Memory Bridge Operation

---
name: memory-bridge-operation
description: Manage the Hermes ↔ repo memory sync system — bridge, quality gate, compaction, health checks, and cron
---

# Memory Bridge Operation

Manage the Hermes ↔ repo memory sync system that propagates context across all machines.

## Architecture

Memory travels with the repository via git. Hermes memory (~/.hermes/memories/) is the source of truth on ace-linux-1. The bridge script reads it, writes into .claude/memory/ in the workspace-hub repo, commits, and pushes. Every other machine (Windows licensed-win-1, new clones) gets updated context via git pull. Gateway must be running for cron jobs to fire.

## Script Inventory

| Script | Purpose |
|--------|---------|
| scripts/memory/bridge-hermes-claude.sh --commit | Reads Hermes memory, injects into agents.md via BRIDGE markers, commits and pushes |
| scripts/memory/pre-bridge-quality.sh --fix | Quality gate (0-100 score) before bridge; auto-compacts if needed |
| scripts/memory/check-memory-drift.sh | Exits 1 if Hermes memory ahead of repo, 0 if in sync |
| scripts/memory/bootstrap-machine.sh | Creates ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md on new machine, OS-aware |
| scripts/upkeep/health-check.sh --save | 16-check report: gateway, cron, memory, disk, repo sync, Claude topics |

## Cron Jobs

- memory-bridge-daily: 04:00 daily (job 8c797470d7d3) — runs pre-bridge-quality.sh --fix which calls bridge internally
- Gateway must be active (systemctl is-active hermes-gateway.service) or cron jobs won't fire

## Memory Compaction

Hermes memory has hard limits: MEMORY.md = 2200 chars, USER.md = 1375 chars. When approaching 90%+, compact before bridging.

### Manual Compaction Steps

1. Check current sizes: `wc -c ~/.hermes/memories/MEMORY.md ~/.hermes/memories/USER.md`
2. Read current content: `cat ~/.hermes/memories/MEMORY.md`
3. Identify entries to remove: resolved issues > 90 days old, stale tool versions, duplicates with USER.md
4. Write compacted version to /tmp/compacted-memory.md (DO NOT use write_file on ~/.hermes/ paths — overlay issue)
5. Apply via terminal: `cp /tmp/compacted-memory.md ~/.hermes/memories/MEMORY.md`
6. Verify all critical facts preserved
7. Run bridge: `bash scripts/memory/pre-bridge-quality.sh --fix`

### Critical Facts That Must Always Be Preserved

- /mnt/local-analysis/workspace-hub is the real mount
- ~/workspace-hub is sparse overlay — write to /tmp/ then move
- uv run on Linux, python on Windows
- digitalmodel/ is separate git repo — cd in before commits
- .legal-deny-list.yaml mandatory for doc-intelligence work
- aceengineer-strategy/ GTM context
- Hermes: 691 skills, 5 external_dirs repos
- User preferences: context parity, adversarial review, overnight batch execution

## Gateway Stability (2026-04-05 findings)

The gateway DOES stay alive with zero messaging platforms — it logs "No messaging platforms enabled" then "Gateway will continue running for cron job execution" and starts the cron ticker. The real crashes are from:

1. **API credit exhaustion** — if a cron job (e.g. gemini-overnight-batch-1) hits a 402 OpenRouter error, the gateway exits. Check `~/.hermes/logs/gateway.log` for "Non-retryable client error: Error code: 402"
2. **Restart loop** — after crash, systemd restarts it. If it again finds no platforms AND no pending cron jobs, it may exit quickly (53ms). Restart with: `systemctl restart hermes-gateway.service`
3. **Replace flag** — if gateway won't start because old PID lingers: `hermes gateway run --replace`

### Cron without gateway (manual fallback)

If gateway won't stay up, fire due jobs manually:
```
hermes cron tick
```
This ticks once and exits — no persistent gateway needed.

## Troubleshooting

| Symptom | Fix |
|---------|-----|
| Gateway down | `systemctl start hermes-gateway.service`; if crashes again, check gateway.log for 402 errors |
| Bridge didn't commit (dirty submodule) | `git stash && cd /path/to/repo && bash scripts/memory/bridge-hermes-claude.sh --commit && git push` |
| Memory at 98%+ | Compact manually (steps above), then pre-bridge-quality.sh --fix |
| Windows missing context | `bash scripts/memory/bootstrap-machine.sh && git pull` |
| Drift detected | `bash scripts/memory/bridge-hermes-claude.sh --commit && git push` |
| Cron jobs not firing | Check gateway.log; if 402, pause offending job; if no platforms, gateway still works |

## Pitfalls

1. write_file/patch to ~/.hermes/ paths may hit overlay issues — use terminal to cp/mv
2. Bridge git pull --rebase fails with dirty submodules — script handles via stash/restore, but heavyequipemnt-rag may still cause issues
3. `pre-bridge-quality.sh --fix` calls `bridge-hermes-claude.sh --commit` internally, and both can fail in dirty worktrees because the bridge runs `git add .claude/memory/` and then `git stash push`, which stashes the staged memory changes before `git commit`, yielding “nothing added to commit.” Recovery: restore only memory files from the generated `pre-bridge-stash`, commit/push only `.claude/memory/`, leave unrelated untracked files untouched, then verify both drift and remote HEAD:
   ```bash
   git stash show --name-status stash@{0} | sed -n '1,160p'
   git checkout stash@{0} -- .claude/memory
   git add .claude/memory
   git commit -m "Sync Hermes memory bridge"
   git push
   bash scripts/memory/check-memory-drift.sh
   git rev-parse --short HEAD && git rev-parse --short origin/main
   ```
   If the stash contains non-memory paths, do not restore them during the bridge recovery unless they are explicitly part of the memory deliverable; keep the stash as backup.
4. Memory topic snapshots can contain literal merge-conflict markers for forensic lessons; pre-commit blocks those unless each marker line carries `CONFLICT_MARKER_FORENSIC_OK` or the upstream auto-memory source is cleaned/exempted before bridging.
5. Gateway crashes — check `journalctl -u hermes-gateway --no-pager -n 30` and `~/.hermes/logs/gateway.log`
6. Existing compact-memory.py and curate-memory.py have bugs (wrong default paths) — use manual compaction instead
7. Cron output file may not exist after gateway restart
8. `hermes cron tick` works as manual fallback when gateway won't stay alive