akm-cli 0.7.5 → 0.8.0-rc.6

package/dist/commands/consolidate.js

@@ -0,0 +1,1531 @@
+// This Source Code Form is subject to the terms of the Mozilla Public
+// License, v. 2.0. If a copy of the MPL was not distributed with this
+// file, You can obtain one at https://mozilla.org/MPL/2.0/.
+import { createHash } from "node:crypto";
+import fs from "node:fs";
+import path from "node:path";
+import readline from "node:readline";
+import { parse as yamlParse, stringify as yamlStringify } from "yaml";
+import { parseAssetRef } from "../core/asset-ref";
+import { assembleAssetFromString } from "../core/asset-serialize";
+import { resolveStashDir, timestampForFilename } from "../core/common";
+import { getDefaultLlmConfig, loadConfig } from "../core/config";
+import { ConfigError } from "../core/errors";
+import { appendEvent } from "../core/events";
+import { parseFrontmatter } from "../core/frontmatter";
+import { writeContradictEdge } from "../core/memory-belief";
+import { parseEmbeddedJsonResponse } from "../core/parse";
+import { hasHotCaptureMode, hasSupersededStatus, validateProposalFrontmatter, } from "../core/proposal-quality-validators";
+import { createProposal, isProposalSkipped, listProposals } from "../core/proposals";
+import { detectTruncatedDescription } from "../core/text-truncation";
+// Re-export the moved helpers so existing test imports continue to resolve.
+export { hasSupersededStatus, validateProposalFrontmatter };
+import { warn } from "../core/warn";
+import { deleteAssetFromSource, resolveWriteTarget, writeAssetToSource } from "../core/write-source";
+import { closeDatabase, getAllEntries, openExistingDatabase } from "../indexer/db";
+import { chatCompletion } from "../llm/client";
+import { cosineSimilarity, embedBatch } from "../llm/embedder";
+import { isLlmFeatureEnabled, tryLlmFeature } from "../llm/feature-gate";
+// ── Prompts ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+const CONSOLIDATE_SYSTEM_PROMPT = `You are the akm consolidate assistant analyzing memory assets.
+
+Rules:
+1. MERGE: Two or more memories are substantially duplicated or closely related → propose merging. Return the primary ref to keep and secondary refs to delete. Do NOT include mergedContent — the merge will be executed in a separate step.
+2. DELETE: Memory is clearly outdated, contradicted, or redundant → propose deletion.
+3. PROMOTE: Memory expresses a stable, reusable fact suitable as a \`knowledge:\` asset → propose promotion. Do NOT delete the source memory.
+4. CONTRADICT: Two memories make mutually exclusive factual claims about the same subject (e.g. "always use VPN" vs "VPN is optional") → mark the older or less authoritative one as contradicted. This writes a contradictedBy edge so the belief-resolution SCC algorithm can resolve the conflict. Do NOT delete contradicted memories — let the belief resolver decide.
+5. KEEP: Memory is unique and current → omit from output.
+
+Return ONLY JSON (no prose, no code fences):
+{
+  "operations": [
+    { "op": "merge", "primary": "memory:<name>", "secondaries": ["memory:<name>", ...], "mergeStrategy": "synthesize" },
+    { "op": "delete", "ref": "memory:<name>", "reason": "<brief reason>" },
+    { "op": "promote", "ref": "memory:<name>", "knowledgeRef": "knowledge:<suggested-slug>", "reason": "<brief reason>", "description": "<one sentence describing the new knowledge asset>" },
+    { "op": "contradict", "ref": "memory:<name>", "contradictedByRef": "memory:<name>", "reason": "<brief reason>" }
+  ],
+  "warnings": ["<optional concerns>"]
+}
+
+When the merged content includes an \`updated\` frontmatter field, the value MUST be a real ISO date string (e.g. \`updated: 2026-05-20\`). NEVER emit \`updated: today\`, \`updated: {today}\`, \`updated: {today: null}\`, \`updated: now\`, or any other literal placeholder/template-variable. If you do not have a real source-of-truth date, OMIT the \`updated\` field entirely — the post-processor will not invent one for you.`;
+/**
+ * JSON Schema for structured consolidate plans (PR 1 of the asset-writers
+ * decision — see knowledge:projects/akm/asset-writers-investigation/00-synthesis).
+ * Mirrors the {ops[], warnings?[]} shape currently described in
+ * CONSOLIDATE_SYSTEM_PROMPT. Providers with `supportsJsonSchema: true` enforce
+ * the shape upstream so the chunk-level "invalid plan from AI — skipping"
+ * branch in `runConsolidate` becomes unreachable on schema-honouring providers.
+ *
+ * The four operation variants (merge / delete / promote / contradict) are
+ * modeled as a oneOf so a structured-output provider can still tell them apart
+ * by the required `op` discriminator. `parseEmbeddedJsonResponse` keeps
+ * working as a fallback parser for providers that ignore the schema.
+ */
+export const CONSOLIDATE_PLAN_JSON_SCHEMA = {
+    type: "object",
+    required: ["operations"],
+    additionalProperties: false,
+    properties: {
+        operations: {
+            type: "array",
+            description: "Ordered list of consolidate operations the planner proposes.",
+            items: {
+                oneOf: [
+                    {
+                        type: "object",
+                        required: ["op", "primary", "secondaries", "mergeStrategy"],
+                        additionalProperties: false,
+                        properties: {
+                            op: { type: "string", enum: ["merge"] },
+                            primary: { type: "string", minLength: 1 },
+                            secondaries: {
+                                type: "array",
+                                minItems: 1,
+                                items: { type: "string", minLength: 1 },
+                            },
+                            mergeStrategy: { type: "string", minLength: 1 },
+                        },
+                    },
+                    {
+                        type: "object",
+                        required: ["op", "ref", "reason"],
+                        additionalProperties: false,
+                        properties: {
+                            op: { type: "string", enum: ["delete"] },
+                            ref: { type: "string", minLength: 1 },
+                            reason: { type: "string", minLength: 1 },
+                        },
+                    },
+                    {
+                        type: "object",
+                        required: ["op", "ref", "knowledgeRef", "reason"],
+                        additionalProperties: false,
+                        properties: {
+                            op: { type: "string", enum: ["promote"] },
+                            ref: { type: "string", minLength: 1 },
+                            knowledgeRef: { type: "string", minLength: 1 },
+                            reason: { type: "string", minLength: 1 },
+                            description: { type: "string" },
+                        },
+                    },
+                    {
+                        type: "object",
+                        required: ["op", "ref", "contradictedByRef", "reason"],
+                        additionalProperties: false,
+                        properties: {
+                            op: { type: "string", enum: ["contradict"] },
+                            ref: { type: "string", minLength: 1 },
+                            contradictedByRef: { type: "string", minLength: 1 },
+                            reason: { type: "string", minLength: 1 },
+                        },
+                    },
+                ],
+            },
+        },
+        warnings: {
+            type: "array",
+            description: "Optional list of human-readable concerns the planner wants to surface.",
+            items: { type: "string" },
+        },
+    },
+};
+export function isConsolidationEligibleMemoryName(name) {
+    return !name.endsWith(".derived");
+}
+/**
+ * Returns true when the memory file has `captureMode: hot` in its frontmatter.
+ *
+ * Hot memories are USER-EXPLICIT (written via `akm remember` on the hot path).
+ * The consolidate LLM is forbidden from deleting or auto-merging them — the
+ * user wrote them on purpose and only the user can decide to retire them.
+ *
+ * Reads the file once per check; consolidate runs against ~10 memories per
+ * chunk so the IO cost is trivial. Returns false on any read/parse error
+ * (fail-safe: an unparseable file is treated as not-hot, but the broader
+ * consolidate flow already guards against unparseable memories elsewhere).
+ *
+ * Defends against four observed defect classes (see
+ * `memory:akm-improve-critical-review-2026-05-20`):
+ *   - LLM marks a memory contradicted then deletes (dangling contradictedBy)
+ *   - LLM merges two unrelated memories sharing a topic keyword
+ *   - LLM judges a recent durable design memo as "redundant"
+ *   - Cascade deletes (LLM uses ref:X as `contradictedBy` for ref:Y then deletes both)
+ */
+export function isHotCapturedMemory(filePath) {
+    try {
+        if (!fs.existsSync(filePath))
+            return false;
+        const content = fs.readFileSync(filePath, "utf8");
+        const parsed = parseFrontmatter(content);
+        return hasHotCaptureMode(parsed.data);
+    }
+    catch {
+        return false;
+    }
+}
+export function consolidateGuardStatus(filePath) {
+    if (!fs.existsSync(filePath))
+        return "missing";
+    let content;
+    try {
+        content = fs.readFileSync(filePath, "utf8");
+    }
+    catch {
+        return "unparseable";
+    }
+    let parsed;
+    try {
+        parsed = parseFrontmatter(content);
+    }
+    catch {
+        return "unparseable";
+    }
+    const data = parsed.data;
+    if (!data || Object.keys(data).length === 0)
+        return "unparseable";
+    return hasHotCaptureMode(data) ? "hot" : "safe";
+}
+// ── Chunk sizing ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+/**
+ * Conservative chars-per-token estimate used when computing prompt budgets.
+ * English text averages roughly 4 chars/token for most LLM tokenizers. We use
+ * 3 to stay conservative (shorter tokens = more tokens per char).
+ */
+const CHARS_PER_TOKEN = 3;
+/**
+ * Overhead budget reserved for the system prompt, chunk header lines, and per-
+ * memory metadata lines (name, description, tags, separator). Measured at
+ * roughly 600 chars for the system prompt + ~100 chars of header + ~50 chars
+ * per memory × chunk size.  We round up to 2 000 tokens to leave room for the
+ * model's own output.
+ */
+const PROMPT_OVERHEAD_TOKENS = 2_000;
+/**
+ * Default effective token budget used when the default LLM profile's
+ * `contextLength` is not set. This is intentionally conservative (4 096)
+ * rather than being set to the model's actual context window, because:
+ *
+ *   - When the agent path is used, the agent CLI (e.g. opencode)
+ *     prepends its own large system prompt + conversation history before
+ *     forwarding to the model. That overhead easily consumes 30K+ tokens on
+ *     a model with a 16K context window, leaving very little room for
+ *     chunk content.
+ *   - When the HTTP path is used (an LLM profile is selected), only the akm
+ *     system prompt and user prompt are sent, so the budget can be set to the
+ *     model's actual context length via profiles.llm[defaults.llm].contextLength.
+ *
+ * Set profiles.llm[defaults.llm].contextLength in your config file to the
+ * model's actual context window to allow larger chunks on the HTTP path.
+ */
+export const DEFAULT_CONTEXT_LENGTH_TOKENS = 4_096;
+/**
+ * Given the model's context window and the per-memory body truncation limit,
+ * return the maximum number of memories that can safely fit in one chunk
+ * without the prompt overflowing the context window.
+ *
+ * The formula is:
+ *   usableTokens = contextLength - PROMPT_OVERHEAD_TOKENS
+ *   tokensPerMemory = ceil(bodyTruncation / CHARS_PER_TOKEN)
+ *   chunkSize = floor(usableTokens / tokensPerMemory)
+ *
+ * Result is clamped between 1 and 50 to avoid degenerate values.
+ *
+ * @param contextLength - Model context window in tokens.
+ * @param bodyTruncation - Max chars per memory body included in the prompt.
+ */
+export function computeSafeChunkSize(contextLength, bodyTruncation) {
+    const usableTokens = Math.max(contextLength - PROMPT_OVERHEAD_TOKENS, 0);
+    const tokensPerMemory = Math.max(Math.ceil(bodyTruncation / CHARS_PER_TOKEN), 1);
+    const raw = Math.floor(usableTokens / tokensPerMemory);
+    return Math.max(1, Math.min(50, raw));
+}
+// ── Similarity clustering (C-1 / #380) ──────────────────────────────────────
+/**
+ * Re-order memories so that similar ones are placed adjacent to each other
+ * before the memories are sliced into chunks. This ensures high-similarity
+ * memories land in the same LLM context window, allowing the consolidate
+ * model to detect and merge duplicates that would otherwise be split across
+ * chunks and survive indefinitely.
+ *
+ * Algorithm: greedy nearest-neighbour chain starting from the first memory.
+ * Each step selects the unused memory with the highest cosine similarity to
+ * the last-placed memory. O(n²) — acceptable for the expected N < 200.
+ *
+ * mem0 arXiv:2504.19413 — every candidate compared against whole store.
+ * A-MEM arXiv:2502.12110 — atomic notes linked by similarity.
+ *
+ * Returns the original order unchanged when:
+ *   - The embedding config is not present.
+ *   - Embedding requests fail (fail-open).
+ *   - There are fewer than 3 memories (no benefit to reordering).
+ */
+async function clusterMemoriesBySimilarity(memories, config) {
+    if (memories.length < 3 || !config.embedding)
+        return memories;
+    const texts = memories.map((m) => {
+        const parts = [];
+        if (m.description)
+            parts.push(m.description);
+        if (m.tags.length > 0)
+            parts.push(m.tags.join(" "));
+        return parts.join(". ") || m.name;
+    });
+    let embeddings = null;
+    try {
+        embeddings = await embedBatch(texts, config.embedding);
+    }
+    catch {
+        // Fail open: embedding failures degrade gracefully to original order.
+        return memories;
+    }
+    if (!embeddings || embeddings.length !== memories.length)
+        return memories;
+    // Greedy nearest-neighbour chain.
+    const used = new Array(memories.length).fill(false);
+    const ordered = [];
+    let current = 0; // start from the first memory
+    ordered.push(memories[current]);
+    used[current] = true;
+    for (let step = 1; step < memories.length; step++) {
+        const currentEmb = embeddings[current];
+        let bestIdx = -1;
+        let bestSim = -Infinity;
+        for (let j = 0; j < memories.length; j++) {
+            if (used[j])
+                continue;
+            const sim = cosineSimilarity(currentEmb, embeddings[j]);
+            if (sim > bestSim) {
+                bestSim = sim;
+                bestIdx = j;
+            }
+        }
+        if (bestIdx === -1)
+            break;
+        ordered.push(memories[bestIdx]);
+        used[bestIdx] = true;
+        current = bestIdx;
+    }
+    return ordered;
+}
+// ── Chunk helpers ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+export function buildChunkPrompt(sourceName, memories, chunkIndex, totalChunks, bodyTruncation) {
+    const start = memories[0] ? `memory:${memories[0].name}` : "";
+    const end = memories[memories.length - 1] ? `memory:${memories[memories.length - 1].name}` : "";
+    const lines = [
+        `Source: ${sourceName}`,
+        `Chunk ${chunkIndex + 1} of ${totalChunks}, memories ${start}–${end}:`,
+        "",
+    ];
+    for (let i = 0; i < memories.length; i++) {
+        const m = memories[i];
+        lines.push(`[${i + 1}] memory:${m.name}`);
+        lines.push(`Description: ${m.description || "(none)"}`);
+        lines.push(`Tags: ${m.tags.length > 0 ? m.tags.join(", ") : "(none)"}`);
+        lines.push("---");
+        let body = "";
+        try {
+            body = fs.readFileSync(m.filePath, "utf8");
+        }
+        catch {
+            body = "(unreadable)";
+        }
+        lines.push(body.slice(0, bodyTruncation));
+        lines.push("");
+    }
+    return lines.join("\n");
+}
+function isValidOp(op) {
+    if (typeof op !== "object" || op === null)
+        return false;
+    const o = op;
+    if (o.op === "merge") {
+        return typeof o.primary === "string" && Array.isArray(o.secondaries);
+    }
+    if (o.op === "delete") {
+        return typeof o.ref === "string";
+    }
+    if (o.op === "promote") {
+        return typeof o.ref === "string" && typeof o.knowledgeRef === "string";
+    }
+    if (o.op === "contradict") {
+        return typeof o.ref === "string" && typeof o.contradictedByRef === "string";
+    }
+    return false;
+}
+export function mergePlans(chunks) {
+    const mergeOps = new Map();
+    const deleteOps = new Map();
+    const promoteOps = new Map();
+    // C-3 / #382: contradict ops keyed by `ref|contradictedByRef` to deduplicate.
+    const contradictOps = new Map();
+    const warnings = [];
+    for (const chunk of chunks) {
+        for (const op of chunk) {
+            if (op.op === "merge") {
+                // merge wins over delete
+                if (deleteOps.has(op.primary)) {
+                    deleteOps.delete(op.primary);
+                }
+                for (const sec of op.secondaries) {
+                    if (deleteOps.has(sec))
+                        deleteOps.delete(sec);
+                }
+                mergeOps.set(op.primary, op);
+            }
+            else if (op.op === "delete") {
+                if (!mergeOps.has(op.ref)) {
+                    deleteOps.set(op.ref, op);
+                }
+            }
+            else if (op.op === "promote") {
+                // C-2 / #381: when both a promote and a merge target the same ref,
+                // queue the promote FIRST rather than discarding it. The promote op
+                // routes through createProposal (the human-gated proposal queue), so
+                // it is non-destructive. The merge follows after the proposal is
+                // created. This preserves the human reviewer's ability to inspect the
+                // promotion before the source memory is merged/deleted.
+                // AGM K*8 — retain the maximally informative consistent subset.
+                promoteOps.set(op.ref, op);
+            }
+            else if (op.op === "contradict") {
+                // Deduplicate by ref+contradictedByRef pair.
+                const key = `${op.ref}|${op.contradictedByRef}`;
+                if (!contradictOps.has(key)) {
+                    contradictOps.set(key, op);
+                }
+            }
+        }
+    }
+    // C-2 / #381: promote ops are ordered BEFORE merge ops so that the
+    // human-gated proposal queue entry is created before any destructive merge.
+    // Phase B processes ops in array order, so promote executes first.
+    const ops = [
+        ...promoteOps.values(),
+        ...mergeOps.values(),
+        ...deleteOps.values(),
+        ...contradictOps.values(),
+    ];
+    return { ops, warnings };
+}
+function getJournalPath(stashDir) {
+    return path.join(stashDir, ".akm", "consolidate-journal.json");
+}
+function getBackupDir(stashDir, timestamp) {
+    return path.join(stashDir, ".akm", "consolidate-backup", timestamp);
+}
+function removeStaleJournal(stashDir, journal, warnings) {
+    const journalPath = getJournalPath(stashDir);
+    try {
+        fs.unlinkSync(journalPath);
+    }
+    catch {
+        warnings.push(`Failed to remove stale consolidate journal at ${journalPath}.`);
+    }
+    const backupTimestamp = typeof journal.backupTimestamp === "string" && journal.backupTimestamp.trim().length > 0
+        ? journal.backupTimestamp.trim()
+        : typeof journal.startedAt === "string" && journal.startedAt.trim().length > 0
+            ? journal.startedAt.replace(/[:.]/g, "-")
+            : "";
+    if (!backupTimestamp)
+        return;
+    const backupDir = getBackupDir(stashDir, backupTimestamp);
+    if (!fs.existsSync(backupDir))
+        return;
+    try {
+        fs.rmSync(backupDir, { recursive: true, force: true });
+    }
+    catch {
+        warnings.push(`Failed to remove stale consolidate backup at ${backupDir}.`);
+    }
+    warnings.push(`Cleared stale consolidate backup at ${backupDir}.`);
+}
+function checkForIncompleteJournal(stashDir, recoveryMode, warnings) {
+    const journalPath = getJournalPath(stashDir);
+    if (!fs.existsSync(journalPath))
+        return;
+    let journal;
+    try {
+        journal = JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync(journalPath, "utf8"));
+    }
+    catch {
+        if (recoveryMode === "clean") {
+            try {
+                fs.unlinkSync(journalPath);
+                warnings.push(`Removed unreadable consolidate journal at ${journalPath}.`);
+            }
+            catch {
+                warnings.push(`Failed to remove unreadable consolidate journal at ${journalPath}.`);
+            }
+            return;
+        }
+        throw new ConfigError(`Incomplete consolidation state detected: unreadable journal at ${journalPath}. Re-run with --consolidate-recovery clean to remove stale journal artifacts, or remove the file manually.`, "INVALID_CONFIG_FILE");
+    }
+    const operationCount = Array.isArray(journal.operations) ? journal.operations.length : 0;
+    const completedCount = Array.isArray(journal.completed) ? journal.completed.length : 0;
+    if (completedCount >= operationCount)
+        return;
+    if (recoveryMode === "clean") {
+        removeStaleJournal(stashDir, journal, warnings);
+        warnings.push(`Removed stale consolidation journal at ${journalPath} (${completedCount}/${operationCount} operations completed).`);
+        return;
+    }
+    const backupHint = typeof journal.backupTimestamp === "string" && journal.backupTimestamp.trim().length > 0
+        ? ` Backup dir: ${getBackupDir(stashDir, journal.backupTimestamp.trim())}.`
+        : "";
+    throw new ConfigError(`Incomplete consolidation run detected at ${journalPath} (${completedCount}/${operationCount} operations completed). Re-run with --consolidate-recovery clean to remove stale journal artifacts.${backupHint}`, "INVALID_CONFIG_FILE");
+}
+function writeJournal(stashDir, ops, backupTimestamp) {
+    const journalPath = getJournalPath(stashDir);
+    fs.mkdirSync(path.dirname(journalPath), { recursive: true });
+    const journal = {
+        startedAt: new Date().toISOString(),
+        operations: ops,
+        completed: [],
+        backupTimestamp,
+    };
+    fs.writeFileSync(journalPath, JSON.stringify(journal, null, 2), "utf8");
+}
+function markJournalCompleted(stashDir, opRef) {
+    const journalPath = getJournalPath(stashDir);
+    if (!fs.existsSync(journalPath))
+        return;
+    try {
+        const journal = JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync(journalPath, "utf8"));
+        journal.completed.push(opRef);
+        fs.writeFileSync(journalPath, JSON.stringify(journal, null, 2), "utf8");
+    }
+    catch {
+        // best-effort
+    }
+}
+function cleanupJournal(stashDir, timestamp) {
+    const journalPath = getJournalPath(stashDir);
+    try {
+        fs.unlinkSync(journalPath);
+    }
+    catch {
+        // ignore
+    }
+    const backupDir = getBackupDir(stashDir, timestamp);
+    try {
+        fs.rmSync(backupDir, { recursive: true, force: true });
+    }
+    catch {
+        // ignore
+    }
+}
+function backupFile(filePath, backupDir, name) {
+    try {
+        fs.mkdirSync(backupDir, { recursive: true });
+        fs.copyFileSync(filePath, path.join(backupDir, `${name}.md`));
+    }
+    catch {
+        // best-effort
+    }
+}
+// ── Archive helper (P1-B: soft-invalidation) ─────────────────────────────────
+/**
+ * Move a memory asset to `.akm/archive/` with `status: superseded` frontmatter
+ * instead of deleting it outright. The live stash delete still happens after
+ * this call — this is belt-and-suspenders archival that survives the hard delete.
+ *
+ * Archive filename: `<iso-ts>-<opIndex>-<basename>.md`
+ * New frontmatter fields: status, superseded_at, superseded_by (optional),
+ * superseded_reason.
+ */
+function archiveMemory(filePath, stashDir, ref, reason, opIndex, supersededBy, warnings) {
+    const archiveDir = path.join(stashDir, ".akm", "archive");
+    fs.mkdirSync(archiveDir, { recursive: true });
+    let raw;
+    try {
+        raw = fs.readFileSync(filePath, "utf8");
+    }
+    catch {
+        if (warnings)
+            warnings.push(`archiveMemory: could not read ${ref} for archiving — skipping archive write`);
+        return;
+    }
+    let content = raw;
+    try {
+        const parsed = parseFrontmatter(raw);
+        const newFm = {
+            ...parsed.data,
+            status: "superseded",
+            superseded_at: new Date().toISOString(),
+            ...(supersededBy ? { superseded_by: supersededBy } : {}),
+            superseded_reason: reason,
+        };
+        content = assembleAssetFromString(yamlStringify(newFm).trimEnd(), parsed.content);
+    }
+    catch {
+        if (warnings)
+            warnings.push(`archiveMemory: could not parse frontmatter for ${ref} — archiving raw`);
+    }
+    const ts = timestampForFilename();
+    const safeName = path.basename(filePath, ".md");
+    const archivePath = path.join(archiveDir, `${ts}-${opIndex}-${safeName}.md`);
+    try {
+        fs.writeFileSync(archivePath, content, "utf8");
+    }
+    catch (e) {
+        if (warnings)
+            warnings.push(`archiveMemory: write failed for ${ref}: ${String(e)}`);
+    }
+}
+// ── Main entry point ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+export async function akmConsolidate(opts = {}) {
+    const startMs = Date.now();
+    const config = opts.config ?? loadConfig();
+    const stashDir = opts.stashDir ?? resolveStashDir();
+    if (!isLlmFeatureEnabled(config, "memory_consolidation")) {
+        return {
+            schemaVersion: 1,
+            ok: true,
+            shape: "consolidate-result",
+            dryRun: opts.dryRun ?? false,
+            previewOnly: false,
+            target: opts.target ?? stashDir,
+            processed: 0,
+            merged: 0,
+            deleted: 0,
+            promoted: [],
+            contradicted: 0,
+            warnings: [],
+            durationMs: Date.now() - startMs,
+        };
+    }
+    const warnings = [];
+    checkForIncompleteJournal(stashDir, opts.recoveryMode ?? "abort", warnings);
+    const memories = loadMemoriesForSource(opts.target, stashDir, warnings);
+    if (memories.length === 0) {
+        return {
+            schemaVersion: 1,
+            ok: true,
+            shape: "consolidate-result",
+            dryRun: opts.dryRun ?? false,
+            previewOnly: false,
+            target: opts.target ?? stashDir,
+            processed: 0,
+            merged: 0,
+            deleted: 0,
+            promoted: [],
+            contradicted: 0,
+            warnings,
+            durationMs: Date.now() - startMs,
+        };
+    }
+    // Consolidation always uses the HTTP LLM client directly — never the agent
+    // CLI. The agent CLI is for interactive agent sessions (reflect, propose);
+    // structured JSON generation works better and faster via HTTP.
+    const llmConfig = getDefaultLlmConfig(config);
+    const isHttpPath = !!llmConfig;
+    // Chunk sizing: derive a safe chunk size from the configured model context
+    // window so that the full prompt (system prompt + chunk user prompt) never
+    // exceeds the model's n_ctx limit.  When no context length is configured we
+    // fall back to DEFAULT_CONTEXT_LENGTH_TOKENS (8 000) which is conservative
+    // enough for most 8K–16K local models.
+    //
+    // bodyTruncation caps the body excerpt included per memory in the prompt.
+    // Reducing it further than 500 chars degrades consolidation quality, so we
+    // keep it fixed and let computeSafeChunkSize vary the number of memories
+    // per chunk instead.
+    const bodyTruncation = 500;
+    const modelContextLength = llmConfig?.contextLength ?? DEFAULT_CONTEXT_LENGTH_TOKENS;
+    const chunkSize = computeSafeChunkSize(modelContextLength, bodyTruncation);
+    // -- Phase A: plan generation -----------------------------------------------
+    const sourceName = opts.target ?? stashDir;
+    // C-1 / #380: Pre-cluster memories by embedding similarity before chunking.
+    // This ensures that semantically similar memories land in the same LLM
+    // context window, allowing the model to detect and merge duplicates that
+    // would otherwise be split across chunks and survive indefinitely.
+    // mem0 arXiv:2504.19413, A-MEM arXiv:2502.12110.
+    // Fails open: if embeddings are unavailable or fail, original order is used.
+    const clusteredMemories = await clusterMemoriesBySimilarity(memories, config);
+    const chunks = [];
+    for (let i = 0; i < clusteredMemories.length; i += chunkSize) {
+        chunks.push(clusteredMemories.slice(i, i + chunkSize));
+    }
+    warn(`[consolidate] ${memories.length} memories / ${chunks.length} chunk(s) / chunk_size=${chunkSize}`);
+    const chunkOpsArrays = [];
+    // C-6 / #392: Replace two-consecutive-failures abort with failure-rate threshold.
+    // Consecutive-count policies are brittle against transient LM Studio reloads:
+    // two transient failures abort the run even though the next chunk would succeed.
+    // Rate-based abort (≥50% failure over ≥4 chunks) is more robust.
+    // Tanenbaum, Distributed Systems §8 — rate-based policies with minimum sample sizes.
+    let totalChunksProcessed = 0;
+    let totalChunksFailed = 0;
+    const ABORT_MIN_CHUNKS = 4;
+    const ABORT_FAILURE_RATE = 0.5;
+    for (let chunkIdx = 0; chunkIdx < chunks.length; chunkIdx++) {
+        // Abort if failure rate >= 50% over at least 4 processed chunks.
+        if (totalChunksProcessed >= ABORT_MIN_CHUNKS) {
+            const failureRate = totalChunksFailed / totalChunksProcessed;
+            if (failureRate >= ABORT_FAILURE_RATE) {
+                const skipped = chunks.length - chunkIdx;
+                warnings.push(`Consolidation aborted — failure rate ${(failureRate * 100).toFixed(0)}% over ${totalChunksProcessed} chunks (>= ${ABORT_FAILURE_RATE * 100}% threshold). LLM may be unavailable. ${skipped} chunk(s) skipped.`);
+                break;
+            }
+        }
+        const chunk = chunks[chunkIdx];
+        warn(`[consolidate] chunk ${chunkIdx + 1}/${chunks.length} (${chunk.length} memories) …`);
+        const userPrompt = buildChunkPrompt(sourceName, chunk, chunkIdx, chunks.length, bodyTruncation);
+        const raw = await tryLlmFeature("memory_consolidation", config, async () => {
+            if (!llmConfig)
+                return { ok: false, error: "No LLM configured for consolidation" };
+            try {
+                // responseSchema lift (PR 1, asset-writers-investigation §5): pass
+                // the consolidate plan schema so providers with
+                // `supportsJsonSchema: true` enforce shape upstream. Providers that
+                // ignore the option fall through to the existing
+                // `parseEmbeddedJsonResponse` path on the response side.
+                const content = await chatCompletion(llmConfig, [
+                    { role: "system", content: CONSOLIDATE_SYSTEM_PROMPT },
+                    { role: "user", content: userPrompt },
+                ], { responseSchema: CONSOLIDATE_PLAN_JSON_SCHEMA });
+                return { ok: true, content };
+            }
+            catch (e) {
+                return { ok: false, error: String(e) };
+            }
+        }, { ok: false, error: `chunk ${chunkIdx + 1} failed` });
+        if (!raw.ok) {
+            warnings.push(raw.error ?? `chunk ${chunkIdx + 1} failed`);
+            totalChunksProcessed++;
+            totalChunksFailed++;
+            continue;
+        }
+        if (process.env.AKM_DEBUG_LLM) {
+            const preview = (raw.content ?? "").slice(0, 500);
+            warn(`[akm:consolidate] chunk ${chunkIdx + 1} raw response (first 500 chars): ${preview}`);
+        }
+        const parsed = parseEmbeddedJsonResponse(raw.content);
+        if (!parsed || !Array.isArray(parsed.operations)) {
+            const hint = raw.content !== undefined && raw.content.trim() === ""
+                ? " (empty response — if using a thinking model, disable thinking mode)"
+                : "";
+            warnings.push(`Chunk ${chunkIdx + 1}: invalid plan from AI — skipping.${hint}`);
+            totalChunksProcessed++;
+            totalChunksFailed++;
+            continue;
+        }
+        totalChunksProcessed++; // success
+        const ops = [];
+        for (const op of parsed.operations) {
+            if (isValidOp(op)) {
+                ops.push(op);
+            }
+            else {
+                warnings.push(`Chunk ${chunkIdx + 1}: skipping invalid operation: ${JSON.stringify(op)}`);
+            }
+        }
+        if (Array.isArray(parsed.warnings)) {
+            for (const w of parsed.warnings) {
+                if (typeof w === "string")
+                    warnings.push(w);
+            }
+        }
+        chunkOpsArrays.push(ops);
+    }
+    const { ops: allOps, warnings: mergeWarnings } = mergePlans(chunkOpsArrays);
+    warnings.push(...mergeWarnings);
+    // -- Dry-run: show AI plan without executing any writes --------------------
+    if (opts.dryRun) {
+        return {
+            schemaVersion: 1,
+            ok: true,
+            shape: "consolidate-result",
+            dryRun: true,
+            previewOnly: true,
+            target: sourceName,
+            processed: memories.length,
+            merged: 0,
+            deleted: 0,
+            promoted: [],
+            contradicted: 0,
+            planned: allOps,
+            warnings,
+            durationMs: Date.now() - startMs,
+        };
+    }
+    warn(`[consolidate] plan: ${allOps.length} operation(s)`);
+    // -- HTTP path: warn about quality and confirm unless auto-accepted --------
+    if (isHttpPath) {
+        warnings.push("Running on HTTP path — plan generated from truncated memory excerpts; quality may vary.");
+        // TODO(confidence-scoring): once proposals expose a per-operation
+        // confidence score, compare it against `opts.autoAccept` instead of
+        // treating any defined threshold as a whole-batch accept. Until then,
+        // any non-undefined threshold behaves like the legacy `"safe"` mode.
+        if (opts.autoAccept === undefined && allOps.length > 0) {
+            const n = allOps.length;
+            // Non-interactive contexts (CI / test runners / piped stdin) must not
+            // block on an unanswerable prompt. Default to a non-destructive "no"
+            // so callers in those contexts get the same "aborted, preview only"
+            // shape they'd get from explicit user dismissal. AKM_NON_INTERACTIVE
+            // lets callers force this path even when stdin happens to be a TTY.
+            const nonInteractive = process.stdin.isTTY === false || process.env.AKM_NON_INTERACTIVE === "1";
+            const answer = nonInteractive ? false : await promptConfirm(`Apply ${n} operations? [y/N] `);
+            if (!answer) {
+                return {
+                    schemaVersion: 1,
+                    ok: true,
+                    shape: "consolidate-result",
+                    dryRun: false,
+                    previewOnly: true,
+                    target: sourceName,
+                    processed: memories.length,
+                    merged: 0,
+                    deleted: 0,
+                    promoted: [],
+                    contradicted: 0,
+                    planned: allOps,
+                    warnings: [...warnings, nonInteractive ? "Non-interactive context: skipped apply." : "Aborted by user."],
+                    durationMs: Date.now() - startMs,
+                };
+            }
+        }
+    }
+    // -- Phase B + writes -------------------------------------------------------
+    const target = resolveWriteTarget(config);
+    const timestamp = timestampForFilename();
+    const backupDir = getBackupDir(stashDir, timestamp);
+    // Write journal before any mutations
+    writeJournal(stashDir, allOps, timestamp);
+    let merged = 0;
+    let deleted = 0;
+    const promoted = [];
+    let contradicted = 0; // C-3 / #382: count of contradiction edges written
+    // Within-run dedup: track source refs for which a promote proposal was
+    // already created this run. The LLM can return multiple promote ops for
+    // different source memories that happen to have identical content (all are
+    // duplicate memories), so we also need a content-hash guard below.
+    const promotedSourceRefs = new Set();
+    // Build a lookup map: ref → MemoryEntry
+    const memoryByRef = new Map();
+    for (const m of memories) {
+        memoryByRef.set(`memory:${m.name}`, m);
+    }
+    for (let opIndex = 0; opIndex < allOps.length; opIndex++) {
+        const op = allOps[opIndex];
+        const opDisplayRef = op.op === "merge" ? op.primary : op.op === "contradict" ? `${op.ref} ↔ ${op.contradictedByRef}` : op.ref;
+        warn(`[consolidate] ${opIndex + 1}/${allOps.length} ${op.op} ${opDisplayRef}`);
+        if (op.op === "merge") {
+            const primaryEntry = memoryByRef.get(op.primary);
+            if (!primaryEntry) {
+                warnings.push(`Merge: primary ${op.primary} not found in loaded memories — skipping.`);
+                continue;
+            }
+            // Phase B: generate merged content
+            const secondaryBodies = [];
+            for (const secRef of op.secondaries) {
+                const secEntry = memoryByRef.get(secRef);
+                if (!secEntry) {
+                    warnings.push(`Merge: secondary ${secRef} not found — skipping merge op.`);
+                    continue;
+                }
+                secondaryBodies.push(secRef);
+            }
+            if (secondaryBodies.length === 0)
+                continue;
+            let primaryBody = "";
+            try {
+                primaryBody = fs.readFileSync(primaryEntry.filePath, "utf8");
+            }
+            catch {
+                warnings.push(`Merge: could not read primary ${op.primary} — skipping.`);
+                continue;
+            }
+            const mergedContent = await generateMergedContent(config, op.primary, primaryBody, op.secondaries, memoryByRef, warnings);
+            if (mergedContent === null)
+                continue;
+            // Validate frontmatter of merged content — must have a `---` block
+            // with at minimum a `description` field. We parse via the hand-rolled
+            // parser (cheap) AND require non-empty description. This guards against
+            // the historical defect where merged memories were written back with
+            // empty `description` and later polluted the promote path.
+            let parsedMerged;
+            try {
+                parsedMerged = parseFrontmatter(mergedContent);
+            }
+            catch {
+                warnings.push(`Merge: merged content for ${op.primary} has invalid frontmatter — skipping.`);
+                continue;
+            }
+            if (parsedMerged.frontmatter === null) {
+                warnings.push(`Merge: merged content for ${op.primary} has no frontmatter block — skipping.`);
+                continue;
+            }
+            const mergedDesc = parsedMerged.data.description;
+            if (typeof mergedDesc !== "string" || mergedDesc.trim().length === 0) {
+                warnings.push(`Merge: merged content for ${op.primary} missing description — skipping.`);
+                continue;
+            }
+            const truncReason = detectTruncatedDescription(mergedDesc);
+            if (truncReason) {
+                warnings.push(`Merge: merged content for ${op.primary} has truncated description (${truncReason}) — skipping.`);
+                continue;
+            }
+            // captureMode:hot guard — refuse the merge if ANY participating memory
+            // (primary or secondary) was user-captured or has unparseable frontmatter
+            // (could have hidden a hot flag). Hot memories are user-explicit and
+            // must not be deleted/overwritten by the consolidate LLM. 14 user
+            // memories were silent-deleted by consolidate before this guard landed;
+            // recovery required copying from .akm/archive/ by hand.
+            const mergeParticipants = [op.primary, ...op.secondaries];
+            const blockedParticipants = mergeParticipants.flatMap((ref) => {
+                const e = memoryByRef.get(ref);
+                if (!e)
+                    return [];
+                const verdict = consolidateGuardStatus(e.filePath);
+                if (verdict === "hot" || verdict === "unparseable")
+                    return [{ ref, verdict }];
+                return [];
+            });
+            if (blockedParticipants.length > 0) {
+                const detail = blockedParticipants.map((p) => `${p.ref} (${p.verdict})`).join(", ");
+                warnings.push(`Merge: refused for ${op.primary} — ${blockedParticipants.length} participant(s) blocked by hot/unparseable frontmatter guard: ${detail}`);
+                continue;
+            }
+            // Backup secondaries before deleting
+            for (const secRef of op.secondaries) {
+                const secEntry = memoryByRef.get(secRef);
+                if (secEntry && fs.existsSync(secEntry.filePath)) {
+                    backupFile(secEntry.filePath, backupDir, secEntry.name);
+                }
+            }
+            // Write merged primary
+            try {
+                const parsedPrimary = parseAssetRef(op.primary);
+                await writeAssetToSource(target.source, target.config, parsedPrimary, mergedContent);
+            }
+            catch (e) {
+                warnings.push(`Merge: write failed for ${op.primary}: ${String(e)}`);
+                continue;
+            }
+            // Archive and delete secondaries (P1-B: soft-invalidation)
+            for (const secRef of op.secondaries) {
+                const secEntry = memoryByRef.get(secRef);
+                if (!secEntry)
+                    continue;
+                if (fs.existsSync(secEntry.filePath)) {
+                    archiveMemory(secEntry.filePath, stashDir, secRef, "merged into primary", opIndex, op.primary, warnings);
+                }
+                try {
+                    const parsedSec = parseAssetRef(secRef);
+                    await deleteAssetFromSource(target.source, target.config, parsedSec);
+                    markJournalCompleted(stashDir, secRef);
+                }
+                catch (e) {
+                    warnings.push(`Merge: delete failed for ${secRef}: ${String(e)}`);
+                }
+            }
+            markJournalCompleted(stashDir, op.primary);
+            merged++;
+        }
+        else if (op.op === "delete") {
+            const entry = memoryByRef.get(op.ref);
+            if (!entry) {
+                warnings.push(`Delete: ${op.ref} not found in loaded memories — skipping.`);
+                continue;
+            }
+            // captureMode:hot guard — refuse to delete user-captured memories OR
+            // memories whose frontmatter is unparseable (could have hidden the hot
+            // flag). The consolidate LLM was deleting hot-captured user memos as
+            // "redundant" — 14 such deletes were silently archived between
+            // 2026-05-19 and 2026-05-20 before this guard. Hot memories are
+            // user-explicit and may only be deleted by the user.
+            const guard = consolidateGuardStatus(entry.filePath);
+            if (guard === "hot" || guard === "unparseable") {
+                warnings.push(`Delete: refused for ${op.ref} — ${guard === "hot" ? "captureMode:hot (user-explicit; never auto-delete)" : "frontmatter unparseable (cannot verify hot flag absent)"}. Reason from LLM: "${op.reason ?? "n/a"}"`);
+                continue;
+            }
+            if (fs.existsSync(entry.filePath)) {
+                backupFile(entry.filePath, backupDir, entry.name);
+                // P1-B: soft-invalidation archive before hard delete
+                archiveMemory(entry.filePath, stashDir, op.ref, op.reason, opIndex, undefined, warnings);
+            }
+            try {
+                const parsedRef = parseAssetRef(op.ref);
+                await deleteAssetFromSource(target.source, target.config, parsedRef);
+                markJournalCompleted(stashDir, op.ref);
+                deleted++;
+            }
+            catch (e) {
+                warnings.push(`Delete: failed for ${op.ref}: ${String(e)}`);
+            }
+        }
+        else if (op.op === "promote") {
+            const entry = memoryByRef.get(op.ref);
+            if (!entry) {
+                warnings.push(`Promote: ${op.ref} not found in loaded memories — skipping.`);
+                continue;
+            }
+            // Within-run source-ref dedup: skip if this source memory was already
+            // promoted earlier in this run (safety belt — mergePlans already
+            // deduplicates promote ops by source ref via Map, but this guard also
+            // catches any future code paths that bypass mergePlans).
+            if (promotedSourceRefs.has(op.ref)) {
+                warnings.push(`Skipping promote: ${op.ref} already promoted in this run`);
+                continue;
+            }
+            let knowledgeRef = op.knowledgeRef;
+            try {
+                parseAssetRef(knowledgeRef);
+            }
+            catch {
+                const slug = op.knowledgeRef
+                    .replace(/^knowledge:/, "")
+                    .replace(/[^a-z0-9-]/gi, "-")
+                    .toLowerCase();
+                knowledgeRef = `knowledge:${slug}`;
+                warnings.push(`Normalized invalid ref "${op.knowledgeRef}" → "${knowledgeRef}"`);
+            }
+            // Idempotency: check pending proposals by target ref
+            const existingProposals = listProposals(stashDir, { ref: knowledgeRef });
+            if (existingProposals.some((p) => p.status === "pending")) {
+                warnings.push(`Skipping promote: pending proposal already exists for ${knowledgeRef}`);
+                continue;
+            }
+            // Idempotency: check if knowledge asset already exists
+            const parsedKnowledgeRef = parseAssetRef(knowledgeRef);
+            const destPath = path.join(target.source.path, "knowledge", `${parsedKnowledgeRef.name}.md`);
+            if (fs.existsSync(destPath)) {
+                warnings.push(`Skipping promote: ${knowledgeRef} already exists in source`);
+                continue;
+            }
+            let memoryContent = "";
+            try {
+                memoryContent = fs.readFileSync(entry.filePath, "utf8");
+            }
+            catch (e) {
+                warnings.push(`Promote: could not read ${op.ref}: ${String(e)}`);
+                continue;
+            }
+            // Defensive sanitization: legacy memory files written by older
+            // consolidate runs may still carry outer code fences or broken YAML.
+            // Strip them here so we never propose a polluted asset.
+            const promoteSanitized = sanitizeMergedContent(memoryContent);
+            if (!promoteSanitized.ok) {
+                warnings.push(`Promote: rejected ${op.ref} — source memory failed sanitization (${promoteSanitized.reason}).`);
+                continue;
+            }
+            memoryContent = promoteSanitized.result.content;
+            // SOURCE_SUPERSEDED guard: refuse to promote a memory whose source
+            // frontmatter carries `status: superseded`. Predicate at module top
+            // (`hasSupersededStatus`) so tests can exercise it directly.
+            if (hasSupersededStatus(promoteSanitized.result.frontmatter)) {
+                warnings.push(`Promote: refused for ${op.ref} → ${knowledgeRef} — source memory has status:superseded; superseded memories are not promotable knowledge.`);
+                continue;
+            }
+            // Cross-run + within-run content dedup: if an identical payload already
+            // exists in ANY pending consolidate proposal (regardless of target ref),
+            // skip. This prevents duplicate proposals when:
+            //   (a) Multiple source memories have identical content (duplicate memories
+            //       that were not merged) and each gets a different knowledgeRef from
+            //       the LLM in the same run.
+            //   (b) A prior run created a proposal for the same content under a
+            //       different knowledgeRef slug.
+            // We use SHA-256 of the raw file content — same algorithm as createProposal's
+            // internal contentHash so the comparison is consistent.
+            const newContentHash = createHash("sha256").update(memoryContent, "utf8").digest("hex");
+            const allPendingConsolidateProposals = listProposals(stashDir, { status: "pending" }).filter((p) => p.source === "consolidate");
+            const contentDupProposal = allPendingConsolidateProposals.find((p) => createHash("sha256").update(p.payload.content, "utf8").digest("hex") === newContentHash);
+            if (contentDupProposal) {
+                warnings.push(`Skipping promote: identical content already pending as proposal ${contentDupProposal.id} (ref: ${contentDupProposal.ref}); skipping duplicate for ${op.ref} → ${knowledgeRef}`);
+                continue;
+            }
+            try {
+                // Use LLM-provided description; fall back to memory's own description
+                // (post-sanitization frontmatter is authoritative).
+                const parsedMemory = parseFrontmatter(memoryContent);
+                const description = (typeof op.description === "string" && op.description.trim()
+                    ? op.description.trim()
+                    : parsedMemory.data?.description?.trim()) ?? "";
+                // Validate the resolved frontmatter before emitting a proposal.
+                // Required field: non-empty description. Reject obvious truncation
+                // markers (description ends with `,`/`;`/`:`/`...`/hanging connector)
+                // so the queue never sees half-formed metadata that the reviewer
+                // would only reject.
+                const fmCheck = validateProposalFrontmatter({ description });
+                if (!fmCheck.ok) {
+                    warnings.push(`Promote: rejected ${op.ref} → ${knowledgeRef} — ${fmCheck.reason}.`);
+                    continue;
+                }
+                // (Body-frontmatter check REMOVED 2026-05-20: zero observed fires
+                // across 17 sampled runs, and structurally redundant with
+                // sanitizeMergedContent which already round-trips the body
+                // frontmatter through the yaml library. The body and envelope
+                // frontmatter come from the same `parsedMemory.data` object in this
+                // scope, so the outer `validateProposalFrontmatter({ description })`
+                // call above is sufficient.)
+                // Pre-emit dedup against pending consolidate proposals from the
+                // same improve run (slug-variant match). The cross-run content-hash
+                // dedup inside `mergePlans` handles duplicates against existing
+                // stash assets — see commit history for the deletion of the
+                // unbounded embedding + cross-type slug branches.
+                const dedup = await checkPreEmitDedup({
+                    candidateRef: knowledgeRef,
+                    candidateText: `${description}. ${memoryContent}`,
+                    stashDir,
+                    config,
+                });
+                if (dedup.duplicate) {
+                    warnings.push(`Promote: skipped ${op.ref} → ${knowledgeRef} — ${dedup.reason}.`);
+                    continue;
+                }
+                const proposalResult = createProposal(stashDir, {
+                    ref: knowledgeRef,
+                    source: "consolidate",
+                    payload: {
+                        content: memoryContent,
+                        frontmatter: { description },
+                    },
+                });
+                if (isProposalSkipped(proposalResult)) {
+                    warnings.push(`Promote: skipped proposal for ${op.ref} (${proposalResult.reason}): ${proposalResult.message}`);
+                }
+                else {
+                    promoted.push(proposalResult.id);
+                    promotedSourceRefs.add(op.ref);
+                    markJournalCompleted(stashDir, op.ref);
+                }
+            }
+            catch (e) {
+                warnings.push(`Promote: createProposal failed for ${op.ref}: ${String(e)}`);
+            }
+        }
+        else if (op.op === "contradict") {
+            // C-3 / #382: Write contradictedBy edges so resolveFamilyContradictions
+            // (the SCC resolver in memory-improve.ts) has edges to work on.
+            // Zep arXiv:2501.13956 §3 — unified belief-revision with contradiction edges.
+            const entry = memoryByRef.get(op.ref);
+            const contradictorEntry = memoryByRef.get(op.contradictedByRef);
+            if (!entry) {
+                warnings.push(`Contradict: ${op.ref} not found in loaded memories — skipping.`);
+                continue;
+            }
+            if (!contradictorEntry) {
+                warnings.push(`Contradict: ${op.contradictedByRef} not found — skipping.`);
+                continue;
+            }
+            try {
+                // Write the contradiction edge: op.ref is contradicted by op.contradictedByRef
+                writeContradictEdge(entry.filePath, op.contradictedByRef);
+                contradicted++;
+                markJournalCompleted(stashDir, op.ref);
+            }
+            catch (e) {
+                warnings.push(`Contradict: failed to write edge for ${op.ref}: ${String(e)}`);
+            }
+        }
+    }
+    cleanupJournal(stashDir, timestamp);
+    // TTL cleanup: remove archive entries older than archiveRetentionDays (default 90).
+    // C-5 / #391: emit an `archive_cleanup` event before each deletion so the
+    // audit trail records what was lost. Outbox pattern (EIP, Hohpe-Woolf) —
+    // any event that is recorded must be queryable; silent deletes are an anti-pattern.
+    const archiveDir = path.join(stashDir, ".akm", "archive");
+    if (fs.existsSync(archiveDir)) {
+        const retentionMs = (config.archiveRetentionDays ?? 90) * 86_400_000;
+        const cutoff = Date.now() - retentionMs;
+        for (const fname of fs.readdirSync(archiveDir)) {
+            const fp = path.join(archiveDir, fname);
+            try {
+                const stat = fs.statSync(fp);
+                if (stat.mtimeMs < cutoff) {
+                    // Emit event before deletion so the record survives the purge.
+                    appendEvent({
+                        eventType: "archive_cleanup",
+                        metadata: {
+                            file: fname,
+                            filePath: fp,
+                            ageMs: Date.now() - stat.mtimeMs,
+                            retentionMs,
+                        },
+                    });
+                    fs.unlinkSync(fp);
+                }
+            }
+            catch {
+                /* ignore race conditions */
+            }
+        }
+    }
+    return {
+        schemaVersion: 1,
+        ok: true,
+        shape: "consolidate-result",
+        dryRun: false,
+        previewOnly: false,
+        target: sourceName,
+        processed: memories.length,
+        merged,
+        deleted,
+        promoted,
+        contradicted,
+        warnings,
+        durationMs: Date.now() - startMs,
+    };
+}
+// ── Helpers ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+// ── LLM-output sanitization ─────────────────────────────────────────────────
+//
+// Three classes of LLM defect have been observed across hundreds of
+// consolidate proposals (see audit notes in this branch):
+//
+//   1. Code-fence leakage: the entire merged asset is wrapped in
+//      ```markdown … ``` (or ```yaml … ```) despite the prompt forbidding
+//      fences. The post-processor used to pass this through verbatim, so the
+//      first character of the asset content became a backtick rather than
+//      `---`, defeating the frontmatter parser.
+//   2. YAML quote-escaping bugs: descriptions like `'"Specialty intro...:`
+//      with unbalanced quotes that break the YAML reader. The post-processor
+//      historically passed the LLM's raw scalar straight into a manually
+//      assembled `description: <raw>` line.
+//   3. Truncated descriptions hitting token cutoffs — the model's max_tokens
+//      runs out mid-sentence, leaving things like
+//      `description: "Tables in narrow column containers need max-width:100% +"`
+//      with no closing context.
+//
+// `sanitizeMergedContent` and `validateProposalFrontmatter` defend against
+// all three at the point where LLM output is consumed.
+/**
+ * Outer-fence stripper specific to consolidate. Unlike the shared
+ * `stripMarkdownFences` helper (which only handles markdown fences), this
+ * variant additionally recognises `yaml` and bare-language fences and refuses
+ * to strip an unbalanced fence — i.e. a leading ``` with no trailing ``` is
+ * treated as a malformed response, not partially sanitized.
+ *
+ * Returns `null` when only one half of a fence pair is present (caller
+ * should reject the response entirely).
+ */
+export function stripOuterCodeFence(raw) {
+    const trimmed = raw.trim();
+    const leading = trimmed.match(/^```(?:markdown|md|yaml|yml)?\s*\r?\n/i);
+    const trailing = trimmed.match(/\r?\n```\s*$/);
+    if (!leading && !trailing)
+        return { content: trimmed, stripped: false };
+    if (!leading || !trailing)
+        return null; // unbalanced — refuse
+    const inner = trimmed.slice(leading[0].length, trimmed.length - trailing[0].length).trim();
+    return { content: inner, stripped: true };
+}
+export function sanitizeMergedContent(raw) {
+    const fenceResult = stripOuterCodeFence(raw);
+    if (!fenceResult) {
+        return { ok: false, reason: "UNBALANCED_CODE_FENCE" };
+    }
+    let body = fenceResult.content;
+    // Strip <think> blocks (some local models still emit them despite system prompts).
+    body = body.replace(/<think>[\s\S]*?<\/think>/gi, "").trim();
+    if (!body.startsWith("---")) {
+        return { ok: false, reason: "MISSING_FRONTMATTER_SENTINEL" };
+    }
+    // Extract frontmatter block.
+    const match = body.match(/^---\r?\n([\s\S]*?)\r?\n---(?:\r\n|\r|\n|$)([\s\S]*)$/);
+    if (!match) {
+        return { ok: false, reason: "MALFORMED_FRONTMATTER_BLOCK" };
+    }
+    // Re-parse via the yaml library so any quote-escaping mistakes either get
+    // normalised or surface as a parse error we can reject.
+    let parsedFm;
+    try {
+        parsedFm = yamlParse(match[1]);
+    }
+    catch (e) {
+        return { ok: false, reason: `INVALID_YAML: ${e instanceof Error ? e.message : String(e)}` };
+    }
+    if (parsedFm === null || typeof parsedFm !== "object" || Array.isArray(parsedFm)) {
+        return { ok: false, reason: "FRONTMATTER_NOT_OBJECT" };
+    }
+    const fm = parsedFm;
+    // Normalise placeholder leaks like `updated: today`, `updated: {today: null}`,
+    // `updated: now`, etc. The consolidate prompt instructs the LLM not to emit
+    // these, but small models still do. Replace any such leak with today's ISO
+    // date OR drop the field if we can't safely normalise it.
+    normalizeUpdatedField(fm);
+    // Re-serialise via yaml.stringify to fix any quoting quirks.
+    let serialized;
+    try {
+        serialized = yamlStringify(fm).trimEnd();
+    }
+    catch (e) {
+        return { ok: false, reason: `YAML_STRINGIFY_FAILED: ${e instanceof Error ? e.message : String(e)}` };
+    }
+    const cleaned = assembleAssetFromString(serialized, match[2]);
+    return { ok: true, result: { content: cleaned, frontmatter: fm } };
+}
+/**
+ * Mutate `fm.updated` in place to normalise placeholder leaks emitted by the
+ * LLM. The consolidate prompt forbids these, but small models still produce
+ * literal `today` / `{today: null}` / `now` values.
+ *
+ * Rules:
+ *   - A real ISO-style date string (YYYY-MM-DD, optionally with time) stays as-is.
+ *   - A Date object (some YAML parsers materialise dates) is converted to its
+ *     ISO yyyy-mm-dd form.
+ *   - A placeholder string ("today", "now", "{today}", "${today}", template
+ *     variables) is replaced with today's ISO date.
+ *   - A map/object (e.g. `{today: null}`) is replaced with today's ISO date.
+ *   - `null`, empty string, missing → left alone (no field added; reviewers
+ *     should not silently gain metadata they didn't write).
+ *
+ * Exported for unit testing.
+ */
+export function normalizeUpdatedField(fm) {
+    if (!("updated" in fm))
+        return;
+    const v = fm.updated;
+    if (v === null || v === undefined || v === "")
+        return;
+    const todayIso = new Date().toISOString().slice(0, 10);
+    if (v instanceof Date) {
+        fm.updated = v.toISOString().slice(0, 10);
+        return;
+    }
+    if (typeof v === "string") {
+        const trimmed = v.trim().toLowerCase();
+        if (/^\d{4}-\d{2}-\d{2}/.test(v.trim()))
+            return; // already a real date
+        if (trimmed === "today" ||
+            trimmed === "now" ||
+            trimmed === "{today}" ||
+            // biome-ignore lint/suspicious/noTemplateCurlyInString: matches the literal user-typed placeholder text "${today}" so we can normalize it to today's ISO date
+            trimmed === "${today}" ||
+            trimmed === "{{today}}" ||
+            /^\{?\s*today\s*\}?$/.test(trimmed)) {
+            fm.updated = todayIso;
+            return;
+        }
+        // Unknown string format — leave alone so it's visible in the diff.
+        return;
+    }
+    if (typeof v === "object") {
+        // Maps like `{today: null}`, `{now: null}` — clearly a template leak.
+        fm.updated = todayIso;
+        return;
+    }
+}
+/**
+ * Normalise a knowledge slug for variant-aware deduplication. Collapses:
+ *   - date suffixes (`-may-2026`, `-2026-05-03`, `-2026`)
+ *   - numeric counter suffixes (`-2`, `-3`)
+ *   - trailing -patterns / -2026-05-03 styles
+ *   - word reorderings via alphabetical sort of the remaining tokens.
+ *
+ * Two slugs that normalise to the same string are considered the same asset
+ * for dedup purposes even if they don't share an exact ref.
+ */
+export function normalizeSlugForDedup(ref) {
+    const slug = ref.replace(/^[^:]+:/, "");
+    const monthRe = /(?:jan|feb|mar|apr|may|jun|jul|aug|sep|oct|nov|dec)/i;
+    const tokens = slug
+        .toLowerCase()
+        .split("-")
+        .filter((tok) => tok.length > 0)
+        // Strip purely-numeric tokens (years, dates, counter suffixes like -2 / -3).
+        // Numbers carry no semantic information for our dedup purposes — every
+        // observed defective slug variant differs only in dates or counters.
+        .filter((tok) => !/^\d+$/.test(tok))
+        .filter((tok) => !monthRe.test(tok));
+    // Sort to absorb word reorderings.
+    tokens.sort();
+    return tokens.join("-");
+}
+/**
+ * Pre-emit dedup check: compare the candidate ref against pending consolidate
+ * proposals only. Returns a reason string if a slug-variant match is found,
+ * else null.
+ *
+ * Historical context (REMOVED 2026-05-20): this function previously also ran
+ *   (a) a normalised-slug match against existing knowledge AND memory entries
+ *       in the DB, and
+ *   (b) an embedding cosine-similarity check (>= 0.85) against ALL knowledge
+ *       and non-derived memory entries.
+ * Both branches had ZERO observed fires across 30 sampled runs in the
+ * post-fix window. The 29 actual dedup catches all came from the SEPARATE
+ * content-hash dedup inside `mergePlans` (the older SHA-256 helper). The
+ * embedding branch in particular had unbounded cost per promote (embedded
+ * every knowledge + non-derived memory entry, every time) with no observed
+ * benefit. Empirical signal → deleted.
+ *
+ * What remains: a check against pending consolidate proposals in the SAME
+ * improve run. This catches duplicates queued back-to-back within a single
+ * improve invocation — a different concern from the cross-run content-hash
+ * dedup, and cheap (no embeddings, no DB query).
+ */
+export async function checkPreEmitDedup(opts) {
+    const normCandidate = normalizeSlugForDedup(opts.candidateRef);
+    // Pending consolidate proposals (slug match) — within the same improve run.
+    const pendingConsolidate = listProposals(opts.stashDir, { status: "pending" }).filter((p) => p.source === "consolidate");
+    for (const p of pendingConsolidate) {
+        if (normalizeSlugForDedup(p.ref) === normCandidate) {
+            return { duplicate: true, reason: `slug-variant of pending proposal ${p.id} (${p.ref})` };
+        }
+    }
+    return { duplicate: false };
+}
+function loadMemoriesForSource(source, stashDir, warnings) {
+    // Load from DB first
+    let memories = [];
+    let db;
+    try {
+        db = openExistingDatabase();
+        const entries = getAllEntries(db, "memory");
+        memories = entries
+            .filter((e) => {
+            if (!source)
+                return true;
+            return path.resolve(e.stashDir) === path.resolve(source);
+        })
+            .filter((e) => isConsolidationEligibleMemoryName(e.entry.name))
+            .map((e) => ({
+            name: e.entry.name,
+            filePath: e.filePath,
+            description: e.entry.description ?? "",
+            tags: e.entry.tags ?? [],
+            stashDir: e.stashDir,
+        }));
+    }
+    catch {
+        memories = [];
+    }
+    finally {
+        if (db)
+            closeDatabase(db);
+    }
+    if (memories.length === 0) {
+        // DB fallback: walk filesystem
+        const memoriesDir = path.join(source ?? stashDir, "memories");
+        const fsStashDir = source ?? stashDir;
+        if (fs.existsSync(memoriesDir)) {
+            for (const fname of fs.readdirSync(memoriesDir)) {
+                if (!fname.endsWith(".md"))
+                    continue;
+                const filePath = path.join(memoriesDir, fname);
+                const name = fname.replace(/\.md$/, "");
+                if (!isConsolidationEligibleMemoryName(name))
+                    continue;
+                memories.push({ name, filePath, description: "", tags: [], stashDir: fsStashDir });
+            }
+        }
+        if (memories.length > 0) {
+            warnings.push("DB not found or empty — loaded memories directly from filesystem.");
+        }
+    }
+    return memories;
+}
+async function generateMergedContent(config, primaryRef, primaryBody, secondaryRefs, memoryByRef, warnings) {
+    // Only handle single-secondary merges per design (one call per merge op)
+    const secRef = secondaryRefs[0];
+    const secEntry = memoryByRef.get(secRef);
+    if (!secEntry)
+        return null;
+    let secBody = "";
+    try {
+        secBody = fs.readFileSync(secEntry.filePath, "utf8");
+    }
+    catch {
+        warnings.push(`Merge: could not read secondary ${secRef} — skipping.`);
+        return null;
+    }
+    const prompt = [
+        "Merge these two memory assets into one. Output ONLY the merged markdown (with YAML frontmatter). Do not explain, do not use code fences.",
+        "",
+        "## OUTPUT FORMAT (MANDATORY)",
+        "Return raw markdown content beginning DIRECTLY with the `---` frontmatter delimiter.",
+        "DO NOT wrap your entire response in a code fence.",
+        "",
+        'GOOD: "---\\ndescription: ...\\n---\\nBody content."',
+        'BAD:  "```markdown\\n---\\ndescription: ...\\n---\\nBody content.\\n```"',
+        'BAD:  "```yaml\\n---\\ndescription: ...\\n---\\nBody content.\\n```"',
+        "",
+        "- The `updated:` field, if present, MUST be a real ISO date (e.g. `updated: 2026-05-20`). NEVER emit `updated: today`, `updated: now`, or `updated: {today: null}`. If you don't have a real date, OMIT the field — the post-processor will not invent one.",
+        "",
+        `=== Primary memory (${primaryRef}) ===`,
+        primaryBody,
+        "",
+        `=== Secondary memory (${secRef}) ===`,
+        secBody,
+    ].join("\n");
+    const llmConfig = getDefaultLlmConfig(config);
+    const result = await tryLlmFeature("memory_consolidation", config, async () => {
+        if (!llmConfig)
+            return { ok: false, error: "No LLM configured for consolidation" };
+        try {
+            const content = await chatCompletion(llmConfig, [{ role: "user", content: prompt }]);
+            return { ok: true, content };
+        }
+        catch (e) {
+            return { ok: false, error: String(e) };
+        }
+    }, { ok: false, error: `merge content generation failed for ${primaryRef}` });
+    if (!result.ok) {
+        warnings.push(result.error ?? `merge content generation failed for ${primaryRef}`);
+        return null;
+    }
+    // Sanitize LLM output: strip outer code fences (defends against the
+    // ```markdown … ``` leak observed in production), re-serialise frontmatter
+    // through the yaml lib (fixes quote-escaping mistakes), and reject empty
+    // or fence-only responses.
+    const sanitized = sanitizeMergedContent(result.content ?? "");
+    if (!sanitized.ok) {
+        warnings.push(`Merge: rejected LLM output for ${primaryRef} — ${sanitized.reason}.`);
+        return null;
+    }
+    const mergedRaw = sanitized.result.content;
+    // C-4 / #383: Content-preservation lint (mem0 §3.2, arXiv:2504.19413).
+    // Guards against LLM-generated merged content that silently drops information
+    // from the source assets. Two checks:
+    //   1. Body size: merged body must be >= 50% of the larger source body.
+    //   2. Frontmatter superset: merged frontmatter must contain all keys present
+    //      in both source frontmatters.
+    // Failures emit a warning and return null so the merge op is skipped rather
+    // than writing degraded content.
+    try {
+        const primaryFm = parseFrontmatter(primaryBody);
+        const secFm = parseFrontmatter(secBody);
+        const mergedFm = parseFrontmatter(mergedRaw);
+        // Check body size
+        const primaryBodyLen = (primaryFm.content ?? "").trim().length;
+        const secBodyLen = (secFm.content ?? "").trim().length;
+        const mergedBodyLen = (mergedFm.content ?? "").trim().length;
+        const largerBodyLen = Math.max(primaryBodyLen, secBodyLen);
+        if (largerBodyLen > 0 && mergedBodyLen < largerBodyLen * 0.5) {
+            warnings.push(`Merge: content-preservation lint failed for ${primaryRef} — ` +
+                `merged body (${mergedBodyLen} chars) is less than 50% of larger source (${largerBodyLen} chars). ` +
+                `Skipping merge to prevent data loss.`);
+            return null;
+        }
+        // Check frontmatter superset
+        const primaryKeys = Object.keys(primaryFm.data ?? {});
+        const secKeys = Object.keys(secFm.data ?? {});
+        const mergedKeys = new Set(Object.keys(mergedFm.data ?? {}));
+        const missingKeys = [...primaryKeys, ...secKeys].filter((k) => !mergedKeys.has(k));
+        if (missingKeys.length > 0) {
+            warnings.push(`Merge: content-preservation lint failed for ${primaryRef} — ` +
+                `merged frontmatter missing keys from sources: ${missingKeys.join(", ")}. ` +
+                `Skipping merge to prevent data loss.`);
+            return null;
+        }
+    }
+    catch {
+        // parseFrontmatter failures are non-fatal — allow the merge to proceed.
+    }
+    return mergedRaw;
+}
+async function promptConfirm(message) {
+    process.stdout.write(message);
+    return new Promise((resolve) => {
+        let settled = false;
+        const done = (answer) => {
+            if (settled)
+                return;
+            settled = true;
+            rl.close();
+            resolve(answer);
+        };
+        const rl = readline.createInterface({ input: process.stdin, output: process.stdout });
+        rl.once("line", (line) => done(line.trim().toLowerCase() === "y"));
+        rl.once("close", () => done(false));
+    });
+}