Institutional Memory

Institutional Memory

One SQLite database, schema v5, with versioned and reversible migrations. It is not a cache — it is the system's memory, and it is the reason the tenth deliberation is better informed than the first.

cd backend
python migrate.py up          # apply everything pending
python migrate.py status      # which versions are applied
python migrate.py down 005    # roll back one migration — the version is required

Why one database

Every subsystem — recall, briefing, House Mind, reputation, outcomes — reads and writes the same store through institutional_db.py. That single ownership is deliberate: if beliefs could originate in several places, "why does the House believe this?" would be unanswerable.

What is stored

Kind	Meaning
Sessions	every deliberation: the directive, each member's position, the verdict
Minority positions	the dissent, preserved rather than discarded
Predictions	claims with an invalidation condition and a review horizon
Belief changes	what the House believed, when it changed, and what changed it
Reputation	per-member calibrated estimates over time
Archive	deliberations mirrored to Obsidian when a vault is configured

Deleting it resets the House

backend/skynerclaw.db is git-ignored and per-install. Deleting it does not break anything — the system will recreate an empty schema — but the House forgets everything it has learned: every graded prediction, every reputation estimate, every recorded belief change.

Under Docker the database lives in a named volume for exactly this reason. docker compose down -v deletes it; plain down does not. See Docker.

Moving it

# .env
INSTITUTIONAL_DB=/path/to/skynerclaw.db

→ Next: Recall Quality