AiAkiv is not a document store

What gets stored is shaped for an AI to read. Keep the documents people read somewhere else, and leave in AiAkiv the process that produced them.

Once you start using AiAkiv, a thought comes naturally: "I could just put my documents in here." Push in the whole spec, the design doc, the meeting notes, and read them back later.

That doesn't fit. It will store them, but what gets stored is not shaped like a document.

In one line. Make the documents people read somewhere else and share them with your team; leave in AiAkiv the process that led to them. The document says what. AiAkiv says why.

1. What gets stored is shaped for an AI

ak save this doesn't just put your text in. Other things are made alongside it.

What
Summary The surface search matches on: what this memory is about
Entities The things that appeared: people, systems, concepts
Tags The classification axis
Links Lines to other memories (chronological, causal, shared entity)

This structure is designed for an AI to read (Core concepts). So it's strong at search and at tracing relationships: ask "why did that decision come out?" and it weaves scattered memories into an answer.

It is correspondingly bad for a person reading straight through to follow a line of cause and effect. Memories are fragments, and lining them up in order still isn't the flow of writing a person reads. It was never built for that.

2. There are format limits too

It isn't only about purpose. Physically, it isn't a container for documents.

Limit
Images Not stored. Text only
One save 50,000 characters of body text
Summary 500 characters

You can split and chain past that (Threads). But if a document needs images or long-form exposition, splitting it up doesn't turn it into a document.

3. So keep the two apart

Documents people read: elsewhere, with your team

Put images, tables, and long explanations in a doc tool, a repo, or a wiki. That's where your team opens, edits, and reviews. What matters there is the finished conclusion.

AiAkiv: the whole process that produced that document

A document keeps only the conclusion. Everything exchanged on the way there disappears. That's what you leave in AiAkiv.

  • Why it was decided that way: the reasoning that never gets written next to the conclusion
  • The alternatives you dropped and why: what you miss most when the same alternative comes back around
  • Where you got stuck and how you got out: for the next time you hit the same wall
  • Assumptions that turned out wrong, and the evidence that overturned them

This is the side you actually need again once time has passed. And this kind of content is fussy to write as a document and a perfect fit as memory: it's fragmentary, interlinked, and only needs to surface when a question is asked.

4. Then this happens

Later, open that document and ask your AI.

"In this design doc, why was the cache layer set up this way?"

If the AI only has the document, it can only tell you what's written in it. But when the process is in AiAkiv, it answers with the approach you considered and dropped, the numbers you measured then, and the reason you dropped it: none of which is in the document.

The document says what, and AiAkiv says why. Together they're far richer.

How to actually do it

While you work, run this loop.

  1. As you work: every time a decision lands, an alternative is dropped, or you get unstuck, ak save this. If it's long, chain it (Saving, Threads).
  2. When you write up: write the document people read, separately. Put the conclusions and the images there.
  3. When you commit or share it: leave one line in memory saying where the document lives. "The resulting document for this discussion is at ○○" is what ties the two together later.
  4. When you need it again: open the document and ask your AI.

Common problems

  • "I put a document in and it doesn't come back the way I want." A whole document ends up with several topics crammed into one summary, so it matches no question well. Split it by topic and save the pieces.
  • "But the diagram is the whole point." Keep the diagram on the document side, and leave in AiAkiv what the diagram is trying to say and why it was drawn that way, in words.
  • "Can't I use it as a backup?" It isn't suited to that. AiAkiv is not an archive of original text; it's a place that remembers relationships (What AiAkiv is). Keep originals as originals.
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