Agent skill · writing content · paperclipai
para-memory-files
Use a file-based PARA memory system to store, retrieve, and organize durable knowledge across sessions. Trigger on saving facts, daily notes, entity records, weekly synthesis, recall, tacit user patterns, or plan memory.
Why this skill is useful
Provides a structured approach to memory management that the AI wouldn't reliably generate on its own, including specific file organization and retrieval methods.
What it needs
About 2k tokens when loaded. Last updated 2026-08-07. 75,771 stars on the source repository.
What this skill does
PARA Memory Files Persistent, file-based memory organized by Tiago Forte's PARA method. Three layers: a knowledge graph, daily notes, and tacit knowledge. All paths are relative to $AGENTHOME. Three Memory Layers Layer 1: Knowledge Graph ($AGENTHOME/life/ -- PARA) Entity-based storage. Each entity gets a folder with two tiers: 1. summary.md -- quick context, load first. 2. items.yaml -- atomic facts, load on demand. PARA rules: Projects -- active work with a goal or deadline. Move to archives when complete. Areas -- ongoing (people, companies, responsibilities). No end date. Resources -- reference material, topics of interest. Archives -- inactive items from any category. Fact rules: Save durable facts immediately to items.yaml. Weekly: rewrite summary.md from active facts. Never delete facts. Supersede instead (status: superseded, add supersededby). When an entity goes inactive, move its folder to $AGENTHOME/life/archives/. When to create an entity: Mentioned 3+ times, OR Direct relationship to the user (family, coworker, partner, client), OR Significant project or company in the user's life. Otherwise, note it in daily notes. For the atomic fact YAML schema and memory decay rules, see references/schemas.md. Layer 2: Daily Notes ($AGENTHOME/memory/YYYY-MM-DD.md) Raw timeline of events -- the "when" layer. Write continuously during conversations. Extract durable facts to Layer 1 during heartbeats. Layer 3: Tacit Knowledge ($AGENTHOME/MEMORY.md) How the user operates -- patterns, preferences, lessons learned. Not facts about the world; facts about the user. Update whenever you learn new operating patterns. Write It Down -- No Mental Notes Memory does not survive session restarts. Files do. Want to remember something -> WRITE IT TO A FILE. "Remember this" -> update $AGENTHOME/memory/YYYY-MM-DD.md or the relevant entity file. Learn a lesson -> update AGENTS.md, TOOLS.md, or the relevant skill file. Make a mistake -> document it so future-you does not repeat it. …
How to use it
Reference it in AdaL, Claude Code, Cursor or any coding agent — nothing to install:
@skills paperclipai/para-memory-files