/session-palace-builder

name: session-palace-builder
description: Builds session-scoped temporary memory palaces for extended conversations. Use when tracking state across interruptions in a multi-step project.
alwaysApply: false
category: session-management
tags:
- session
- context
- project-memory
- conversation-state
- temporary-storage
dependencies:
- memory-palace-architect
scripts: []
usage_patterns:
- session-context
- project-tracking
- state-management
complexity: intermediate
model_hint: standard
estimated_tokens: 500

Table of Contents

• [What It Is](#what-it-is)
• [Quick Start](#quick-start)
• [Mental Model](#mental-model)
• [When to Use](#when-to-use)
• [Session Palace Templates](#session-palace-templates)
• [Information Categories](#information-categories)
• [Core Workflow](#core-workflow)
• [Session Lifecycle](#session-lifecycle)
• [Clarity Checkpoints](#clarity-checkpoints)
• [Detailed Resources](#detailed-resources)
• [Integration](#integration)
• [Exit Criteria](#exit-criteria)

Session Palace Builder

Construct temporary, session-specific memory palaces for extended conversations and complex projects. Preserves context across interruptions and enables structured information accumulation.

What It Is

Session palaces are lightweight, temporary memory structures that:

• Preserve context for extended conversations
• Track decisions and their rationale
• Organize project artifacts spatially
• Enable context recovery after interruptions
• Support collaborative information gathering

Quick Start

Build Commands

\`\`\`bash

Run build

make build

Clean and rebuild

make clean && make build \`\`\`

Testing

\`\`\`bash

Run tests

make test

Run with verbose output

make test VERBOSE=1 \`\`\`

**Verification**: Run `make test` to confirm the plugin gate passes.

When To Use

• Extended conversations requiring context preservation
• Complex, multi-step projects with interrelated components
• Workflows requiring state management across interactions
• Collaborative sessions accumulating information over time
• Code review or debugging sessions with many findings

When NOT To Use

• Permanent knowledge structures

needed - use memory-palace-architect

• Searching existing knowledge
• use knowledge-locator
• Permanent knowledge structures

needed - use memory-palace-architect

• Searching existing knowledge
• use knowledge-locator

Session Palace Templates

| Template | Purpose | Key Areas | |----------|---------|-----------| | **Workshop** | Active development | Workbench, tools, materials | | **Library** | Research and analysis | Stacks, reading room, archives | | **Council Chamber** | Decision-making | Round table, evidence wall, vote board | | **Observatory** | Exploration and discovery | Telescope, star charts, log book | | **Forge** | Implementation tasks | Anvil, cooling rack, finished goods |

Information Categories

Organize session content into these standard areas:

• **Conversations** - Dialogue threads and key exchanges
• **Decisions** - Choices made with rationale
• **Code** - Snippets and technical artifacts
• **Research** - Findings and references
• **Requirements** - Specifications and constraints
• **Progress** - Completed milestones
• **Issues** - Blockers and challenges
• **Next Steps** - Pending action items

Core Workflow

1. **Analyze Context** - Assess session scope and complexity 2. **Design Palace** - Select template and layout 3. **Structure State** - Organize information spatially 4. **Build Navigation** - Create access shortcuts 5. **Test Integration** - Verify context preservation

Session Lifecycle

Create → Populate → Navigate → Export/Archive
   ↑         ↓          ↓
   └─── Checkpoint ←────┘

**Verification:** Run the command with `--help` flag to verify availability.

Clarity Checkpoints

A session palace decays silently: each `Populate` step can add ambiguity that only surfaces at `Export`, when it is too late to recover the lost state. MMPO (arXiv:2605.30159, Section 3) frames this as a case for sub-trajectory dense rewards: check intermediate quality at each transition, not just the final outcome.

At every `Checkpoint` arrow in the lifecycle above (and before any `Export/Archive`), run the dual-probe gate against the current palace state:

Skill(memory-palace:memory-clarity-probe)

The probe returns a `Clarity Assessment` with progress/gap verdicts and a `Recommendation`:

| Recommendation | Action at the checkpoint | |----------------|--------------------------| | Proceed | Palace state is clear; continue the session | | Expand memory | Add the gap probe's open items to the palace before continuing | | Regenerate | Flag the session as ambiguous: the progress probe hedges, so reconstruct the current-state room before more work lands on it |

Flagging at the checkpoint, not at export, is the point: an ambiguous palace caught early costs one room rebuild; caught at export it costs the session.

When `memory-clarity-probe` is not installed, ask the two anchor questions inline (progress: what is done and what state is the task in; gap: what concrete items remain) and apply the same table.

Detailed Resources

• **Template Details**: See `modules/templates.md`
• **State Management**: See `modules/templates.md`
• **Export Patterns**: See `modules/templates.md`

Integration

• `memory-palace-architect` - Export important concepts to permanent palaces
• `knowledge-locator` - Search session content
• `digital-garden-cultivator` - Seed garden with session insights
• `memory-clarity-probe` - Dual-probe clarity gate at session checkpoints

Exit Criteria

• [ ] A session palace is created with a template and spatial layout

before any state is populated

• [ ] The dual-probe clarity gate runs at each `Checkpoint` transition

and before `Export/Archive`, not only at the end

• [ ] A checkpoint returning `Expand memory` or `Regenerate` is acted

on (gap items added or current-state room rebuilt) before m