# maintenance-checklist.txt - The weekly upkeep list that keeps the second brain lean: prune bloat, archive finished items, update indexes, check budgets, confirm the Constitution still points to the right places.
# A system that is never tidied turns into a junk drawer the AI cannot read. 15 minutes a week keeps it sharp.
# Char budget: keep under ~3500 characters. Replace every [BRACKET]. The Sam Rivera content is a fictional worked example.

=== WHAT THIS FILE IS ===
This is my weekly maintenance pass. It is short on purpose: a system only stays useful if it stays lean, so once a week I (or the AI, with my OK) walk this list and tidy. The goal is that every file is current, nothing important is buried, and the Constitution still points at files that actually exist.

Owner: Sam Rivera, 38, freelance marketing consultant, Lisbon.
Run it: every [Sunday], about 15 minutes.

=== THE CHECKLIST ===

1. PRUNE BLOATED FILES
- [ ] Any file grown past its char budget? Trim it to what matters now; move the rest to the weekly log or an archive note.
- [ ] Any now file sphere over its per-sphere limit? Cut to the one live thing.
- [ ] Duplicated content across two files? Keep one canonical source, point the other at it.

2. ARCHIVE FINISHED ITEMS
- [ ] Any project or goal that is done? Move it to archive/[DATE]_[name].
- [ ] Old training block, old experiment, closed client? Archive, do not leave it in the active folder.
- [ ] Reminder: archive is not a bin. If it can be safely deleted, delete it instead.

3. UPDATE EACH FOLDER INDEX
- [ ] For every folder I touched this week, is its index file current?
- [ ] Did I add a file without adding its line to the index? Fix it. If it is not in the index, the AI cannot see it.
- [ ] Did I archive something? Add its line to the archive list at the bottom of that index.

4. CHECK CHAR BUDGETS
- [ ] now file inside total budget?
- [ ] Constitution and per-sphere files inside their budgets?
- [ ] Anything creeping up? Note it so I trim it next week before it becomes a problem.

5. CONFIRM THE CONSTITUTION STILL POINTS RIGHT
- [ ] Every link in the Constitution still resolves to a file that exists?
- [ ] Renamed or moved a file this week? Update the pointer in the Constitution.
- [ ] New sphere or new index file? Add it to the Constitution's map.
- [ ] Removed a tool? Update both the Constitution and my tools inventory.

6. MONTHLY, THE DEEP PASS (not every week)
- [ ] Once a month, run system-audit-prompt.txt: what loads and what it costs, every tool tested live, security holes, top 5 fixes.
- [ ] Two weeks later, run content-audit-prompt.txt: every folder has one honest index, constitution within budget, all 5 layers clean.
- [ ] Both are read-only and end with a fix list. The fixes become next Sunday's 15 minutes.

=== HOW THE AI HELPS ===
I can ask the AI to run this list and report findings: which files are over budget, which indexes are stale, which Constitution links are broken. The AI proposes the fixes and shows me a short diff. I approve before anything is moved, archived, or deleted, because deleting always waits for my explicit OK.

=== WHY THIS MATTERS ===
The second brain is only as good as how easily the AI can read it. Fifteen minutes of tidying a week is the difference between a sharp system I trust and a pile of files I stop opening.