Memory Documentary Skill

Generate comprehensive documentary-style reports from your memory systems with full evidence chains.

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Quick Start

/memory-documentary [topic]

Example topics:

• "recurring frustrations"
• "coding patterns not codified"
• "evolution of thinking on testing"
• "decisions I second-guessed"
• "what I complain about most"

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Triggers

Use this skill when:

• "Search my memories for patterns about..."
• "What does my history say about..."
• "Generate a documentary on my [topic]"
• "Cross-reference all systems for..."
• "Evidence-based analysis of my [topic]"

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Quick Reference

Phase	Action	Output
1	Topic Comprehension	Search variants, scope boundaries
2	Investigation Planning	Explicit queries per system
3	Data Collection	Evidence with IDs, timestamps
4	Report Generation	Documentary with citations
5	Memory Updates	Store meta-pattern discovered

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How It Works

The skill searches ALL available data sources systematically:

Memory Systems (4 MCP servers):

• Claude-Mem: Timeline observations via 3-layer workflow
• Forgetful: Semantic memory with linked entities
• Serena: Project-specific lexical memory
• DeepWiki: Documentation resources

Project Artifacts:

• .agents/retrospective/

  - Learning extractions

• .agents/sessions/

  - Session logs

• .agents/analysis/

  - Research reports

• .agents/architecture/

  - ADRs

• .agents/planning/

  - Plans and PRDs

GitHub Issues:

• Open and closed issues
• Comments and related PRs

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Commands

# Standard invocation
/memory-documentary "recurring frustrations"

# With explicit time range
/memory-documentary "testing patterns" --since 2025-12-01

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Report Structure

Executive Summary

• Key finding in one sentence
• Timeline span (earliest to most recent)
• Evidence count (memories + observations + issues + files)
• Major pattern categories

Evidence Trail

Full citation for each finding:

• Memory ID/Observation ID with retrieval command
• Source system (Forgetful/Claude-Mem/Serena)
• Timestamp/Creation date
• Direct quote from source
• Links to related evidence

Pattern Evolution

Timeline showing how thinking changed:

YYYY-MM-DD: [Observation #ID] - Initial state
YYYY-MM-DD: [Memory #ID] - First iteration
YYYY-MM-DD: [Issue #NNN] - Technical response

Unexpected Patterns

Cross-system synthesis revealing:

• Frequency patterns (time clustering)
• Correlation patterns (X happens before Y)
• Avoidance patterns (conspicuous absence)
• Contradiction patterns (saying vs doing)
• Evolution patterns (recursive loops)
• Emotional patterns (frustration markers)

Synthesis

• What all systems agree on
• What's recent (Claude-Mem) vs crystallized (Forgetful)
• Actionable recommendations

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Evidence Standards

Standard	Requirement
Citation	Every claim has ID, timestamp, quote
Quotes	Direct quotes, not paraphrases
Verification	Retrieval commands for all evidence
Cross-links	Related evidence connected

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Anti-Patterns

Avoid	Why	Instead
Partial searches	Miss critical evidence	Search ALL systems
Paraphrasing	Loses verifiability	Direct quotes only
Single query	Miss variations	3+ query variants per system
Skipping systems	Incomplete picture	Check all 4 MCP servers

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Output Location

Reports saved to:

.agents/analysis/[topic]-documentary-[date].md

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Related Skills

Skill	Relationship
memory	Operations (search, update)
exploring-knowledge-graph	Forgetful traversal
retrospective	Learning extraction
skillbook	Pattern → skill conversion

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On Invocation

Read:

references/execution-protocol.md

This contains the full 5-phase execution protocol with detailed instructions for each data source.