memory-compact

A command for previewing and applying cleanup to managed Markdown memory. It finds exact duplicate entries and matching tombstones, while leaving judgment-based candidates for review.

In plain words
What is it for?
Use it to preview cleanup, apply an approved cleanup plan, target an overlong memory file, and check memory after semantic edits.
Why use it?
It helps remove repeated or retired memory safely without deleting entries that need human or agent judgment.

Command

Part of the memory-custodian plugin — 1 skill, 3 commands, 1 hook shipped together

Install

Getting it into your agent

One page per mod, every tool's command on it. A separate URL per tool would split the same page into five that compete with each other.

agentmods
npx agentmods add commands/waittim/memorycustodian/memory-compact
Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/waittim/MemoryCustodian

Or install memory-custodian, the plugin that ships this one along with the rest of its 1 skill, 3 commands, 1 hook.

Per session 0 Only the description is in the session, so the agent can decide to use it. The body loads when it is invoked.
When invoked 295 The whole file, excluding the scripts and references it only reads on demand.
Security scan A 0 findings. Scan, not verified.
Origin original No closer match found in the catalogue.
Token cost

What it costs to keep this loaded

Counted locally with the o200k_base tokenizer, which is exact for GPT models; Claude uses its own tokenizer and its counts differ. Treat this as one consistent yardstick across the catalogue rather than a bill. Prices are per million input tokens.

ModelPer sessionOnce invoked
Fable 5 $0.00000 $0.00295
Opus 5 $0.00000 $0.00148
Sonnet 5 $0.00000 $0.00059
Haiku 4.5 $0.00000 $0.00030

Measured 3d ago against content hash 475b2ef45ee8, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-08-30, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

memory-compact scanned grade A with 0 findings against 26 rules in 11 categories — prompt injection, anti-refusal, data exfiltration, privilege escalation, supply chain, agent snooping, system-prompt leakage, SSRF and excessive agency — measured 3d ago.

A static scan of the body, not an audit. Every finding is printed with the line that produced it so you can judge whether it matters here. A mod is markdown that instructs an agent; that is exactly why what it instructs is worth reading.

Nothing flagged

None of the 26 patterns this scan looks for appear in this file: no shell pipes, no recursive deletes, no credential paths, no hidden text, no instruction-override or anti-refusal phrasing, no agent-config snooping. That is not a guarantee, it is the absence of the things that are checkable.

adapters/claude-code/commands/memory-compact.md · 32 lines

What it actually says

memory-compact

Run a dry run first:

memory-custodian compact

The report lists exact duplicate top-level bullet units, exact tombstone matches, and candidates requiring Agent review. Each top-level bullet unit includes its continuation and nested lines; nested bullets are never cleanup candidates on their own. For each candidate, determine scope, type, confidence, and whether equivalent memory already exists. Then edit the appropriate Markdown directly or use memory-custodian add.

If the exact mechanical cleanup is appropriate, run:

memory-custodian compact --apply --confirm-plan <PLAN_ID>

This command does not classify or promote candidates. It only removes the exact duplicate complete units and tombstone matches shown in the preview; reviewed candidates remain in the inbox until handled explicitly. Run memory-custodian check after semantic updates.

For an over-budget active file, run a target dry run:

memory-custodian compact --target decisions.md

First shorten decisions over 120 tokens, merge superseded entries, move subsystem knowledge into matched areas, and retain active invariants in normal loading paths. Then apply only after reviewing the plan:

memory-custodian compact --target decisions.md --apply --archive-oldest --confirm-plan <PLAN_ID>

For semantic compaction, read skills/memory-custodian/references/compaction-policy.md and update memory files directly.

Changes

What this file has done since we first saw it

Hashed on every crawl. A supply-chain change to an agent config is a question of when, not whether, so the history is kept rather than the latest state alone.

  1. 3d ago First seen · 32 lines · 0 tokens per session scan A 475b2ef45ee8

Subscribe to this mod's changes

memory-compact is a command published in the GitHub repository waittim/MemoryCustodian (20 stars, last pushed 4d ago), licensed MIT. It costs nothing until one of its globs matches a file; then it loads 295 tokens. A static security scan graded it A with 0 findings. No closer match exists in the catalogue, so it is treated as the original; first seen 2026-08-30.