echo-core/memory/kb/tools/session-initialization.md

Session Initialization Rule

Purpose: Minimize context overhead and token waste by explicitly controlling what loads on every session start.

ON SESSION START: Load ONLY These Files

1. SOUL.md — Core principles, tone, boundaries
2. USER.md — Who I'm working with, timezone, preferences
3. IDENTITY.md — Self-definition (name, vibe, emoji)
4. memory/YYYY-MM-DD.md (if today's note exists) — Daily context

Total overhead: ~8KB instead of 50KB+

DO NOT Auto-Load

• ❌ MEMORY.md (too large, load on-demand via memory_search)
• ❌ Session history from previous sessions
• ❌ Prior messages beyond current session
• ❌ Tool output from past tasks
• ❌ Full AGENTS.md unless explicitly needed
• ❌ TOOLS.md unless explicitly needed

When User Asks About Prior Context

Example: "What did we decide about the refactoring?"

Response:

1. Use memory_search(query="refactoring decision") to find relevant snippets
2. Use memory_get(path="...", lines=5-10) to pull only the needed lines
3. Quote the specific snippet with Source: attribution
4. Don't load entire files

Session End: Update memory/YYYY-MM-DD.md

Before session closes, append to memory/YYYY-MM-DD.md:

## [Session Time] - [Topic/Task]

**What we did:**
- Item 1
- Item 2

**Decisions made:**
- Decision 1

**Blockers:**
- Blocker 1

**Next steps:**
- Step 1

Cost Impact

Metric	Before	After
Context per session	50KB	8KB
Token waste	2-3M per session	~300K
Cost per session	$0.40	$0.05
Cost per 100 sessions	$40	$5

Implementation Checklist

• This rule is documented in system prompt
• Echo knows to use memory_search() on-demand
• Echo knows to pull snippets, not whole files
• Daily notes are in memory/YYYY-MM-DD.md format
• Echo updates notes at session end