Files
shiro-neko/docs/memory.md
T
Muhammad Zakir Ramadhan 2fa6ee247b Add batch reads, @file completion, interruptible commands, tool sets
Tools, six built-in to fourteen:
- read_many_files: up to 20 paths read concurrently, each with its own window.
  An unreadable path is reported in its own block instead of throwing.
- multi_edit: several edits to one file, validated in memory first so a late
  failure cannot leave the file half-written.
- list_dir: ignore-aware depth-limited tree.
- git_status/diff/log/show/blame: read-only, spawned with a fixed argv rather
  than a shell string, which is what makes them safe to auto-approve.

toolSets gates them. core is always on; edit-plus and git are optional. A
disabled set reaches neither the wire nor the system prompt, since a prompt
naming an absent tool teaches calls that cannot succeed.

Interface:
- Reasoning streams to a collapsed panel, ctrl-r expands, dropped when the turn
  ends: it is progress, not the answer.
- The tool in flight is named from tool-input-start, before its arguments finish
  streaming, and cleared on its result.
- Prompts typed mid-turn queue and drain in order. esc clears the queue as well
  as aborting.
- @ opens a path picker fed by the ignore-aware walker. Prefix matches rank
  above substring matches, so @src/ means "under src/". The walk runs on the
  first @, not at startup.

ctrl-c kills the command in flight and keeps the turn. The call throws rather
than returning, so the model cannot read a killed command as one that ran and
failed on its own terms. The kill takes the whole process tree: killing cmd /c
alone left the real command holding both pipes open, so the read never returned
and the interrupt did nothing for 19 seconds.

Two pruning fixes:
- A tool result whose tool call was pruned is now dropped with it. Pruning
  counts messages, so the cut landed between an assistant tool-call and the tool
  message answering it, producing 400 "No tool call found for function call
  output with call_id ...". The reverse pairing is left alone: a call awaiting
  its result is what a suspended approval looks like.
- ignore.ts called statFs without importing it, so walk() crashed on the first
  symlink.

482 tests, up from 404. Docs synced across README, ROADMAP, TODO, and all of
docs/: tool sets, the new tools, ctrl-c semantics, the tool-start event, and the
two hand-maintained tool-name lists recorded as a known weakness.
2026-09-03 01:37:48 +07:00

181 lines
6.2 KiB
Markdown

# Memory and state
Four kinds of state, each with a different lifetime.
| State | Lives in | Survives |
|---|---|---|
| transcript | the message array | until compaction or `/clear` |
| task list | the system prompt, rebuilt each step | pruning and `/compact` |
| project memory | `~/.shiro-neko/memory/<hash>.json` | across sessions, forever |
| session record | `~/.shiro-neko/sessions/<uuid>.json` | until you delete it |
The split exists because compaction is destructive. `pruneMessages` deletes tool results and
`/compact` deletes the whole transcript, so anything recorded only in messages is lost
exactly when a long task needs it most.
## Project memory
Durable notes about the codebase, injected at the start of every session.
### `remember`
```
kind fact | decision | gotcha | command
text one self-contained line
```
- **fact** — how something is. "The API is versioned under `/v2`."
- **decision** — what was chosen and why. "We use snake_case for DB columns; the ORM
expects it."
- **gotcha** — a trap. "The migration must run before the seed or the FK fails."
- **command** — an invocation that works. "Tests run with `bun test`, not `npm test`."
Duplicates are refused. Text is capped at 400 characters, the store at 300 entries.
### `recall`
Every term must appear. A match increments that entry's hit count, which protects it from
compaction later — an entry the agent actually uses is worth keeping verbatim.
### `forget`
Removes by substring, for a note that turned out wrong.
### What the agent sees
```
What you learned about this project in earlier sessions. Trust it, but verify anything
that contradicts what you can see in the code now:
- (command) tests run with bun test, not npm test
- (gotcha) the migration must run before the seed
- (decision) snake_case for DB columns, the ORM expects it
```
Top 20 by hit count, then recency. The "verify anything that contradicts" line matters:
memory goes stale and a confidently wrong note is worse than none.
### Compacting
`/memory` has the model merge entries. Two rules make it safe:
- Entries with at least one recall are kept verbatim and never merged.
- A model returning nothing parseable leaves the store untouched.
Without the second rule a bad response wipes everything the agent has learned.
`/notes` lists the store with hit counts. `--no-memory` disables loading and writing.
## Task list
`todo_write` replaces the whole list each call. Four states:
```
tasks ##########.............. 1/4 1 blocked
[x] read the pagination code
[~] fix the boundary
[ ] add a test
[!] update the docs (no write access to the wiki)
```
`blocked` requires a note saying what is blocking it. The tool warns when more than one task
is `in_progress`, when nothing is `in_progress` while work remains, or when a `blocked` task
has no note.
The list is re-rendered into the system prompt on **every step**, not once per turn — a
`todo_write` on step one has to be visible to step two. It is saved with the session and
restored by `-c` or `/resume`.
`/todos` shows it. The panel above the input shows it live.
## Sessions
Every turn autosaves, debounced 400 ms so a long tool loop does not hit the disk each step.
```json
{
"id": "0193ab2c-…",
"createdAt": "…", "updatedAt": "…",
"cwd": "/home/you/project",
"provider": "openai", "model": "gpt-5",
"title": "why does the pagination test fail?",
"inputTokens": 48210, "outputTokens": 3105,
"costUsd": 0.0913,
"notebook": { "todos": [ … ] },
"messages": [ … ]
}
```
```bash
shiro -c # newest session for this directory
shiro -r 0193ab2c # by id or unique prefix
```
```
/sessions list the last 15
/resume <id>
/save write now instead of waiting for the debounce
```
A corrupt session file is skipped rather than crashing the list.
## Compaction
Two mechanisms.
**Automatic**, at roughly 120k estimated tokens: `pruneMessages` strips reasoning and older
tool calls from what goes on the wire. Local history is untouched, so the transcript on your
screen stays complete. The turn reports it:
```
context compacted: 192 messages pruned to 15 on the wire
```
**Manual**, `/compact`: the model writes a summary — goal, files touched, decisions, commands
and outcomes, what remains — and it replaces the transcript entirely.
### The pruning repair
Pruning breaks two provider invariants. `src/prune.ts` repairs both, and both were real 400s
before it did.
**A message without its reasoning item.** `pruneMessages({ reasoning: 'all' })` strips a
reasoning item and keeps the message item from the same response. The OpenAI responses API
treats the message as a dependent of that reasoning item and rejects the request:
```
400 Item 'msg_…' of type 'message' was provided without its required 'reasoning' item: 'rs_…'
```
The two carry different ids, so they cannot be matched by id. What links them is the
assistant message they arrived in — one message is one response. `dropOrphanedItems` drops the
dependent parts of any turn whose reasoning was removed. That costs nothing, because pruning
was already discarding those turns.
**A tool result without its tool call.** `toolCalls: 'before-last-3-messages'` counts
*messages*, not pairs, so the cut can land between the assistant message holding a `tool-call`
and the `tool` message answering it:
```
400 No tool call found for function call output with call_id call_…
```
`dropOrphanedResults` drops any result whose call id no longer survives. The reverse is left
alone deliberately: a tool call still waiting for its result is what a suspended approval looks
like, and dropping it would break `/resume`.
## Prompt history
Per-directory, capped at 200, deduplicated against the previous entry. Up and down in the
input walk it; down past the newest restores what you were typing. While an `@` token is open
those keys move in the file picker instead.
Stored at `~/.shiro-neko/history/<hash>.json`, where the hash is a SHA-256 prefix of the
project path.
## The prompt queue
Not persisted, and deliberately so. A prompt typed during a turn lives in memory until the turn
ends, then runs. `esc` clears it along with aborting the turn, and quitting discards it — a
queued thought that fires on next launch, against a workspace that has since changed, is worse
than a lost one.