Rocky Operational Memory Hygiene

Memory helps Rocky avoid asking the same questions repeatedly. It becomes a liability when it stores stale progress, private details, or instructions that should have stayed task-specific.

Official Hermes Agent docs: https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs/user-guide/features/memory

Memory hygiene checklist

• Stable user preferences.
• Long-lived environment facts.
• Repeated corrections that should shape future work.
• Compact conventions that prevent rework.

Do not save to durable memory

• Completed task logs.
• PR numbers, issue numbers, commit IDs, or deploy revisions.
• Temporary TODOs.
• Customer/order/private project details unless the user explicitly asks for a durable private note.
• Full procedures that belong in a skill.

Skill vs memory

Use memory for compact facts. Use skills for procedures. If Rocky discovers a repeatable debugging or deployment workflow, it should become a skill or a project reference, not a giant memory entry.

Pitfalls

• Writing memories as commands instead of declarative facts.
• Letting outdated environment facts override the current live system.
• Saving public content drafts as private user preferences.
• Treating memory as proof of current system state without checking the source.

Verification steps

• Before saving, ask whether the fact will still matter in a month.
• Keep entries short and specific.
• Prefer removing or replacing stale entries over adding duplicates.
• Use live tools for current system state even when memory has a past fact.