Keep a decision log an agent can cite
Use casesThe decision survives. The reasoning behind it usually does not.
The situation
Decisions get made in calls and threads, and the reasoning is gone a month later. A captured decision is one markdown file carrying the decision, the topic it belongs to, and an author-supplied purpose that says why a future reader needs it. Because the record is a file in a vault, an agent can quote it back with its path rather than paraphrasing from memory.
The purpose field is the part that does the work, and it is the part an agent must not invent. It is the sentence that tells the next reader why this record is worth having — see Figments and frontmatter for the full contract every captured note carries.
How you do it
Say the decision in one sentence, name the topic, and supply the purpose in your own words — the agent asks you for it rather than inventing it. Then have the agent search for the record and read it back, so you can see it exists and where it lives.
Needs: Lyt initialized.
Using Lyt, record this decision in my team/handbook vault: "we ship database migrations separately from application deploys". File it under the topic "decision". Before capturing, ask me for the purpose — one sentence in my own words on why a future reader needs this on record — and use exactly what I give you; do not write one for me. Then search team/handbook for "migrations" and quote the decision back to me with its file path.
Every capture carries a topic and an author-supplied purpose, and names the vault when you have more than one. Use your own vault name in place of team/handbook. Assumes Lyt is installed and initialized on this machine.
lyt capture "we ship database migrations separately from application deploys" --vault team/handbook --topic decision --purpose "keeps later release work from recombining the two steps"What changes
The decision survives the meeting that produced it — together with your one sentence on why it was worth keeping — and it can be cited. Months later the same record answers the question you no longer remember deciding, with its wording and its path intact.