start

Canonical session-start command. /mb start is an alias that dispatches here.

Pre-flight: resolve Memory Bank path

Memory Bank may live in one of three places. Always resolve the active bank through mb_resolve_path (in scripts/_lib.sh) — never assume ./.memory-bank/ is the only signal:

1. Local — <project>/.memory-bank/ (team-shared, default of /mb init).
2. Global — <agent_config>/memory-bank/projects/<id>/.memory-bank/ registered in <agent_config>/memory-bank/registry.json (personal storage chosen via /mb init --storage=global --agent=<name>).
3. Legacy — .claude-workspace external pointer (still supported for backward compatibility).

When none of the above resolves, surface [MEMORY BANK: ABSENT] and stop the lifecycle flow. Do not auto-initialize — the user may be in rules-only mode intentionally (TDD/SOLID/Clean Architecture/DRY/KISS/YAGNI/Testing Trophy still apply to code work; only Memory Bank commands stay inactive).

Set SKILL_DIR to the absolute directory containing the loaded SKILL.md (or use the explicit MB_SKILLS_ROOT override). Set MB_AGENT to the current host id when using its global registry. Keep the project as cwd. Run this setup in the same shell invocation as each command below; tool shells need not preserve variables.

SKILL_DIR="${MB_SKILLS_ROOT:-${SKILL_DIR:?Set SKILL_DIR from the loaded skill path}}"
source "$SKILL_DIR/scripts/_lib.sh"
BANK="$(mb_resolve_path)"
if [ ! -d "$BANK" ]; then
  echo "[MEMORY BANK: ABSENT]"
  exit 0
fi
BANK="$(cd "$BANK" && pwd -P)"
export MB_PATH="$BANK"

Pre-flight: detect v1 layout

Before loading context, check whether the project is still on v1 Memory Bank naming. Run:

ls "$BANK/" 2>/dev/null | grep -E '^(STATUS|BACKLOG|RESEARCH|plan)\.md$' || true

If any of STATUS.md / BACKLOG.md / RESEARCH.md / plan.md appear (and the corresponding lowercase variant — status.md / backlog.md / research.md / roadmap.md — is NOT present), the project is on v1 and must be migrated.