Memory Lifecycle Manage how entities move through status stages in Basic Memory. The core principle: archive, never delete. Completed work is valuable context — move it out of the active view, but keep it in the knowledge graph. When to Use User says something is "done", "finished", "completed", "submitted", "missed", or "cancelled" Moving entities between status folders (active → archive, pipeline → active, etc.) Reverting a mistaken completion Periodic cleanup of stale active items Core Principle: Archive, Never Delete Deleting a note removes it from the knowledge graph — all its observations, relations, and history disappear. Archiving preserves everything while signaling the entity is no longer active.
Good — entity stays in the knowledge graph
move_note → active/ to archive/
Bad — knowledge is lost
- delete_note
- The only exception: notes created by mistake (typos, true duplicates) can be deleted.
- Folder Conventions
- Organize entities by status using folders. The exact folder names depend on your domain, but follow a consistent pattern:
- entities/
- active/ # Currently relevant, in-progress
- archive/ # Completed, no longer active, but worth keeping
- pipeline/ # Future items, not yet started
- For tasks specifically:
- tasks/
- active/ # Work in progress
- completed/ # Finished work
- For any entity type with a clear lifecycle:
- [type]/
- active/ # Current
- [end-state]/ # Whatever "done" means for this type
- Pick folder names that match your domain. The pattern matters more than the specific names.
- Status Detection
- When the user mentions completion or status change, extract the intent:
- Signal
- Status
- Action
- "finished", "done", "completed", "shipped"
- Complete
- Move to archive/completed folder
- "submitted", "sent", "delivered"
- Complete
- Move to archive/completed folder
- "missed", "passed", "skipped", "expired"
- Missed
- Move to archive or missed folder
- "cancelled", "abandoned", "killed"
- Cancelled
- Move to archive folder
- "paused", "on hold", "deferred"
- Paused
- Update frontmatter status, keep in place
- "restarting", "reopening", "reviving"
- Reactivate
- Move back to active folder
- Workflow
- 1. Find the Entity
- Search Basic Memory with multiple variations to locate the entity:
- search_notes
- (
- query
- =
- "quarterly report"
- )
- search_notes
- (
- query
- =
- "Q1 report"
- )
- If multiple matches come back, present options and ask which one.
- If no match is found, ask for clarification — don't guess.
- 2. Move the File
- Use
- move_note
- to relocate the entity to the appropriate status folder:
- move_note
- (
- identifier
- =
- "tasks/active/quarterly-report"
- ,
- destination_path
- =
- "tasks/completed/quarterly-report.md"
- )
- The permalink stays the same, so all existing
- [[wiki-links]]
- and
- memory://
- URLs continue to resolve.
- 3. Update Frontmatter
- After moving, update the status in frontmatter to match:
- edit_note
- (
- identifier
- =
- "quarterly-report"
- ,
- operation
- =
- "find_replace"
- ,
- find_text
- =
- "status: active"
- ,
- content
- =
- "status: completed"
- )
- If there's a completion date field, set it:
- edit_note
- (
- identifier
- =
- "quarterly-report"
- ,
- operation
- =
- "find_replace"
- ,
- find_text
- =
- "completed:"
- ,
- content
- =
- "completed: 2026-02-22"
- )
- 4. Confirm
- Report what was done concisely:
- Marked complete: Quarterly Report
- Moved to: tasks/completed/quarterly-report.md
- Status: completed
- Edge Cases
- Already Archived
- If the entity is already in an archive/completed folder, notify the user:
- "Quarterly Report is already in tasks/completed/. Want me to update anything on it?"
- Partial Completion
- Sometimes only part of an entity is done. Don't move it — instead, update observations or status notes within the entity to reflect partial progress.
- Revert / Reactivate
- If something was archived by mistake, move it back:
- move_note
- (
- identifier
- =
- "tasks/completed/quarterly-report"
- ,
- destination_path
- =
- "tasks/active/quarterly-report.md"
- )
- edit_note
- (
- identifier
- =
- "quarterly-report"
- ,
- operation
- =
- "find_replace"
- ,
- find_text
- =
- "status: completed"
- ,
- content
- =
- "status: active"
- )
- Status Without Movement
- Some status changes don't require a folder move — "paused" or "blocked" items often stay in
- active/
- with just a frontmatter update. Reserve folder moves for terminal or major state transitions.
- Relationship to Other Skills
- memory-tasks
-
- Tasks are a specific lifecycle case. This skill covers the general pattern; memory-tasks covers task-specific fields (steps, current_step, context).
- memory-notes
-
- Use search-before-create (from memory-notes) to find the entity before transitioning it.
- memory-defrag
- Periodic defrag can identify stale active items that should be archived. Guidelines Archive, never delete. The knowledge graph benefits from historical context. Move first, then update frontmatter. This order ensures the file is in the right place even if the edit step fails. Permalinks survive moves. Links to the entity keep working after a move_note . Be concise in confirmations. The user knows their system — just report what changed. Ask when ambiguous. If multiple entities match or the target folder isn't clear, ask rather than guess. Batch operations are fine. If the user says "archive all completed tasks", find them all, confirm the list, then move them in sequence.