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memory-notes

How to write well-structured Basic Memory notes: frontmatter, observations with semantic categories, relations with wiki-links, and best practices for building a rich knowledge graph. Use when creating or improving notes.

65

Quality

77%

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tessl review fix ./skills/memory-notes/SKILL.md
SKILL.md
Quality
Evals
Security

Quality

Content

71%Weight 40%Scale 1-5

Reviews the quality of instructions and guidance provided to agents. Good implementation is clear, handles edge cases, and produces reliable results.

Highly actionable content with exact syntax, complete tool-call examples, and a sensible search-before-create workflow with validation for destructive edits. The main weaknesses are redundancy (anatomy and edit_note examples each appear twice) and a monolithic single-file structure with no reference files for a skill of this length.

Suggestions

Cut the duplicated edit_note demonstrations — keep the six-operation reference in "Editing an Existing Note" and drop or shrink the earlier "Granular Updates with edit_note" section, which repeats the same insert_after_section and find_replace examples.

Replace the second full note example (the write_note block) with a one-line note that the anatomy example above shows the target output, or shorten one of the two anatomy walkthroughs.

Move the memory:// URL pattern catalog and the relation-type table into a references/ file linked from the body, so the per-observation and relation-writing guidance stays lean in SKILL.md.

DimensionReasoningScore

Conciseness

Mostly efficient and skill-specific, but noticeably duplicated: the full note anatomy example appears twice (lines 12-34 and the write_note example at 252-273), and edit_note's insert_after_section/find_replace patterns are demonstrated in both "Granular Updates with edit_note" and "Editing an Existing Note". Fluffy asides like "Future-you (or your AI collaborator) will thank you" and "A note with zero relations is an island" add padding. Not 4 because these redundancies could be cut without losing any instruction.

3 / 5

Actionability

Fully concrete and copy-paste ready: exact observation syntax "- [category] Content of the observation #optional-tag", relation syntax, a ten-row relation-type table, memory:// URL patterns, and complete tool-call examples for write_note, all six edit_note operations, move_note, and search_notes. Common cases are covered with executable examples.

5 / 5

Workflow Clarity

The "Before Creating a Note" section gives a clear sequenced workflow (search with multiple variations → decision tree: edit_note if exists, write_note if not, read first if unsure) and destructive edits get a validation checkpoint ("read the note first and confirm the change before applying it"). Not 5 because there is no explicit re-validate/feedback loop after applying destructive edits — only a pre-check.

4 / 5

Progressive Disclosure

Sections are well-organized with clear headers, but the skill is a ~340-line monolith with zero reference files — the memory URL pattern reference, the relation-type table, and the tool-operation catalog are candidates for separate reference files so they load only when needed. Not 4 because no progressive disclosure structure exists at all for this length of content; not 2 because the inline organization is genuinely clear and navigable.

3 / 5

Total

15

/

20

Passed

Description

83%Weight 40%Scale 1-5

Based on the skill's description, can an agent find and select it at the right time? Clear, specific descriptions lead to better discovery.

A strong description that clearly states what the skill covers and when to use it, anchored by the specific product name. The trigger clause is slightly terse and could include a few more natural user phrasings, but conflict risk is low and capabilities are concrete.

DimensionReasoningScore

Specificity

The description enumerates multiple concrete capabilities — "frontmatter, observations with semantic categories, relations with wiki-links, and best practices for building a rich knowledge graph" — comprehensively covering the anatomy of a well-structured note. Not score 4 because coverage of the note structure is complete rather than having minor gaps.

5 / 5

Completeness

Both parts are present: a clear what ("How to write well-structured Basic Memory notes: frontmatter, observations..., relations...") and an explicit when ("Use when creating or improving notes"). Not 5 because the when-clause is brief and could name more concrete trigger situations (e.g., searching, editing, or linking existing notes).

4 / 5

Trigger Term Quality

Good natural keywords: "Basic Memory", "notes", "knowledge graph", "creating or improving notes" — phrases a user would plausibly say. Not 5 because common variations like "memory notes", "taking notes", or "knowledge base" are absent.

4 / 5

Distinctiveness Conflict Risk

Anchoring on the specific product name "Basic Memory" plus distinctive mechanisms ("observations with semantic categories", "relations with wiki-links") gives it a clear niche with minimal overlap risk against generic note-taking or memory skills.

5 / 5

Total

18

/

20

Passed

Validation

100%

Checks the skill against the spec for correct structure and formatting. All validation checks must pass before discovery and implementation can be scored.

Validation — 16 / 16 Passed

Validation for skill structure

No warnings or errors.

Repository
basicmachines-co/basic-memory
Reviewed

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