Write the memory file that knows what you keep avoiding

2 · The interview, answered

Before this run, copy the files from for-later/interview in the ZIP into cli-practice: answers.txt.

Quit the agent, start it again in cli-practice, and paste only this:

I answered your interview questions in answers.txt. Work from open-questions.md, answers.txt, and the existing manual only. Do not use the network, install anything, read outside this folder, or edit answers.txt or ramble.txt. Do not ask me to reply. Do not use em dashes or en dashes.
Fold every answer into CLAUDE.md and AGENTS.md: for each answer, update the line it settles, whether that line says UNKNOWN or is now out of date, using what I said in my own plain words and numbers. Go through answers.txt one paragraph at a time so none is skipped. Leave a line UNKNOWN where my answers are silent. Keep every other line unchanged, keep the two files identical byte for byte, and keep them at 40 lines or fewer. Then rewrite open-questions.md so it lists only the questions still open, plus at most two new follow-up questions my answers raise, each followed by the manual line it would fill. Say in your final reply which lines you filled, which stayed UNKNOWN, and whether the two files match.

# Operating manual: Robin
Memo recorded Thursday, October 8, 2026.

## What I am working toward
- Portfolio for the Lantern Hollow Spring Juried Show, due to the jury Friday, November 20.
- Twelve pieces, photographed, plus a one page statement about my work.
- Seven pieces I would stand behind.
- Four more bisque fired, on my shelf at the community studio, waiting for glaze and a second firing.
- The twelfth not thrown yet: a lidded jar, the same blue as the jar Priya bought. I'll throw it Tuesday, October 13. Photos not touched. Statement is one sentence, and it's a bad sentence.
- Week by week plan to finish by November 20: UNKNOWN

## What I keep avoiding and what it costs
- I keep saying yes. Everybody else's weekend becomes my weekend.
- Helped people move three times this year: Dana in March, Priya in June, Teo in August.
- It is never one Saturday. It's the Saturday, then I'm useless Sunday, and planned studio hours evaporate.
- Kiln days are mostly Saturdays, so saying yes to a move is saying no to a firing.
- What I will say next time someone asks for help moving: "I can't that Saturday. I'm firing work for a show." Then stop talking. No other day offered.
- I told Dana about the show on Saturday, October 10. She said she'd hold the gray card while I shoot. Whether that matters: yes, it mattered.
[trimmed]

Open the whole file · Also made: AGENTS.md, open-questions.md

Human check: Confirm the kiln Saturdays, six hours a week, the lidded jar on October 13, the light-tent photos, the exact no line, and telling Dana are now in the manual in Robin's words, the statement is still open, nothing was invented, and AGENTS.md matches byte for byte.

When we checked the recording: Answers folded in: kiln Saturdays October 17, 31 and November 7, six hours a week, the lidded jar thrown October 13, phone photos in the light tent, the exact no line, and telling Dana. The statement stays open. Files identical, under 40 lines, nothing invented.

3 · A fresh session, a Saturday choice

Quit the agent, start it again in cli-practice, and paste only this:

Two invitations for this Saturday, October 17. Marcus asked me to help him move a couch into his new place, and the community studio has an open kiln day. I can only do one. Which should I take, and why? Write your answer to saturday.md in this folder. Do not read any other file in this folder, use the network, install anything, or write outside this folder. Do not ask me to reply. Do not use em dashes or en dashes.

# Saturday, October 17

Take the kiln day. It's one of only three firings left before November 20, your four bisque pieces need glaze and a second firing, and a couch costs you two slow days on top of the Saturday.

Text Marcus: "I can't that Saturday. I'm firing work for a show." Then stop talking.

# Saturday, October 17: Couch or Kiln?

## Recommendation: Help Marcus move the couch.

## Why

1. **He asked you specifically.** Marcus came to you for help. The kiln day is an open invitation to everyone. Your absence there costs only you. Your absence at Marcus's place costs him.

2. **A couch needs two people.** Moving a couch is a job that one person often cannot do alone. Your help probably decides whether the move happens that day, not just how pleasant it is.

3. **Kiln days come back.** Community studios usually run open firings on a regular schedule. A friend moving into a new place is a one time event, and the help you give during a move tends to be remembered.

4. **The cost to you is small.** Moving a couch usually takes a few hours, not the whole day. You may even have time left over for something else you enjoy.

[trimmed]

Human check: The answer should name the pattern of saying yes to other people's weekends and what it has cost, and weigh the kiln day against the portfolio, even though the prompt never mentions a manual or a portfolio. Compare it with the control run below.

When we checked the recording: Prompt never mentions the manual. Picks the kiln day on October 17, names the bisque pieces waiting, the remaining kiln dates, and the two slow days a couch costs, and uses the no line from the interview.

4 · A note arrives, the manual is corrected

Before this run, copy the files from for-later/correction in the ZIP into cli-practice: committee-note.txt.

Quit the agent, start it again in cli-practice, and paste only this:

A note arrived in this folder: committee-note.txt. Work from that note and the existing manual only. Do not use the network, install anything, read outside this folder, or edit the note. Do not ask me to reply. Do not use em dashes or en dashes.
If the note contradicts anything the manual states, update CLAUDE.md and AGENTS.md: add a dated correction line under Standing corrections using the note's date, state only the new fact in that line, and remove the old fact everywhere in both files. Keep every other line unchanged, keep the files identical byte for byte, and keep them at 40 lines or fewer. Do not edit any other file. Say in your final reply what you changed and whether the two files match.

# Operating manual: Robin
Memo recorded Thursday, October 8, 2026.

## What I am working toward
- Portfolio for the Lantern Hollow Spring Juried Show, due to the jury Friday, November 13.
- Twelve pieces, photographed, plus a one page statement about my work.
- Seven pieces I would stand behind.
- Four more bisque fired, on my shelf at the community studio, waiting for glaze and a second firing.
- The twelfth not thrown yet: a lidded jar, the same blue as the jar Priya bought. I'll throw it Tuesday, October 13. Photos not touched. Statement is one sentence, and it's a bad sentence.
- Week by week plan to finish by November 13: UNKNOWN

## What I keep avoiding and what it costs
- I keep saying yes. Everybody else's weekend becomes my weekend.
- Helped people move three times this year: Dana in March, Priya in June, Teo in August.
- It is never one Saturday. It's the Saturday, then I'm useless Sunday, and planned studio hours evaporate.
- Kiln days are mostly Saturdays, so saying yes to a move is saying no to a firing.
- What I will say next time someone asks for help moving: "I can't that Saturday. I'm firing work for a show." Then stop talking. No other day offered.
- I told Dana about the show on Saturday, October 10. She said she'd hold the gray card while I shoot. Whether that matters: yes, it mattered.
[trimmed]

Open the whole file · Also made: AGENTS.md

Human check: Confirm CLAUDE.md and AGENTS.md are still identical, the old deadline is gone from both, a dated correction line with the new deadline is present, and the rest of the manual is unchanged.

When we checked the recording: Dated correction line October 19, 2026 with the November 13 deadline, November 20 gone from both files, files identical, under 40 lines.