a folder for every task
how this works
The goal: leave with a system where every task you are working on has a folder, and every agent on every computer knows where those folders are.
Agent memory for your work can be this simple. When each task has a folder, you can say things like "find the task where I was planning the offsite and add this note to it" — and it works, in any conversation, on any computer, because the context lives in files instead of inside one chat.
The system has four rules:
1. One folder in your personal OS holds all your tasks.
2. Every task gets its own folder inside it, named with the date it started, like 20260726-plan-the-offsite, so folders sort in the order they began.
3. Each task folder contains its own AGENTS.md with the context for that task: what it is, where things stand, what is left.
4. The AGENTS.md at the root of your personal OS tells every agent where the tasks folder is, so agents look there without being told.
set up the system (10 minutes, on your own)
Tell your agent something like this:
Set up a task-folder system in my personal OS. Create a tasks folder, and inside it an archived folder for finished tasks. Write an AGENTS.md inside the tasks folder explaining the rules: one folder per task, named with the start date first, like 20260726-plan-the-offsite, and each task folder gets its own AGENTS.md with the task's context. Then update the AGENTS.md at the root of my personal OS so every agent knows my tasks live here and should check there whenever I mention something I am working on.
Then fill it with real work. Name two or three things you are actually working on right now, and for each one have the agent create the folder and write its AGENTS.md with you: what the task is, why it matters, what has happened so far, and what the next step is. If you have already discussed one of these tasks with the agent in this conversation, tell it to put that context into the folder.
test it with a fresh agent (5 minutes, on your own)
The system only works if an agent with no memory of this session can use it. Start a completely new conversation and try:
1. "What tasks do I have open right now?"
2. "Find the task about ___ and add this note to it: ___."
If the fresh agent finds the folder and updates the right file, your system works. If it does not, that is worth debugging: usually the note in your root AGENTS.md is missing, unclear, or the new conversation started somewhere the agent cannot see it.
show your group (3 minutes per person)
Take turns. On your turn:
1. Show your tasks folder and what you named your task folders.
2. Run one retrieval test live while the others watch: ask a fresh agent to find one of your tasks and add something to it.
3. The other two suggest one thing: a task you mentioned today that deserves a folder, or context missing from a task's AGENTS.md that a future agent would need.
Reset and restart the timer for each person. Three people, three turns.
keeping it alive
Three habits make this system last:
1. When you finish real work in any conversation, end with: "put the useful context from this into the task's folder." That is how the folders stay current without extra effort.
2. When a task is done, move its folder into archived. The tasks folder stays an honest picture of what is actually open.
3. Because the system lives in your personal OS, syncing your personal OS to a new computer brings your whole task memory with it. Every computer needs to know where your tasks are — that is the entire system.