Working Memory

Working memory is the task-local context a familiar needs right now. It is useful inside one active session, but it is not automatically worth preserving forever.

Common contents

• Current user request.
• Active goal and acceptance criteria.
• Recent turns or tool results.
• Relevant files, diffs, diagnostics, and errors.
• Temporary constraints such as "do not touch generated files."

Lifecycle

Working memory usually starts when a client creates or resumes a session and ends when the task is done. Parts of it may be promoted into episodic or persistent memory after review.

Do not blindly promote all working memory. Transient logs, failed experiments, and noisy output make future recall worse if they become durable facts.

Relationship to harnesses

Harnesses such as Codex and Claude Code receive working memory as prompt/context. Coven supervises the PTY and records events; it does not decide which prompt fragments are important enough to keep.

For launch behavior, see CLI run reference and Harnesses.