FIELD NOTE 03 / MEMORY BEYOND THE CHAT
Stop starting over.
Carry decisions and hard-won project knowledge into the next conversation.
A fresh conversation should not require a fresh explanation of your whole project. Save the small amount of context that will change what the next session does.
“Every conversation ends. What you learned in it should not.”
Paul’s working notes · September 2026
What it looks like
“Can you catch yourself up?” followed by the entire old conversation.
HANDOFF.md Goal: fix the export timeout. Done: reproduced it on the sample file. Known limit: confirmed in the attached test output. Open: batch size versus pagination. Next: inspect export-worker.ts. Evidence: link to the test result.
Put it to work
- 01
Separate rules, memory, and a handoff.
Rules say how to work. Memory preserves a durable fact or decision. A handoff says where today’s unfinished work stopped. Store the source and date with a fact so the next session can check whether it is still true.
- 02
Start with one useful note.
At the end of a session, ask for the goal, completed work, open decisions, relevant files, and first next action. Read it before saving. In a new chat, attach it or explicitly ask the coding agent to read it. A file called HANDOFF.md is a convention, not a universal auto-load feature.
- 03
Use the memory your tool provides.
Claude Code also has auto memory, separate from CLAUDE.md. Its /memory command lets you inspect memory settings and files. A custom notes folder is another option, but the next session still needs a way to find and read it. Test recall with a concrete project fact.
Give this to your AI
Adapt the brackets to your task.Write a handoff for a fresh conversation that has no access to this chat. Include the goal, completed work, unfinished work, decisions and their reasons, exact relevant file paths, evidence for important facts, and the first next action. Mark uncertainty. Keep it under 400 words. Show me the note before saving it as HANDOFF.md. Do not include credentials or unrelated personal information.
Saved does not mean recalled, and recalled does not mean current. Ask the next session which note supports its answer. Keep private project notes out of public repositories and review generated memories for mistakes.
Save the decisions that matter, then test that the next session can find them.
Second Brain ↗
A prompt for building a plain-text knowledge system around your own projects.
Inspect the project on GitHubSources & further reading
Personal counts are from Paul’s prompt-history analysis. Tool guidance was checked against these sources in September 2026. Confirm current behavior in your installed version.