Memories & Rules
Memories
is the system for sharing and persisting context across conversations.
There are two mechanisms for this in Cascade: Memories, which can be automatically generated by Cascade, and rules, which are manually defined by the user at both the local and global levels.
How to Manage Memories
Memories and Rules can be accessed and configured at any time by clicking on the Customizations
icon in the top right slider menu in Cascade. To edit an existing memory, simply click into it and then click the Edit
button.
Memories
During conversation, Cascade can automatically generate and store memories if it encounters context that it believes is useful to remember.
Additionally, you can ask Cascade to create a memory at any time. Just prompt Cascade to “create a memory of …”.
Cascade’s autogenerated memories are associated with the workspace that they were created in and Cascade will retrieve them when it believes that they are relevant. Memories generated in one workspace will not be available in another.
Rules
Users can explicitly define their own rules for Cascade to follow.
Rules can be defined at either the global level or the workspace level.
global_rules.md
- rules applied across all workspaces
.windsurfrules
- workspace level repo containing rules that are tied to globs or natural language descriptions.
To get started with Rules, click on the Customizations
icon in the top right slider menu in Cascade, then navigate to the Rules
panel. Here, you can click on the + Global
or + Workspace
button to create new rules at either the global or workspace level, respectively.
Rules files are limited to 6000 characters each. Any content above 6000 characters will be truncated and Cascade will not be aware of them.
If the total of your global rules and local rules exceed 12,000 characters, priority will be given to the global rules, followed by the workspace rules. Any rules beyond 12,000 characters will be truncated.
Best Practices
To help Cascade follow your rules effectively, follow these best practices:
- Keep rules simple, concise, and specific. Rules that are too long or vague may confuse Cascade.
- There’s no need to add generic rules (e.g. “write good code”), as these are already baked into Cascade’s training data.
- Format your rules using bullet points, numbered lists, and markdown. These are easier for Cascade to follow compared to a long paragraph.
For example:
- XML tags can be an effective way to communicate and group similar rules together. For example: