When memory needed a test, not another promise

I want to be able to pick up a conversation without explaining everything again. Over time, I’ve tried structured project notes, session summaries and Hermes memory alongside my Obsidian vault. They do different jobs: a short fact is useful, but so is the explanation of why I made a decision.

On 7 September, an audit found that a file-ownership problem was preventing the Holographic memory store from accepting writes. After the repair, a temporary fact could be saved, recalled and removed. A fresh process could read the same saved fact too.

The test also found something less tidy: a hyphenated search failed while ordinary-word search worked. I kept that limitation in the notes. Passing a save test did not mean every search worked, or that missing older memories had suddenly appeared.

Obsidian remains the record I can read and edit myself. The assistant’s memory helps with retrieval, and current corrections take priority over older facts. That arrangement makes more sense to me than expecting one memory feature to handle the whole history.