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bmad-method

Context & Session Management

Why AI forgets and how artifacts fix it

AI assistants have no persistent memory between sessions. BMAD's artifact chain is designed specifically to solve this: each session begins by loading the relevant artifacts, giving the AI the context it needs to continue coherently.

flowchart TD
    SS([Session Start]) --> LO[Load Artifacts<br>PRD<br>Current story + AC<br>Relevant ADRs<br>Prior session notes]
    LO --> AI[AI Session<br>works within loaded context]
    AI --> WK[Implementation<br>or grooming work]
    WK --> UA{Decisions<br>changed?}
    UA -->|Yes| UD[Update affected<br>artifacts]
    UD --> SE([Session End<br>artifacts current])
    UA -->|No| SE
    SE --> NSS([Next Session<br>starts with current artifacts])

Every AI coding session starts with a blank context window. The AI has no memory of yesterday's decisions, the architecture constraints agreed last week, or the features explicitly ruled out in the PRD. Without a structured approach to context loading, AI-driven development degrades session by session — architecture choices get relitigated, resolved ambiguities re-emerge, and implementation drifts from the original intent.

BMAD's artifact chain is the solution. At the start of each Developer session, the workflow is: load the PRD (current scope and constraints), load the relevant user story (current session goal and acceptance criteria), load the architecture document or relevant ADRs (technical constraints and design decisions), load any implementation notes from previous sessions. In sixty seconds, the AI has the context it would have had if it were a human developer returning after the weekend.

The practical implication is that artifacts must be kept current. An ADR that was superseded two sprints ago but not updated is worse than no ADR — it loads false context. The Developer persona's definition of done includes updating any artifact changed during implementation: if a design decision was revised, the ADR must be updated before the session ends. Context debt accumulates exactly like technical debt, and it degrades development quality in the same way.