The desk isn't the cabinet: your AI's memory is its files

A session is a desk, not a filing cabinet. In a session the AI spreads out what it's working on, and that's all it knows. Start a new session and the desk is clear. Built-in "memory" features keep only a few scraps. What lasts is what got filed: the files saved in your folders.

A common habit is to keep one session going for a topic, week after week, so the AI "remembers". It can work for a while. But the desk piles up: the AI gets slower and more muddled, it uses up your allowance faster, and everything it knows is stuck in that one conversation. A colleague or another session can't easily use it. Knowledge should build up in the cabinet, where every session and every colleague can find it.

 One long session          Fresh sessions + files

 ┌─ desk ────────────┐     ┌─ desk ─┐   ┌─ desk ─┐
 │ week 1 notes      │     │ Monday │   │ Friday │
 │ week 2 notes      │     └────────┘   └────────┘
 │ week 3 notes      │       ▼   ▲        ▼   ▲
 │ ...piling up      │     ┌─────────────────────┐
 └───────────────────┘     │ cabinet: the files  │
 slow, muddled, and        │ plans, notes, tasks │
 only this session         └─────────────────────┘
 knows it                  ▼ file it   ▲ read it
                           anyone can pick it up

What to do

• File as you go. When something gets done, decided or learned, say: "Write that down." File what you've worked out, not the working papers: a briefing for the next project, how the design works, key decisions, a log you correct over time. This helps even within the session: a clean file is easier to reread than a long conversation.
• Start fresh sessions. Open a new session for each piece of work, in the right cabinet (the folder for that area). It reads the files and picks up where the last one left off.
• Land the plane. At the end, update the tasks and plans and say where to start next time.¹
• Make fresh starts quick and easy. Over time, build the set-up that lets any new session start well: a clear folder for each area, a note inside the door (AGENTS.md) and a task board.

See also: Post-its and filing cabinets for the office this builds on, and AI is the interface for storage as the shared memory.