The Problem with Most Memory

Storing everything creates noise. Wrong retrieval is worse than no memory. The goal isn't maximum recall — it's retrieving the right thing at the right time.

What's Actually Worth Remembering

High value (persist indefinitely):

Commitments made — "I said I'd do X by Y"
Learned corrections — "User told me NOT to do Z"
Explicit preferences — "I hate verbose responses"
Core relationships — "Maria is the designer on Project X"

Medium value (persist with review):

Project/context state — what's active, current status
Domain lessons — patterns, gotchas, how things work here
Decisions made — what was chosen and why

Low value (don't persist):

One-off questions, easily reconstructible facts, transient context