Agent memory and code decision concepts
Definitions used in Selvedge’s documentation for preserving and retrieving coding decisions. Start with the question you need to answer, then follow a concept to its practical guide. General concepts are distinguished from Selvedge-specific behavior; examples illustrate the workflow and are not customer results.
Find the concept you need
Section titled “Find the concept you need”| Question | Concept |
|---|---|
| Where did this change come from, and what evidence explains it? | AI code provenance |
| What should an agent retain across sessions? | Agent memory |
| Was this approach considered or tried before? | Prior attempt |
| How do I find decisions about a function or column? | Entity-level tracking |
| Which recorded decisions belong to the same task? | Changeset |
| What would justify reconsidering an old decision? | Stale decision |
| Was the explanation supplied during the work or reconstructed later? | Recorded versus inferred reasoning |
Put a definition to work
Section titled “Put a definition to work”Selvedge is a local MCP server and CLI for recording code decisions, stated reasons, and outcomes. Selvedge’s log_change writes the event; Selvedge’s prior_attempts retrieves recorded approaches and outcomes before a later edit. This workflow needs both capture and retrieval. A connected server does not automatically preserve every decision or guarantee that an agent follows it.
Start with the worked rejection-and-revisit guide. It shows how to record a constraint, retrieve it in another session, and preserve the original explanation when new evidence justifies a revision.
If you are choosing how to keep this history, compare instruction files, ADRs, and event records. A maintained document can be sufficient; choose a format your project will actually use. For commands and parameters, use the MCP tool reference and quickstart.