Generator -> Reflector -> Curator

See session memory as a feedback loop: work produces traces, reflection extracts candidates, curation promotes durable memory.

Read this as What reasoning should survive into the next session?
Failure Trap
Appending every reflection directly into hot memory until the prefix bloats and the 80 percent ceiling holds.
Decision Rule
Separate reflector from curator; promote only generalized, reusable patterns into durable memory.
Generator -> Reflector -> Curator See session memory as a feedback loop: work produces traces, reflection extracts candidates, curation promotes durable memory. Generator Generator session trace artifacts decisions produce Reflect Reflect patterns constraints dead ends candidates Curate Curate edit generalize reject noise gate Promote Promote durable note named path retrievable memory Inherit Inherit next session reads memory skips rediscovery N+1 Collapse trap Collapse trap append all prefix bloat 80% ceiling trap
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A session produces more than code

The working agent leaves behind outputs, decisions, rejected alternatives, and constraint chains.

  • Artifacts are easy to keep.
  • Reasoning evaporates fastest.
  • The next session pays to rediscover it.

The reflector extracts candidates

A reflector reads the session and asks what would help the next similar task.

  • It emits candidate patterns.
  • It captures rejected alternatives.
  • It is not allowed to promote directly.

The curator gates promotion

The curator edits, generalizes, and rejects candidates before anything enters durable memory.

  • Promotion costs prefix budget.
  • Not every observation generalizes.
  • The gate prevents memory sludge.

Durable memory gets the useful pattern

Promoted context becomes a named file, note, or spec the future agent can discover and read.

  • Filesystem semantics make it addressable.
  • Hot memory stays small.
  • Warm and cold tiers hold larger context.

The next session inherits the upgrade

Session N+1 starts with better context because the prior reasoning was curated into the substrate.

  • The model did not change.
  • The harness changed what it could remember.
  • The loop closes back into the prefix.

Collapse reproduces the ceiling

If reflection and curation collapse into one append-only step, hot memory bloats and the 80 percent continuity ceiling returns.

  • Uncurated notes crowd the prefix.
  • Stale context becomes instruction debt.
  • The gate is the memory system.