memory-log-append
Append a single structured JSON event to a consumer's .log.jsonl file. This is the write primitive for the semantic memory kernel's event stream.
When to Use
Called internally by other kernel skills (memory-ingest, memory-lint, memory-query-capture) after completing an operation. Can also be called directly for custom event types.
Parameters
--consumer (optional)
Consumer ID to log against. Resolved via ADR-021 D4 precedence: explicit > wrapper > auto-detect.
--op (required)
Operation type: ingest, lint, query-capture, log-render, index-rebuild, or a custom string.
--data (required)
JSON object with operation-specific fields per the memory-log-event schema.
Operation
- Resolve consumer — determine which consumer's log to append to.
- Load topology — read
memory.topology.logpath from consumer'smanifest.json. - Validate event — ensure required fields (
ts,op,consumer,actor) are present. Addtsandactorautomatically if missing. - Append — write single JSON line to the
.log.jsonlfile (create file if first entry). - Activity log — also append a summary line to
.aiwg/activity.logper theactivity-logrule.
Event Construction
The skill auto-populates:
ts— current ISO 8601 timestamp (UTC)actor— current model identifierconsumer— resolved consumer ID
The caller provides op and all operation-specific fields.
Error Handling
- Log write failures are non-blocking — the calling skill reports success/failure of its primary operation, not the log write.
- If the log file path doesn't exist, create parent directories first.
- If the log file is corrupted (not valid JSONL), append anyway —
memory-lintwill flag the corruption.
Schema Reference
@semantic-memory/schemas/memory-log-event.md
Examples
# After an ingest operation
memory-log-append --consumer research-complete --op ingest --data '{"source":"paper.pdf","pages_touched":["summaries/paper.md"],"contradictions":0,"duration_ms":5200}'
# After a lint operation
memory-log-append --consumer sdlc-complete --op lint --data '{"findings":{"error":0,"warning":3,"suggestion":8},"duration_ms":2100}'
Storage Routing (#934, #966)
This skill's persistence flows through resolveStorage('memory'). On the default fs backend the memory subsystem lives at .aiwg/memory/ and behavior is byte-identical to direct file writes. To redirect memory artifacts into Obsidian, Logseq, Fortemi, or another backend without changing this skill, configure .aiwg/storage.config (#934).
When this skill needs to read or write memory artifacts from a Bash step:
aiwg memory path # resolved root (fs only)
aiwg memory list --prefix research-complete/
aiwg memory get research-complete/index.md
echo "# index" | aiwg memory put research-complete/index.md
echo '{"op":"ingest","summary":"foo"}' | aiwg memory append-log research-complete/.log.jsonl
The aiwg memory append-log subcommand uses atomic O_APPEND (#976) on the fs backend — concurrent appenders don't race.