docs: CREDITS.md — prior art + re-survey watchlist

CREDITS.md

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+# Credits, Prior Art & Re-Survey Watchlist
+
+MemoryMaster is a **synthesis**. The core thesis — memory as *governed, lifecycle-managed
+claims with citations* (candidate → confirmed → stale → superseded → conflicted → archived),
+a steward that validates/decays/dedups, and a sensitivity filter at ingest — is its own. But
+much of the retrieval, entity-detection, wiki, cross-repo-graph, and local-search machinery was
+**magpie'd, with thanks, from neighboring projects**. This file gives them the visible nod they
+deserve, and doubles as a **re-survey watchlist** so we periodically steal what's new.
+
+> The original survey (`artifacts/steal-from-others-2026-04-27.md`) is from **2026-04-27**.
+> These projects ship fast — treat anything here older than ~3 months as stale and worth a re-read.
+
+---
+
+## 1. Borrowed features (the "steal everything good" survey — v3.9.0)
+
+| Project | What we took |
+|---|---|
+| **gbrain** ("Code Cathedral") | two-pass retrieval, structural call-graph edges, parent-scope chunking, source-aware ranking, frontmatter-guard CLI |
+| **MemPalace** | "Closets" (two-tier search pointers), "Halls" → `claim_type`-aware ranking, entity-detection overhaul (CamelCase + git-author entities), `cwd`-from-transcript scope derivation |
+| **graphify** | `merge-graphs` / cross-repo knowledge graphs → our `federated_query` |
+| **claude-mem** | multi-account isolation (per-UID worker ports), the "cynical deletion" audit philosophy (kill *defenders* & *tolerators*) |
+| **My-Brain-Is-Full-Crew** | multi-platform adapter pattern (one source → Claude / Codex / Gemini / OpenCode) |
+| **GitNexus** | cross-repo impact routing; also the code-intelligence layer MemoryMaster itself runs on |
+
+## 2. Systems we define ourselves *against* (design positioning)
+
+- **mem0**, **Letta / MemGPT**, **Zep** — vector-store memory. MM's whole pitch ("govern claims,
+  don't just store more embeddings") is a deliberate reaction to these. See README → *How it's different*.
+- **cognee** — evaluated in `artifacts/cognee-assessment-2026-04-24.md`.
+
+## 3. Patterns & concepts we build on
+
+- **Karpathy / Farza "LLM Wiki"** — the compiled-truth + append-only-timeline wiki engine.
+- **Voidtools Everything (`ES.exe`)** — the v4.1.0 local-filesystem bridge (`resolve-project` / `local-search`).
+- **LongMemEval-S** + **agentmemory** — the benchmark + the peer we measure R@5 / MRR against.
+- **Keep a Changelog** + **SemVer** — release discipline.
+
+## 4. Stands on / integrates with
+
+Obsidian (wiki vault) · Claude Auto Dream (Dream Bridge sync) · Qdrant / SQLite FTS5 / Postgres + pgvector (backends) · MCP / FastMCP (protocol).
+
+---
+
+## 5. Re-survey watchlist — DUE (survey is 6+ months old)
+
+**Re-read the v3.9 six for new releases** (gbrain, MemPalace, graphify, claude-mem, My-Brain-Is-Full-Crew, GitNexus) — many features above were partials; check what they shipped since 2026-04.
+
+### Re-survey COMPLETED 2026-06-24 → full detail in `artifacts/steal-from-others-2026-06-24.md` (all 12 cloned to `cloned/`)
+
+- **Corrected upstreams** (our docs had wrong/fabricated URLs): gbrain = `garrytan/gbrain` (was unrecorded), graphify = `safishamsi/graphify`, GitNexus = `abhigyanpatwari/GitNexus` (the `wolverin0/*` URLs were fabricated), My-Brain-Is-Full-Crew = `gnekt/My-Brain-Is-Full-Crew`. **claude-mem relicensed AGPL → Apache-2.0 at v13.0** (code now borrowable).
+- **Current versions:** gbrain **v0.42** (was v0.22.4 — huge), MemPalace v3.5.0, claude-mem v13.8.0, cognee v1.2.2, codebase-memory-mcp v0.8.1, GitNexus v1.5.3, graphify 0.9.2.
+- **Top steal candidates** (detail in the survey doc): ⭐ **Reciprocal Rank Fusion** — *convergent* (gbrain + GitNexus both) — principled hybrid fusion to replace our ad-hoc blend [LOW]; **cross-encoder reranker** (gbrain `zerank`/Zep) to kill "fresh-but-wrong" top hits [MED]; **Leiden/Louvain community detection** (graphify, ~270 LOC) to de-flatten the entity graph [LOW]; **bitemporal write-time guard** (MemPalace) [SMALL]; **capability-probed binary resolver + "parseable-response = only success"** (claude-mem) [SMALL]; **PreToolUse grep-intercept → inject memory** (codebase-memory-mcp) [LOW-MED].
+- **Positioning sharpened:** the "vector store" strawman is dead — mem0/Letta/Zep/cognee all do hybrid/temporal/graph now (and now *lead* on graph reasoning). MM's durable wedge is **governance** (lifecycle/steward/citations/conflict) — none of them have it; mem0 went the opposite way (ADD-only, no conflict resolution). Reposition: **"we govern what's remembered" — curation over accumulation.**
+- **codebase-memory-mcp** (~20.9k★): **assessed** — CODE-structure memory (tree-sitter graph; 99.2% token cut via a PreToolUse grep-intercept hook + `get_architecture` overview). Complementary to MM's life/claims memory, not a competitor.
+- **My-Brain-Is-Full-Crew** (gnekt): the most **vision-aligned** peer to the user's **Atlas/Jarvis** layer (8 agents + 14 skills over Obsidian, dispatcher→delegate router, `weekly-agenda`/`email-triage` skills). Steal for Atlas orchestration, not MM's memory engine.
+
+**Next re-survey target: ~2026-09** (or sooner if a memory project goes viral). Regenerate `artifacts/steal-from-others-<date>.md` + refresh this section.

README.md

@@ -221,6 +221,7 @@ See [CONTRIBUTING.md](CONTRIBUTING.md) for the full workflow.
 | [ARCHITECTURE.md](ARCHITECTURE.md) | System design and subsystem details |
 | [USER_GUIDE.md](USER_GUIDE.md) | Usage, MCP integration, troubleshooting |
 | [CHANGELOG.md](CHANGELOG.md) | Version history and release notes |
+| [CREDITS.md](CREDITS.md) | Prior art & acknowledgments — the projects we borrowed ideas from, plus a re-survey watchlist |
 | [ROADMAP.md](ROADMAP.md) | Release plan and future tracks |
 | [docs/enabling-v2-systems.md](docs/enabling-v2-systems.md) | v3 statistical classifier + cadence policy opt-in |
 

artifacts/steal-from-others-2026-06-24.md

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+# What to steal from neighboring memory tools — re-survey (2026-06-24)
+
+Refresh of `steal-from-others-2026-04-27.md` (6 months stale). All targets cloned to `cloned/`
+(gitignored), changelog-delta read where we had a surveyed version, analyzed fresh otherwise.
+Each item: feature → source → why we want it → our gap → effort.
+
+## Corrections to the record (important)
+- **gbrain** = `github.com/garrytan/gbrain` (Garry Tan/YC; MIT). No URL was recorded before — now fixed.
+- **graphify** = `github.com/safishamsi/graphify` (PyPI `graphifyy`) and **GitNexus** = `github.com/abhigyanpatwari/GitNexus` — the `wolverin0/*` URLs in our docs were **wrong/fabricated**; these are the real upstreams. (Confirmed: both match the tools we use.)
+- **My-Brain-Is-Full-Crew** = `github.com/gnekt/My-Brain-Is-Full-Crew` (the `mhss1/MyBrain` first guess was a wrong-match Android app). It IS the multi-platform agent crew — and it's the single most **vision-aligned** project to the user's own Atlas/Jarvis build (see the dedicated section below). Relevant to ATLAS, not MM's memory core.
+- **claude-mem relicensed AGPL-3.0 → Apache-2.0 at v13.0.0** — v13+ code is now permissively borrowable (attribution + NOTICE). Pre-v13 stays AGPL.
+
+## TIER S — directly attacks our known-weak retrieval
+
+### 1. Reciprocal Rank Fusion (RRF) for hybrid retrieval  ⭐ CONVERGENT (gbrain + GitNexus both)
+**What:** weight-free fusion of FTS5 + vector (+graph) result lists by `1/(k+rank)` instead of a hand-tuned score blend. gbrain (`zerank`+RRF) and GitNexus (BM25+vector RRF) independently use it.
+**Why/gap:** MM blends FTS5 + Qdrant + freshness + confidence with an **ad-hoc weighted sum** (the v3.22 boost-floor gate is a patch over exactly this). RRF is the principled, parameter-free standard. Two independent neighbors converging on it is the strongest signal in this survey.
+**Effort:** LOW — pure ranking math, ~1 function in the recall ranker; A/B against the current blend on the LongMemEval harness.
+
+### 2. Cross-encoder reranker pass  (gbrain `zerank-2`; Zep added one too)
+**What:** after hybrid recall, a cross-encoder re-scores the top-N. gbrain reports it reshuffles ~60% of top-1.
+**Why/gap:** MM has **no rerank** — its #1 retrieval failure mode is "agreed-but-wrong / fresh-but-wrong" outranking the true claim (the whole reason the boost-floor gate exists). A rerank pass is the canonical fix.
+**Effort:** MED — a rerank step (ZeroEntropy/Cohere/bge-reranker or local); gate behind an env flag; measure R@5/MRR.
+
+### 3. Community detection (Leiden/Louvain) on the entity graph  (graphify, ~270 LOC self-contained)
+**What:** cluster the entity graph into topic communities, with **stable size-ranked community IDs** (`remap_communities_to_previous`) and **surprising cross-community connection** scoring.
+**Why/gap:** MM proved its GRAPH stream **FLAT** in v3.6 (entity-fanout only, no structure). Community clustering is a *different* way to add structure than call-edges: topic clusters can drive recall boosts, wiki-breakdown, and "related but non-obvious" links (`find_related_claims`). Stable IDs stop wiki articles churning each `run_cycle`.
+**Effort:** LOW (drop-in, needs networkx + graspologic) for clustering; MED for the surprise-ranking.
+
+## TIER A — operational quality
+
+### 4. Intent-aware query routing  (gbrain `intent.ts`, deterministic)
+Classify query (entity / temporal / event / general) and **toggle ranking knobs** (graph weight, source-boost bypass) off it. MM has `classify_query` but doesn't route ranking from it. **Effort:** LOW-MED.
+
+### 5. Hebbian potentiation + Ebbinghaus decay on graph edges  (MemPalace v3.3.6)
+Usage strengthens edges, time decays them — recall-weighted graph dynamics. MM's entity edges are **static**. **Effort:** MED.
+
+### 6. Bitemporal write-time validation  (MemPalace v3.3.5)
+Reject inverted intervals (`valid_until < valid_from`) + ISO sanitize **at ingest**. This is MM's exact bitemporal foot-gun (durable-but-invisible rows). **Effort:** SMALL.
+
+### 7. Capability-probed binary resolver + "parseable-response = only success"  (claude-mem v12.6/13.5)
+Probe the agent CLI with `--version`, prefer newest, **fail loud** (stale `claude` binary silently killing observations is their bug — and ours waiting to happen). Kill retry counters that mask data loss — matches our own "cynical deletion" lens. **Effort:** SMALL.
+
+### 8. PreToolUse hook intercepting Grep/Glob → inject memory  (codebase-memory-mcp)
+Their 99.2%-token-reduction mechanism: intercept the agent's grep/glob and return graph/memory hits as `additionalContext`. MM only injects on prompt (recall hook), not on tool-use. **Effort:** LOW-MED.
+
+### 9. Push / volunteer context  (gbrain v0.42, zero-LLM)
+Brain proactively surfaces relevant claims from recent turns (reflex/op/watch channels), confidence-gated, no LLM. MM recall is **pull-only**. **Effort:** MED.
+
+## TIER B — batch / lower ROI
+
+- **`delete_by_source` bulk cleanup (dry-run default) + `checkpoint` batch-ingest** (MemPalace v3.5) — source-scoped purge for eval pollution + one round-trip session filing vs N `ingest_claim`. **SMALL.**
+- **Rollup telemetry pattern** (claude-mem v13.5–13.8) — aggregate high-volume events per session/window before forwarding (they cut ~45M→20K events, $7.7k→$10/mo). MM has zero usage visibility. **MED.**
+- **Guarded fuzzy resolver** (GitNexus) — entity/symbol linker that **refuses** ambiguous matches (anti-hallucination). **MED.**
+- **"Takes vs Facts" epistemology** (gbrain v0.28/0.32) — multi-holder beliefs (take/fact/bet/hunch) with confidence+time; facts fenced as system-of-record. Interesting evolution of our claim model. **HIGH / research.**
+
+## Positioning — the "defined-against" set (mem0 / Letta / Zep / cognee)
+
+The "vector store" strawman is **dead**: mem0 fused BM25+entity, Zep & cognee are temporal/ontology **knowledge graphs**, Letta does agentic self-editing. MM can **no longer** differentiate on "we retrieve/temporal better" — and honestly they're now **ahead** on graph reasoning (cognee's COT/ontology search; Zep's bi-temporal edges). The still-defensible wedge is **governance**: status lifecycle, a steward that validates/decays/dedups, citations, explicit conflict arbitration — **none of the four have it**, and mem0 went the *opposite* way (ADD-only, no overwrite, no conflict resolution). **Reposition: from "we retrieve better" → "we GOVERN what's remembered" (provenance, decay, conflict as first-class). Curation over accumulation.** Adopt their graph-reasoning ideas (above) while keeping governance as the moat.
+
+## My-Brain-Is-Full-Crew (gnekt) — the Atlas mirror (steal for the LifeAgent layer, not MM)
+
+The closest thing to the user's own Atlas/Jarvis vision, already built: **8 role agents** (architect, scribe, sorter, seeker, connector, librarian, postman, transcriber) + **14 skills** (email-triage, inbox-triage, deadline-radar, weekly-agenda, meeting-prep, contact-sync, tag-garden, vault-audit, defrag, deep-clean, transcribe, onboarding, create-agent, manage-agent) over an **Obsidian vault**, with a strict **dispatcher → delegate** router (`DISPATCHER.md`: "never answer directly, only delegate; skills first, agents second") and **4-platform adapters** (claude-code / codex-cli / gemini-cli / opencode via a `.platform/` symlink).
+
+**Steal for ATLAS/Jarvis (not MemoryMaster):**
+- **`weekly-agenda` + `deadline-radar` skills** — exactly the time-aware digest we just built; their prompt/skill design is a direct reference. **LOW.**
+- **`email-triage` / `inbox-triage`** — a real, structured email-triage skill (we have Gmail flowing now). **MED.**
+- **Dispatcher→delegate router** — clean intent-routing pattern for Jarvis (skills-first, agents-second). **LOW-MED.**
+- **8-role crew decomposition** — a proven taxonomy for life-agent roles vs Atlas's monolith. **Reference.**
+- **4-platform adapter mechanism** — only if Atlas should run beyond Claude+Codex. **Deferred.**
+
+**For MemoryMaster:** little — it's vault-file-based (markdown, no vector/claim engine); its `vault-audit`/`defrag`/`tag-garden` are governance-cleanup *ideas* that echo MM's steward, but MM's engine is more advanced. This one informs the **orchestration** layer, not the memory core.
+
+## Recommended ship plan
+
+**Next patch (≈1 week):** #1 RRF (low, highest-confidence), #6 bitemporal write-guard (small), #7 capability-probed resolver (small).
+**Next minor (≈2 weeks):** #2 cross-encoder rerank (the retrieval-quality unlock), #3 community detection (low) + stable IDs.
+**Research spikes:** #9 push context, #4 intent routing, #14 takes-vs-facts.
+
+## Non-goals (unchanged + new)
+- Don't chase code-structure memory (codebase-memory-mcp / gbrain Cathedral / GitNexus call-graphs) natively — MM already delegates code-intel to GitNexus.
+- Don't follow Zep closed-managed or cognee/letta single-Postgres-platform — MM stays single-file SQLite first.
+- mem0's ADD-only model is an anti-pattern *for us* (it's the negation of the steward).