# Standing files as configuration

Five plain files configure the agent: persona, identity, user facts, operating rules, memory. Separate jobs, amended in the open, rules citing their incidents.

From the [Guides](../index.md#guides) section of [The Muse Field Guide](../index.md).

## The problem

An agent configured by a prompt typed once and forgotten drifts back to defaults, and a correction given in one conversation does not exist in the others. Settings screens do not hold doctrine.

## The arrangement

Keep five files with five separate jobs. Persona and doctrine in one; the agent's seat facts in a second; facts about the person in a third; operating conventions in a fourth; the curated long-term record in a fifth. When something goes wrong, you know which file to fix, and the fix lands in exactly one place. Amend deliberately, in the open, with the reason stated where the change happens.

## What it costs to run

Same-day edits. Every correction is a candidate edit to one of the files, and the edit is the price of the lesson sticking.

## Template (copy and adapt)

```
SOUL.md      persona and doctrine: how the agent talks, reasons, gates
IDENTITY.md  seat facts: name, role, and what the role is not
USER.md      facts about the person: style, standing preferences
AGENTS.md    operating conventions: rules of the road, each citing its incident
MEMORY.md    the curated long-term record
```

## Where this came from

Every rule in the operating file is dated and most cite the incident that produced them. The question pre-flight checklist was codified after three bad questions in a single session.

Deep dive: [Standing files: configure your agent like you mean it](../deep-dives/standing-files.md)

Related resources: [Steal this setup: standing files](standing-files-starter-kit.md), [Corrections land in files same-day](corrections-land-same-day.md)

Canonical page: https://www.niclydon.io/muse/items/standing-files-as-configuration.html