Move Memory with a snapshot

The Memory vault is local and ignored by Git. A snapshot moves selected authoritative notes through an explicit, reviewable workflow.

The commands below use $PluginRoot resolved as shown in Quick installation.

On the old PC, assign and resolve both paths first:

$ProjectRoot = (Resolve-Path "D:\Projects\northstar-support").Path
$SnapshotPath = Join-Path $ProjectRoot ".local-knowledge\memory-snapshot"

Snapshots are plain text

Snapshots are not encrypted. Anyone who can read the files or Git history can read their contents. Review every file before committing or sharing.

Export for a private repository

& "$PluginRoot\scripts\Invoke-LocalKnowledge.ps1" `
  -Tool local-knowledge `
  -ToolArguments @(
    "memory", "export",
    "--root", $ProjectRoot,
    "--output", $SnapshotPath,
    "--git-visibility", "private"
  )

The deterministic snapshot contains snapshot.json, memory/config.json, and memory/notes/*.md, with SHA-256 checksums. It excludes the daily journal, SQLite/index, cache, lock, MEMORY.md, and generated entity views.

The manifest fingerprint covers the schema, format, project ID, metadata, and canonical file entries. This is an unkeyed integrity check, not cryptographic proof of origin or authenticity: anyone who can edit the snapshot can recompute it. Use trusted transfer or reviewed Git history as well.

Transfer through the user's project Git repository

Open and review every snapshot file. Confirm there is no credential, company data, or unintended personal information, then inspect the exact diff:

git -C $ProjectRoot status --short
git -C $ProjectRoot add .local-knowledge/memory-snapshot
git -C $ProjectRoot diff --cached -- .local-knowledge/memory-snapshot

If review finds content that must not be committed, unstage it and repair or export again:

git -C $ProjectRoot restore --staged .local-knowledge/memory-snapshot

Only after the staged diff is approved:

git -C $ProjectRoot commit -m "chore(memory): add reviewed project snapshot"
git -C $ProjectRoot push

After review, PowerShell 7 users may join git commit ... && git push; Windows PowerShell 5.1 must run them as separate lines. Do this only in the user's project repository. The Local Knowledge Suite product repository ignores .local-knowledge/memory-snapshot/, so real Memory is never included in the product release.

Sensitive Memory

Sensitive notes are excluded by default. Including them requires both flags:

& "$PluginRoot\scripts\Invoke-LocalKnowledge.ps1" `
  -Tool local-knowledge `
  -ToolArguments @(
    "memory", "export",
    "--root", $ProjectRoot,
    "--output", $SnapshotPath,
    "--git-visibility", "private",
    "--include-sensitive",
    "--acknowledge-sensitive"
  )

Passwords, tokens, private keys, and recovery phrases must never be stored in Memory at all.

Public repositories

An export intended for a public repository is blocked without an additional acknowledgement:

& "$PluginRoot\scripts\Invoke-LocalKnowledge.ps1" `
  -Tool local-knowledge `
  -ToolArguments @(
    "memory", "export",
    "--root", $ProjectRoot,
    "--output", $SnapshotPath,
    "--git-visibility", "public",
    "--allow-public"
  )

--allow-public does not sanitize the data. It only records that the operator accepted the risk.

Import

On the new device, clone or pull the same project so its project_id is preserved:

$ProjectRepositoryUrl = "https://github.com/your-org/northstar-support.git"
$ProjectRoot = "D:\Projects\northstar-support"
git clone $ProjectRepositoryUrl $ProjectRoot
# If the clone already exists, use: git -C $ProjectRoot pull
$ProjectRoot = (Resolve-Path $ProjectRoot).Path
$SnapshotPath = Join-Path $ProjectRoot ".local-knowledge\memory-snapshot"

Then import:

& "$PluginRoot\scripts\Invoke-LocalKnowledge.ps1" `
  -Tool local-knowledge `
  -ToolArguments @(
    "memory", "import",
    "--root", $ProjectRoot,
    "--input", $SnapshotPath
  )

By default, import requires an empty vault, a matching project ID, and valid checksums. --replace creates a local backup first. V1 does not merge two snapshots.

Run project doctor and knowledge_status. Check snapshot present, valid, freshness, item_count, and includes_sensitive.