Skill: TraceMem When NOT to Use

Purpose

This skill helps agents determine when TraceMem is unnecessary or potentially harmful to performance/complexity. Not every line of code needs a decision envelope.

When to Use

• When planning a task.
• During architectural decision making.

When NOT to Use

• When the task is trivial, internal, or clearly outside the scope of "governance".

Core Rules

• No Side Effects? No Trace needed: If you are just calculating pi or formatting a string, you don't need TraceMem.
• Public Data Only? Low Risk: If you are fetching public weather data, you might not need TraceMem (unless your organization requires tracking all external inputs). Default to using it if unsure, but know it's optional for non-sensitive public reads.
• High Frequency: If you need to write 10,000 records per second, TraceMem's HTTP/JSON-RPC overhead (and policy checks per write) might be too slow. TraceMem is for decisions, not bulk ETL.

Correct Usage Pattern