compact

Run a lint-and-compact pass over .ultragoal/memory/ (MEMORY.md, facts.md, patterns.md, failures.md).

The cardinal rule: only the compiled layer (above the ---) is ever rewritten. Evidence logs below the line are append-only history — never edit, reorder, or delete their lines. Compaction that touches evidence is corruption, not cleanup.

1. Lint — triaged findings first

Read every file end to end, then report findings in three tiers before changing anything:

• Errors (fix now): compiled claims that contradict each other across files; compiled claims contradicted by newer evidence in any log; index lines pointing at entries that no longer exist; the same fact compiled in two places.
• Warnings (fix if cheap, else flag): [VERIFIED] claims whose evidence is old and whose subject area has changed since (check git log on the relevant paths); [INFERRED] entries no session has touched since they were written; entries the repo or git history now records on its own.
• Info: [no data yet] slots in MEMORY.md that sessions keep needing; areas with lots of evidence but no compiled rule yet.

2. Compact — above the line only

• Merge near-duplicate compiled claims into the strongest one, keeping the best provenance.
• Generalize: observations sharing a cause become one rule; cite the supporting evidence dates ("evidence: S2, S6, S11 below").
• Re-verify cheaply: if a [VERIFIED] claim has a one-command check, run it. Passes → refresh its date. Fails → rewrite the claim, append the contradicting run to the evidence log.
• Downgrade honestly: a claim that can't be re-verified and looks doubtful becomes [INFERRED], not deleted. Never silently promote [INFERRED] or [READ] to [VERIFIED] — that laundering is exactly how a memory starts citing itself.
• Archive, don't destroy: compiled entries that are obsolete move to an ## Archived subsection at the bottom of the compiled layer with a one-line reason; their evidence stays in the log untouched.
• Rewrite MEMORY.md's index so it exactly matches what remains — one line per entry, most load-bearing first, well under 100 lines.

3. Close out

Reset the cadence counter: write 0 to .ultragoal/memory/.sessions.

Report: Errors/Warnings/Info found, what was merged, generalized, re-verified, downgraded, archived, and the new index size. Memory should come out smaller and sharper, not summarized into mush — when in doubt between compressing an entry and keeping the specifics that would change what a future session does, keep the specifics.