Continuity — Working Memory Protocol

TL;DR

• Use at session start and end
• Default file: .cm/CONTINUITY.md
• Goal: preserve context, learnings, and next actions cheaply
• Always-on: this is a background protocol, not a one-off task skill

When to Use

• Start of every session
• End of every session
• On errors, key decisions, or context handoffs
• When tooling needs memory, MCP, URI, or persistence details

Choose the Need

Need to follow continuity correctly in normal day-to-day work?
└─ YES → Session Protocol

Need the template or expected CONTINUITY structure?
└─ YES → Continuity Template

Need to understand memory tiers, MCP bridge, URI scheme, or storage?
└─ YES → Load the relevant advanced reference

Need to audit memory quality and avoid stale/conflicting recall?
└─ YES → Memory Audit

Need	Summary	Load
Normal usage	start / during / end protocol	references/session-protocol.md
Template	CONTINUITY.md shape	references/continuity-template.md
Memory model	tiers, bus, long-term memory	references/memory-architecture.md
MCP bridge	context server tools and setup	references/mcp-context-server.md
URI lookup	cm:// resource references	references/cm-uri-scheme.md
Storage internals	learnings, decisions, formats	references/storage-formats.md
Memory audit	decay, conflict, reinforcement	references/memory-audit.md

Load Rules

• Load session-protocol.md for normal continuity use.
• Load memory-architecture.md only for advanced memory reasoning.
• Load mcp-context-server.md and cm-uri-scheme.md only for tooling/integration work.
• Load storage-formats.md only when editing persistence or migration logic.
• Load memory-audit.md only when reviewing memory quality or failure patterns.

Non-Negotiables

• Read continuity at session start.
• Update continuity at session end.
• Record important failures and decisions.
• Keep secrets out of memory files.

The Bottom Line

Use continuity every session. Load advanced memory details only when the task actually touches them.