Finch's personal home directory holds a handful of Markdown files that are automatically loaded at the start of every conversation, so you never have to re-explain them. Knowing what's in each one helps you know which to edit.
Loaded into every conversation
| File | Contents | Maintained by |
|---|---|---|
SOUL.md | Finch's "personality" — tone and working style, relatively stable | You, by hand |
FINCH.md | Rules for how Finch works — e.g. how to use memory, how to handle risky actions | You, by hand |
USER.md | Stable facts about you — how to address you, communication preferences | Mostly you, with facts Finch observes added in |
MEMORY.md | Current projects, plus cross-project habits and conventions | Finch maintains it automatically; you can also ask it to edit |
These four files are small on disk, so they're loaded in full every time, without you having to mention them.
Loaded depending on context
- Opening a directory-bound Space: the
AGENTS.mdin that folder (if present) is loaded, containing rules specific to that project. - Opening a Space without a bound directory: that Space's own rules/notes file is loaded, serving the same role as
AGENTS.md, just stored differently. - A Space that has already accumulated its own memory: the corresponding Space memory file is loaded too, affecting only conversations in that Space, never mixed with others.
Editing these files
Just tell Finch "remember..." or "update the ... in USER.md," and it will edit the file using its tools — no need to find and edit it manually, though you're free to open and edit it yourself too. SOUL.md and FINCH.md are meant to be maintained mostly by hand — Finch generally won't rewrite them significantly on its own, only when you explicitly ask it to.