cog: Command for Claude Code

Cog Housekeeping

Memory maintenance — archive, prune, index, enforce format. The janitor.

Memory Path

All files under the resolved memory path: $COG_HOME/memory/ if COG_HOME is set, otherwise ~/cog/memory/.

Orientation (run first)

Scope your work:

1. Find files changed since the last run — read memory/cog-meta/run-log.md for the last /housekeeping entry and scope to files modified since that date (no entry → default to the last 7 days)
2. Check observation entry counts (>50 = archive threshold)
3. Check completed action item counts (>10 = archive threshold)

Only read files that need work. Skip unchanged files.

Minimum Data Check

Before proceeding, verify there's enough material to maintain:

• If no observations files exist or all are empty: stop. Say "Nothing to maintain yet. Start by capturing some observations and the system will grow."
• If all entry counts are well below thresholds (obs < 10, items < 3): say "Memory is still light. No maintenance needed yet — keep building."

Don't run a full pipeline over an empty system. Acknowledge and exit early.

Process

1. Garbage Collect

Archive stale data per glacier rules. All glacier files need YAML frontmatter followed by an <!-- L0: ... --> line (the L0 sits right after the closing ---, not on line 1).

Observations — archive by primary tag:

• Any observations.md >50 entries → group oldest by primary tag → glacier/{domain}/observations-{tag}.md

Other files:

• action-items.md >10 completed → glacier/{domain}/action-items-done.md
• entities.md inactive 6+ months → glacier/{domain}/entities-inactive.md

2. Prune Hot Memory

Keep ALL hot-memory.md files under 50 lines.

Pruning priority:

1. Resolved items (strikethrough, "DONE", "RESOLVED")
2. Past events (dates already occurred)
3. SSOT violations (same fact in hot-memory AND canonical file)
4. Stale entries (not referenced 14+ days)
5. Low-signal entries (FYI with no action or deadline)

Where trimmed entries go:

• Lasting value → append to observations.md
• Purely historical → let them go
• Never silently delete — move or note in debrief