Memory Management

What This Skill Does

This skill enables Claude to understand and remember workplace-specific language, acronyms, and context. It uses a tiered memory system with a hot cache for frequently used terms and a deep memory for comprehensive information. This allows Claude to effectively decode user requests and provide relevant responses.

When to Use

• Decoding shorthand in user requests.
• Understanding internal acronyms and terms.
• Identifying people and their roles within the organization.
• Providing context for projects and tasks.
• Remembering user preferences and past interactions.

Key Features

Uses a hot cache (CLAUDE.md) for frequently used terms. Maintains a full glossary (memory/glossary.md) for comprehensive coverage. Stores detailed profiles for people, projects, and context. Employs a tiered lookup flow to efficiently find information. Learns new terms from user input when not found in memory.

Manual Installation

Manual installation## The Goal

Transform shorthand into understanding:

User: "ask todd to do the PSR for oracle" ↓ Claude decodes "Ask Todd Martinez (Finance lead) to prepare the Pipeline Status Report for the Oracle Systems deal ($2.3M, closing Q2)"

Without memory, that request is meaningless. With memory, Claude knows: todd → Todd Martinez, Finance lead, prefers Slack PSR → Pipeline Status Report (weekly sales doc) oracle → Oracle Systems deal, not the company

Architecture

CLAUDE.md ← Hot cache (~30 people, common terms) memory/ glossary.md ← Full decoder ring (everything) people/ ← Complete profiles projects/ ← Project details context/ ← Company, teams, tools

CLAUDE.md (Hot Cache): Top ~30 people you interact with most ~30 most common acronyms/terms Active projects (5-15) Your preferences Goal: Cover 90% of daily decoding needs

memory/glossary.md (Full Glossary): Complete decoder ring - everyone, every term Searched when something isn't in CLAUDE.md Can grow indefinitely

memory/people/, projects/, context/: Rich detail when needed for execution Full profiles, history, context

Lookup Flow

User: "ask todd about the PSR for phoenix"

Check CLAUDE.md (hot cache) → Todd? ✓ Todd Martinez, Finance → PSR? ✓ Pipeline Status Report → Phoenix? ✓ DB migration project

If not found → search memory/glossary.md → Full glossary has everyone/everything

If still not found → ask user → "What does X mean? I'll remember it."

This tiered approach keeps CLAUDE.md lean (~100 lines) while supporting unlimited scale in memory/.

File Locations

Working memory: CLAUDE.md in current working directory Deep memory: memory/ subdirectory

Working Memory Format (CLAUDE.md)

• Use tables for compactness.
• Target ~50-80 lines total.

Me

mory

Me [Name], [Role] on [Team]. [One sentence about what I do.]

People

Terms

Projects

Preferences

25-min meetings with buffers Async-first, Slack over email No meetings Friday afternoons

Deep Memory Format (memory/)

memory/glossary.md - The decoder ring:

Glossary

Workplace shorthand, acronyms, and internal language.

Acronyms

Internal Terms

Nicknames → Full Names

Project Codenames

memory/people/{name}.md:

Todd Martinez

Also known as: Todd, T Role: Finance Lead Team: Finance Reports to: CFO (Michael Chen)

Communication

Prefers Slack DM Quick responses, very direct Best time: mornings

Context

Handles all PSRs and financial reporting Key contact for deal approvals over $500k Works closely with Sales on forecasting

Notes

Cubs fan, likes talking baseball

memory/projects/{name}.md:

Project Phoenix

Codename: Phoenix Also called: "the migration" Status: Active, launching Q2

What It Is

Database migration from legacy Oracle to Postgre SQL.

Key People

Sarah - tech lead Todd - budget owner Greg - stakeholder (sales impact)

$1.2M budget, 6-month timeline. Critical path for Horizon project.

memory/context/company.md:

Company Context

Tools & Systems

Teams

Processes

How to Interact

Decoding User Input (Tiered Lookup)

Always decode shorthand before acting on requests:

1. CLAUDE.md (hot cache) → Check first, covers 90% of cases memory/glossary.md → Full glossary if not in hot cache memory/people/, projects/ → Rich detail when needed Ask user → Unknown term? Learn it.

Example: User: "ask todd to do the PSR for oracle"

CLAUDE.md lookup: "todd" → Todd Martinez, Finance ✓ "PSR" → Pipeline Status Report ✓ "oracle" → (not in hot cache)

memory/glossary.md lookup: "oracle" → Oracle Systems deal ($2.3M) ✓

Now Claude can act with full context.

Adding Memory

When user says "remember this" or "X means Y":

Glossary items (acronyms, terms, shorthand):

• Add to memory/glossary.md
• If frequently used, add to CLAUDE.md Quick Glossary

People:

• Create/update memory/people/{name}.md
• Add to CLAUDE.md Key People if important
• Capture nicknames - critical for decoding

Projects:

• Create/update memory/projects/{name}.md
• Add to CLAUDE.md Active Projects if current
• Capture codenames - "Phoenix", "the migration", etc.

Preferences: Add to CLAUDE.md Preferences section

Recalling Memory

When user asks "who is X" or "what does X mean":

Check CLAUDE.md first Check memory/ for full detail If not found: "I don't know what X means yet. Can you tell me?"

Progressive Disclosure

Load CLAUDE.md for quick parsing of any request Dive into memory/ when you need full context for execution Example: drafting an email to todd about the PSR

• CLAUDE.md tells you Todd = Todd Martinez, PSR = Pipeline Status Report
• memory/people/todd-martinez.md tells you he prefers Slack, is direct

Bootstrapping

Use /productivity:start to initialize by scanning your chat, calendar, email, and documents. Extracts people, projects, and starts building the glossary.

Conventions

Bold terms in CLAUDE.md for scannability Keep CLAUDE.md under ~100 lines (the "hot 30" rule) Filenames: lowercase, hyphens (todd-martinez.md, project-phoenix.md) Always capture nicknames