Trim

• The trimmed file is measurably smaller by a re-run wc -c, and every distinct directive from the original still compels the same behavior.
• Every removal LIFEOS/TOOLS/ProposalGC.ts can make deterministically is made by it rather than by judgment, and every semantic MERGE, TIGHTEN or RELOCATE is one the human picked.
• The trim lands as its own commit in the repo that actually holds the file.

Trim needs no Config.md. Everything it reads and writes is named here, with paths relative to the install root (CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR, default ~/.claude).

• The always-on set it measures and edits: the system prompt LIFEOS/LIFEOS_SYSTEM_PROMPT.md, CLAUDE.md, every @-import listed at the top of CLAUDE.md (the identity and operational-rules files under LIFEOS/USER/), and the hook-injected memory files LIFEOS/USER/PRINCIPAL/PRINCIPAL_MEMORY.md and LIFEOS/USER/DIGITAL_ASSISTANT/DA_MEMORY.md. The set is read from CLAUDE.md each run, never hardcoded.
• The two commit repos: files under LIFEOS/USER/** commit to the private USER_DATA repo at ~/.config/LIFEOS/USER (the target of the LIFEOS/USER symlink); every other file commits to the install-root repo ~/.claude on main.

• USER files commit to the USER_DATA repo, not ~/.claude. The commit tool in the intent's Tool contract follows the LIFEOS/USER symlink and commits there; a ~/.claude commit captures nothing under LIFEOS/USER/ and is a false safety net.
• The file can change mid-edit. The autonomic memory loop appends proposals to these files while you work. When a Write or Edit reports "modified since read", re-read before writing, because a concurrent correction may have landed; this is how a real deploy-command fix was nearly reverted. Never write from a stale read.
• Orchestrate ProposalGC, never reimplement it. Its free, zero-risk removals often clear enough that no judgment-call edit is needed.

User: "/trim OPERATIONAL_PREFERENCES"
→ Trim intent
→ OPERATIONAL_PREFERENCES 40,456 → 28,043 B (−31%). ProposalGC found 0 removable; the human picked
  folding the 40-entry proposal tail and relocating skill-scoped directives to a reference;
  committed alone to USER_DATA.

User: "/trim"
→ Trim intent
→ No arg, so the largest file in the always-on set by `wc -c` is trimmed the same way.