Workflows

Common scenarios and best practices for getting the most out of Tenax.

1

Starting a New Project

Set up memory and establish initial decisions

  1. Memory initializes automatically on first use. Check status with /tenax:status
  2. Discuss architecture with Claude - it will mark decisions in its responses automatically
  3. Ask Claude to "record this decision" if you want to ensure something specific is captured
  4. Session ends - knowledge is automatically extracted from Claude's markers
  5. Next session, use /tenax:status to verify decisions were captured

Tip: You can also manually record with /tenax:record decision -t database "Using PostgreSQL"

2

Resuming Work After Days Away

Quickly restore context from previous sessions

  1. Start with a quick summary: /tenax:status
  2. Load recent context: /tenax:load-sessions --recent 3
  3. Or load specific sessions if you remember: /tenax:load-sessions 005,007
  4. Search for specific topics: /tenax:search "authentication"
  5. Review pending tasks to see where you left off

Tip: Set autoLoad: "recent-3" in settings to automatically load context at session start.

3

Before Making Architecture Decisions

Check history to avoid contradicting past choices

  1. Before proposing changes, search: /tenax:search "database" -t decision
  2. Review existing decisions and their rationale
  3. If changing direction, explicitly record the new decision with updated rationale
  4. Reference the old decision: "Changing from X to Y because circumstances changed"

Tip: With autoCheckBeforeDecisions: true, Claude will automatically search before proposing architecture changes.

4

Debugging a Problem

Search for similar issues and past solutions

  1. Search for related issues: /tenax:search "connection timeout"
  2. Check insights: /tenax:search "timeout" -t insight
  3. Load sessions where similar work was done
  4. After solving, ask Claude to record the insight or use /tenax:record insight "Connection timeouts were caused by..."

Tip: Always record debugging insights. Future you (or teammates) will thank you.

5

Exporting for Documentation

Share knowledge with your team or backup

  1. Export to Markdown: /tenax:export -f markdown -o ./docs
  2. For Obsidian users: /tenax:export -f obsidian -o ./vault
  3. For backup: /tenax:backup
  4. Include full sessions if needed: /tenax:export -s

Export Formats

FormatBest For
markdownREADME, docs folder, GitHub wiki
jsonProgrammatic access, backups
obsidianPersonal knowledge management
notionTeam wikis, Notion databases
6

Team Collaboration

Share Tenax via version control

  1. Add .claude/tenax/index.json to version control
  2. Optionally exclude raw sessions: add .claude/tenax/sessions/ to .gitignore
  3. Team members pull the latest index to share decisions and patterns
  4. Each person's sessions remain local, but extracted knowledge is shared

Recommended .gitignore

# Keep index and config, ignore raw sessions
.claude/tenax/sessions/
.claude/tenax/embeddings.db

Tip: Set sessionIdPadding: 4 for teams to support more concurrent sessions.

Best Practices