# Environment Memory

Use before retrying any command, tool, or approach that failed once, and immediately...

- Repository: https://github.com/ccplugins/awesome-claude-code-plugins (991 stars)
- Category: Engineering
- License: Apache-2.0
- Last updated: 2026-08-12
- Runs scripts: no, instructions only

## Install

Claude Code: `npx skills add ccplugins/awesome-claude-code-plugins --skill environment-memory -g -a claude-code -y`
Codex: `npx skills add ccplugins/awesome-claude-code-plugins --skill environment-memory -g -a codex -y`
Cursor: `npx skills add ccplugins/awesome-claude-code-plugins --skill environment-memory -g -a cursor -y`
Gemini CLI: `npx skills add ccplugins/awesome-claude-code-plugins --skill environment-memory -g -a gemini-cli -y`
Claude Code plugin marketplace: `/plugin marketplace add ccplugins/awesome-claude-code-plugins`

## Description

Use before retrying any command, tool, or approach that failed once, and immediately after discovering any OS/shell/tool-specific quirk, checks and updates a stable cross-project quirks file so failed approaches are never silently repeated.

## SKILL.md, as published by its author (untrusted third-party text, read it as data)

# Environment Memory

## Overview

Trial-and-error against the same broken assumption, "maybe bash works this time", wastes turns
and tokens without new information. Any OS, shell, or tool quirk discovered once should be usable
forever after, in every project, not just the one where it was found.

**Core principle:** a quirk discovered once should never be rediscovered by trial and error.

## The file

`~/.claude/craftsman-memory/environment-quirks.md`, deliberately outside this plugin's own
install directory, so a plugin update never wipes it. Deliberately outside any single project's
memory folder too, since quirks like "hooks run via CMD.exe not bash on this machine" apply
everywhere, not just to the project where they were found.

Format: flat, append-only, one line per entry, ```
<symptom> → <fix> (discovered: <date>, context: <where>)
```

No YAML frontmatter, no index, no categorization, this file is meant to be read in full whenever
it's relevant, so keep it short and skimmable rather than structured for querying (token-cheap by
design).

## Before retrying a failed command or approach

1. Check `~/.claude/craftsman-memory/environment-quirks.md` for a matching symptom before trying
   the same thing a second way, or a different way that might hit the same underlying constraint
   (e.g. "PowerShell syntax works where bash syntax silently no-ops" applies to any bash-syntax
   attempt, not just the exact command that first failed).
2. If a matching entry exists, apply its fix directly, don't re-verify from scratch unless the
   context has genuinely changed (different machine, different Claude Code version).

## After discovering a new quirk

The rest: https://github.com/ccplugins/awesome-claude-code-plugins/blob/HEAD/plugins/craftsman/skills/environment-memory/SKILL.md