicit consent per category

Recovery Patterns

Context Lost

If agent loses context mid-session:

1. Re-read memory.md
2. Check index.md for relevant namespaces
3. Load active project namespace
4. Continue with restored patterns

Corruption Recovery

If memory file corrupted:

1. Check archive/ for recent backup
2. Rebuild from corrections.md
3. Ask user to re-confirm critical preferences
4. Log incident for debugging