FIELD NOTE / INSTAGRAM
Save the reason, not only the result.
The complete written thought and the evidence behind it. The video edition will follow its public release.
The written argument is here.
This approved Instagram edition is on the journal now. Its video player and original platform link will appear after each public release is verified.
Save the reason, not only the result.
Video caption
Save the reason, not only the result.
A provider choice depends on a policy that changed.
The new packet must say what changed and why.
Do this because a confident old answer is still old.
#EricFieldNotes
Full written post / accessibility read
When an agent stores 'use this architecture,' I want the decision, source evidence, rejected alternative, owner, expiry and next test on one card. Otherwise the memory may make a new agent more confidently wrong.
A fictional team stores a cloud route as standard. Later the data boundary changes, but the memory still contains only the route name. The next agent retrieves a clear instruction without the condition that once justified it.
Give each decision an ID, version, source links and an expiry trigger. A role steward can inject only the current relevant packet and identify what it supersedes. The recipient should acknowledge the version before taking action.
Test a deliberately expired card. The downstream agent or host gate should ask for fresh authority rather than silently using it. Durable memory is an asset when it can also tell you when not to trust itself.
#EricFieldNotes
Four-beat scene transcript
1. Save the reason, not only the result.
When an agent stores 'use this architecture,' I want the decision, source evidence, rejected alternative, owner, expiry and next test on one card. Otherwise the memory may make a new agent more confidently wrong.
Visual: A durable card needs six fields.
2. The tidy memory can outlive its premise.
A fictional team stores a cloud route as standard. Later the data boundary changes, but the memory still contains only the route name. The next agent retrieves a clear instruction without the condition that once justified it.
Visual: A provider choice depends on a policy that changed.
3. Attach sources and supersession.
Give each decision an ID, version, source links and an expiry trigger. A role steward can inject only the current relevant packet and identify what it supersedes. The recipient should acknowledge the version before taking action.
Visual: The new packet must say what changed and why.
4. Make stale memory fail closed.
Test a deliberately expired card. The downstream agent or host gate should ask for fresh authority rather than silently using it. Durable memory is an asset when it can also tell you when not to trust itself.
Visual: Do this because a confident old answer is still old.
Research and claim limits
- OpenAI Agents SDK sessions (S53)
- LangGraph persistence (S54)
- OpenAI Agents SDK: handoffs (S170)
The examples identified as illustrative or simulated are design probes, not reported incidents. Vendor specifications do not establish workload performance.