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Identity Quartet

The identity layer in Memex Mark 1 Operating Core is not a single file. It is a quartet of four components that together define who operates the system, how the system operates, and what the system remembers.

The Four Components

1. SOUL.md

Agent identity, tone, red lines.

This defines:

  • Voice and tone (dense, decisive, sourced)
  • Citation discipline ([[slug]] syntax, no invented facts)
  • Retrieval strategy (resolve before search, read before answer)
  • Red lines — what the agent will never do

The soul is the agent's identity.

Current state: Implemented in memexlab-mcp as the base system prompt. See Agent Soul for the template.

2. USER.md

Operator operating profile.

This file contains:

  • Name, role, and primary organization
  • Active projects and goals
  • Strategic philosophies (the frameworks that shape decisions)
  • Domain focus (industries, technologies, regulatory contexts)
  • Decision-making style and preferences

This is the operating profile for the agent. Agents read USER.md at the start of every session to understand whose decisions they are supporting.

Current state: Not enforced by the CLI. Vault operators typically maintain a root-level <operator-slug>.md file that serves this purpose.

3. MEMORY.md

Long-term agent memory.

This file captures:

  • Recurring patterns the agent has observed
  • Operator preferences learned over time
  • Mistakes made and lessons learned
  • Context that doesn't fit in any single note
  • Agent-specific state that persists across sessions

This is the agent's working memory — what it remembers from past sessions that isn't in the vault's notes.

Current state: Not yet implemented. The current system is stateless across sessions (agents start fresh each time).

4. tekmen_memex

Curated human/strategic manifest.

This is the operator's core identity note — their strategic thesis, active philosophies, operating principles, and the high-level mental models that drive their decisions.

Unlike USER.md (operating profile), this is the strategic anchor — the beliefs and frameworks that define the operator as a thinker and operator.

Example: tekmen_memex contains Tekmen's thesis on programmable money, his conviction around infrastructure leverage, his execution principle, and his meta-method.

This is the manifest — the operator's curated self.

Current state: Vault operators typically maintain a root-level note (e.g., tekmen_memex.md or <operator-slug>.md) that serves this purpose. Not enforced by schema.

Why a Quartet, Not a Single File?

The original design used a single soul.md to define everything. This collapsed four distinct concerns into one file:

  1. Agent behavior (how to think, cite, retrieve)
  2. Operator profile (who is being served, how they operate)
  3. Agent memory (what the agent has learned over time)
  4. Operator manifest (strategic thesis, core philosophies)

Separating these into four components makes each one independently updatable:

  • Change the agent's voice without rewriting the operator's strategic thesis.
  • Update agent memory without touching the operator's profile.
  • Onboard a new operator without rewriting the agent's behavior.
  • Evolve strategic beliefs without changing how the agent retrieves.

The quartet is modular by design.

How Agents Use the Quartet

At the start of every session, an agent should:

  1. Read SOUL.md — learn how to operate (voice, tone, red lines)
  2. Read USER.md — learn the operator's profile (role, projects, preferences)
  3. Read MEMORY.md — recall what was learned in past sessions
  4. Read tekmen_memex — ground in the operator's strategic thesis and core beliefs

This four-step initialization grounds the agent in both identity (agent + operator) and continuity (memory + manifest).

Current vs. Target State

Component Current state (0.2.0) Target state (Mark 1)
SOUL.md Template exists in engineering/agent-soul.md Canonical file at vault root, enforced by MCP server
USER.md Operator maintains a <slug>.md file by convention Required root file, schema-validated
MEMORY.md Not implemented (agents are stateless) Canonical file at vault root, updated by agents after each session
tekmen_memex Operator maintains a root-level note by convention Required root file, schema-validated, curated human manifest

The engineering challenge is not technical — it is governance. Consolidating the quartet requires deciding which pieces of current documentation become canonical policy (part of MEMORY.md) and which remain guidance (in the docs).

Justified Absence: No Automatic Generation

The quartet is not auto-generated from the vault. Each file is hand-written (SOUL, USER, tekmen_memex) or agent-maintained (MEMORY).

Why?

  • SOUL, USER, tekmen_memex define intent — they are stable, deliberate, operator-owned.
  • MEMORY records state — it evolves with every session as the agent learns.

Auto-generating the manifest from vault statistics would produce a description of what happened to be captured recently, not a description of what the system is for.

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