references/state-memory.md

# Conversation, workflow state and application memory
Distinguish transient turn context, bounded session transcript, durable workflow checkpoint, user-configured preferences, long-term retrieval memory and external authoritative records. For each define owner, storage, TTL, version, deletion, access scope and consistency guarantees.

Checkpoints need run ID, plan version, step status, tool idempotency keys, pending approval context, external result IDs and clear resume/cancel behavior. The system of record lives in the owned database/API, not in the model's probabilistic recollection. Never persist secrets, approval credentials, PII or unneeded raw tool payloads into semantic memory.

Tests: stale preference, tenant mix-up, duplicate resume, crash after external commit, expired approval, migration between state schemas and delete-user request. See `templates/state-inventory.md`.