I built a skill for Claude, because the memories it was saving had started to bog it down, instead of help. The memory file kept growing, and the bigger it got, the worse Claude got.
The memory file is where Claude writes down the rules, preferences and little facts it learns about you, so it can sculpt itself towards how you want it to work.
Why memory files always bloat
The trouble is, the file only ever grows. You keep adding, and it bloats. And the more you stuff into an LLM's context, the worse it gets. Not only at recalling any single fact, but at staying consistent. Before long you've filled it with contradictions, rules quietly fighting each other, instead of a clean set of preferences steering the model how you meant.
A skill that prunes the file with you, one line at a time
So the skill is written to interview you, rather than deciding on its own what to keep and what to kill. It works through the file line-by-line and points things out: "this phrase is repeated, cut it and I'll still understand the shorter version". That saves you context. Or, "this line contradicts something we read three sentences ago, so which rule do you actually want me to follow?" It goes through the whole file and tidies up the crap, only ever in a way you agree to.
It won't quietly make its own decisions and leave you with a set of hollowed-out preferences that no longer steer it properly. At every step it asks what matters, so nothing important gets cut by accident. And it shows you a diff for each choice: the original line on top, the suggested version underneath, so you can see exactly which words are going and which are staying. You agree, you reword it, or you tell it to leave that memory alone.
Download the Memory Cleanup skill (free) →
Unzip it, drop the folder with the SKILL.md in alongside your other Claude skills (ask Claude where that lives if you're not sure), and say "let's do a memory cleanup". I run it every week or two. A lean memory file is one the assistant actually follows.
I made it free because I wanted it for myself, couldn't find it anywhere, and it doesn't feel right charging for a text file that does a job, even though I know plenty of people would.
I also make software. Some of it's free, some is a small one-off payment. No bullshit: no subscriptions, no telemetry, none of that rubbish. Just simple software for people who remember how software used to behave, before Facebook and MicroSlop started ruining it. John Carmack and Chris Sawyer are my coding heroes, not the bastards who invented popups and dark patterns!