Memory & self-learning
This is the feature that makes Prevail yours. A normal chatbot forgets you between sessions. Prevail remembers — and the more you use it, the more it knows your situation, so its answers get more specific over time.
How it works
Section titled “How it works” you send a message │ ▼ ① intent captured raw transcript written immediately — never lost │ ▼ ② distilled the distillation daemon condenses chats into memory │ ▼ ③ _memory.md per-domain memory, plain markdown you own │ ▼ ④ read back fed into the next chat in that domain as context1. Every chat becomes an intent
Section titled “1. Every chat becomes an intent”The moment you hit send, Prevail writes the message — and the reply — to a durable intent ledger. This happens before anything else, so a raw transcript of what you asked is never lost, even if a model errors out mid-answer.
2. Intents are distilled into memory
Section titled “2. Intents are distilled into memory”A background distillation daemon condenses each domain’s conversations into a compact summary: the facts, decisions, and context worth keeping. You don’t trigger this — it just happens.
3. Memory lives in your vault
Section titled “3. Memory lives in your vault”The result is _memory.md inside each domain folder — plain markdown you own. Open it, edit it, correct it, or delete a line you don’t want remembered. It syncs with the rest of your vault.
4. Memory is read back automatically
Section titled “4. Memory is read back automatically”On your next message in that domain, Prevail loads _memory.md as context. So when you ask a follow-up next week, it already knows your situation — you don’t re-explain.
The context meter
Section titled “The context meter”Each domain shows how much context it’s carrying — recent chats plus distilled memory. It’s a quick read on how well Prevail “knows” that part of your life, and a nudge to prune or top up.
→ Context Score explains the underlying signal.
What’s captured, and where it stays
Section titled “What’s captured, and where it stays”| Artifact | Lives in | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Intent ledger | ~/.prevail/ (machine-local) | The raw, durable transcript of every turn |
_memory.md | <domain>/ (in your vault) | Distilled per-domain memory, read back into chats |
_log/ | <domain>/ (in your vault) | A dated one-line decision log |
_journal/ | <domain>/ (in your vault) | Longer-form notes |
All of it is local-first — nothing leaves your machine unless you send a message to a cloud model. Run a domain on a local model and the entire learning loop stays on-device.