rewrite

Rewrite: Context Gene Editing

When a belief turns out to be wrong (or refined), the wrong version sits in three places: the vault as durable notes, the auto-memory as preferences/feedback, and the episodic history as past conversations the LLM may resurface. This skill edits all three coherently.

The Katsuno-Mendelzon split:

• Vault and auto-memory use revision semantics: actively rewritten or archived. The world model changes.
• Episodic memory is append-only history: update semantics. We do not edit past conversations; we annotate them via the supersessions table so future retrievals carry the correction inline.

When to Use

• /learning-loop:rewrite "old pattern" "new pattern": full form, with reason inferred
• /learning-loop:rewrite "old pattern" "new pattern" "reason": explicit reason for the supersession record
• /learning-loop:rewrite: no args, infer the change from recent conversation context

Process

Phase 1: Frame the Change

If args are provided, parse old_pattern, new_pattern, optional reason.

If no args, read the conversation. The user just learned something that contradicts a prior belief. Identify:

• The OLD pattern (the belief being retracted/refined)
• The NEW pattern (the replacement)
• The REASON (what evidence forced the change)

If you cannot find a clear correction in the conversation, tell the user and stop. Ask them to provide old and new explicitly.

Confirm the framing in one line before proceeding:

Rewriting: "<old>" → "<new>" (reason: <reason>)

Phase 2: Hit Map (parallel search across all stores)

Search every store for the OLD pattern. Run all four searches in parallel (single message, multiple Bash calls):

1. Vault: semantic + keyword:

   node PLUGIN/scripts/vault-search.mjs search "<old pattern>" --rerank
   

2. Vault: wiki-link/title hits: Use Glob for filename matches: **/*<key-noun>*.md in {{VAULT}}/

3. Auto-memory: Grep the project's ~/.claude/projects/*/memory/ directory for substrings of the old pattern. Read MEMORY.md and any matching files.

4. Episodic memory: Call mcp__plugin_episodic-memory_episodic-memory__search with the old pattern. The post-search-tracking hook will already annotate the result if a supersession exists: do not pre-create one yet.

Phase 3: Edge Impact (correction-analyser)

For every vault note hit from Phase 2, identify the primary note that codifies the old belief (or notes: there may be more than one). For each primary note, dispatch the learning-loop:correction-analyser agent:

subagent_type: learning-loop:correction-analyser
prompt: |
  note_path: <vault-relative path>
  change_type: <retraction|update|weakening>
  new_claim: <new pattern, if change_type is update>

  Produce the impact map per your spec.

The agent traces the justification index for sole-justification dependents and classifies each by attack type. Run agents in parallel if there are multiple primary notes.

Phase 4: Present the Triage Map

Show the user a single consolidated triage map:

# Rewrite Plan: <old> → <new>

## Vault notes (N hits)
- `path/to/primary.md`: primary belief codification
  - Suggested: REWRITE (replace old claim with new)
  - Downstream impact: 3 critical, 1 high, 0 medium (from correction-analyser)
- `path/to/related.md`: references the old belief
  - Suggested: AMEND (update the wiki-link surrounding text)

## Auto-memory (N hits)
- `feedback_<name>.md`: captures the old guidance
  - Suggested: REWRITE

## Episodic memory (N matches)
- N past conversations contain the pattern
- Suggested: SUPERSESSION RECORD (no edits: annotation only)

## Downstream cascade (from correction-analyser)
- `path/dependent-a.md`: CRITICAL (sole-dependent rebuttal)
- `path/dependent-b.md`: HIGH (sole-dependent undercutting)
- ...

Total proposed actions: <N>

Then ask the user, exactly once, in plain English:

Approve the plan? You can say yes, no, or list specific items to skip (e.g. "skip auto-memory, skip dependent-b").

Wait for confirmation. Do not proceed until the user has answered. If they say no, stop and report nothing changed.

Phase 5: Execute (only after approval)

Run the approved actions. Use the right tool per store.

Vault rewrites/amends:

• Use Edit for surgical changes (preferred: preserves frontmatter, links)
• Always Read the file immediately before each Edit, even if you read it during Phase 2. The triage map can grow stale between rendering and execution if other tools touched the file in the meantime. The fresh read also lets you verify the surrounding text still matches what you'll pass to Edit.
• For an ARCHIVE action, follow this exact sequence:
  1. Dump outgoing edges first. Run node PLUGIN/scripts/edges-cli.mjs list <archived-note> and capture the outgoing array from the JSON response. Each entry has from_path, to_path, edge_type, confidence, and direction_flipped.
  2. Move the file to _archive/ (create the dir if missing).
  3. Write the stub at the original path with a single line: Superseded: see [[<replacement>]]. The stub Write fires the post-write hook chain, which calls removeOutgoingEdges. With the v1.14.1 fix, that query now skips source_graph='archived' rows: but we have not added any yet, so this pass correctly wipes the live edges as intended.
  4. Re-insert the dumped edges with source_graph='archived'. For each edge in the dumped outgoing array, run:

     node PLUGIN/scripts/edges-cli.mjs add <from_path> <to_path> <edge_type> \
       --confidence <high|medium> \
       --source-graph archived \
       --direction-flipped <0|1>
     

  After this sequence, the archived note's edges remain in the index marked as historical, downstream traversal still surfaces them, and any future Write to the stub path leaves them untouched.

Vault transition note (mandatory if any vault notes were touched): Write a new note to 0-inbox/ capturing the correction itself:

• Title: <new pattern phrased as a claim>
• Body: explains what the old belief was, what the new one is, what evidence forced the change, and which notes were affected
• Tag with [rewrite-transition]
• Wiki-link to all affected primary notes

Auto-memory rewrites:

• Use Edit on the relevant feedback_*.md or project_*.md file
• Keep the same filename to preserve the index pointer
• Update MEMORY.md only if the description line changed

Supersession record (mandatory): Always write the supersession, regardless of which other actions ran:

node PLUGIN/scripts/edges-cli.mjs super-add "<old pattern>" \
  --replacement "<vault path of transition note or primary rewritten note>" \
  --reason "<reason>"

This is what makes future episodic searches surface the correction inline.

Phase 6: Report

Show one final block:

# Rewrite Complete

- Vault: <N rewrites>, <N amends>, <N archives>
- Auto-memory: <N rewrites>
- Transition note: <path>
- Supersession recorded: id <N>, pattern "<old>"

Future episodic searches matching "<old>" will be annotated automatically.

Constraints

• Never edit episodic memory directly. Episodic is append-only history. The supersession record is the only correction mechanism.
• Always ask before executing. This skill is destructive; the triage step is non-negotiable.
• One supersession per rewrite. Even if no notes were edited, record the supersession so future retrievals carry the annotation.
• Transition note is mandatory if vault was touched. This is the "context gene editing" footprint: future you needs to find why a note changed.
• Preserve archived edges via source_graph='archived' marker. The dump-and-re-insert sequence in Phase 5 keeps the historical justification graph intact. Downstream queries surface them; removeOutgoingEdges will not wipe them on subsequent stub writes.
• Be terse in reporting. One framing line, one triage map, one approval prompt, one completion block. No filler.

Failure Modes to Avoid

• Mass edits without triage: always show the user the plan first
• Skipping the supersession record: if you skip it, future episodic searches will still surface the wrong belief unannotated
• Editing past conversations: episodic is read-only; the post-search hook does the annotation work
• Touching unrelated notes: only edit notes that the hit map identified, never explore-and-edit
• Auto-archive without confirmation: archive is destructive even though reversible; confirm explicitly

Related Skills

• /learning-loop:deepen: strengthens a single note in place (no cross-store coordination)
• /learning-loop:reflect: end-of-session consolidation (different intent: capture, not retract)
• learning-loop:correction-analyser (agent, not skill): the edge-traversal subroutine this skill calls