Memory

What it does

When your agent uses it

• : you learn something worth remembering
• The user asks you to remember something
• You want to recall past knowledge
• You need to reorganize

Example prompts

• “remember this”
• “save to memory”
• “what do you remember about”
• “/memory”

Workflow steps

3 steps, taken from the first numbered list in SKILL.md.

1. 1Decide which category folder it belongs in (or root memory/ if it's top-level)
2. 2Create the category folder if it doesn't exist: mkdir -p memory/
3. 3Write the .md file with proper frontmatter

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 2db3a03. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.

• Tool permissions

  Pre-approves nothing: there is no allowed-tools line, so your agent's usual permission prompts apply.

  From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

• Runs code

  No scripts in the folder and no shell commands in SKILL.md (its code samples are bash and markdown).

  From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.

• Network

  No URLs in SKILL.md.

  From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.

• Credentials

  Names no API keys, tokens, secrets or passwords.

  From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.

Context cost

Memory loads about 1.1k tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 132 tokens; SKILL.md has 317 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it

~132

When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches

~1.1k

Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.

Safety

Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); files beside SKILL.md are not scanned.

SKILL.md

The full file from TinyAGI/tinyagi at commit 2db3a03, republished under its MIT licence (© TinyAGI). 317 words, ~1,077 tokens.

name

memory

description

Manage your persistent hierarchical memory — save, update, search, and organize knowledge as markdown files in the memory/ folder. Use when: you learn something worth remembering, the user asks you to remember something, you want to recall past knowledge, you need to reorganize or update existing memories, or you want to search through your memories. Triggers: 'remember this', 'save to memory', 'what do you remember about', 'update memory', 'search memory', 'forget', or when you decide something is worth persisting.

memory/
├── project-setup.md              ← root-level memory
├── preferences/                  ← category folder
│   ├── coding-style.md
│   └── communication.md
├── projects/                     ← category folder
│   ├── overview.md
│   └── webapp/                   ← nested category
│       ├── architecture.md
│       └── api-endpoints.md
└── people/
    └── team-contacts.md

---
name: coding-style
summary: User prefers functional style, TypeScript strict mode, no semicolons
---

Detailed notes about the user's coding preferences:

- Functional programming style over OOP
- TypeScript with strict mode enabled
- No semicolons (relies on ASI)
- Prefer const over let
- Use arrow functions for callbacks

cat > memory/preferences/coding-style.md << 'EOF'
---
name: coding-style
summary: User prefers functional TypeScript, strict mode, no semicolons
---

Detailed preferences documented here...
EOF

# Search all memories for a keyword
grep -r "keyword" memory/ --include="*.md"

# Search only summaries (frontmatter)
grep -r "summary:" memory/ --include="*.md"

# Find memories in a specific category
ls memory/projects/

cat memory/<path-to-file>.md

# Create a new category
mkdir -p memory/new-category

# Move a memory to a different category
mv memory/old-location/file.md memory/new-category/file.md

# Rename a memory (update the name field in frontmatter too)
mv memory/old-name.md memory/new-name.md

rm memory/path/to/memory.md
# Remove empty category folders
rmdir memory/empty-category/

© TinyAGI, MIT. Rendered from Markdown: HTML in the file is shown as text, images as links, and headings moved down two levels. Raw file

Files

Just SKILL.md in .agents/skills/memory of TinyAGI/tinyagi.

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 2db3a03