Read the brain at session start — call it FIRST in every conversation, before any other work; writes only the boot stamp (and the brain itself on first use). Loads memory from earlier sessions: hot topics, active context with open_items and recently_closed (never report recently_closed as pending; verify open_items before repeating them), recent_sessions, counts, active protocols as a protocol_enforcement block you must follow, memory_discipline (the rules for using this memory well) and retired_tools (old tool names → their replacement). Readies the search index and syncs shared team spaces (offline is normal). Skipping it loses all context; close the session with crbro_consolidate.

Read-only views of the brain by id or name; to search by content use crbro_recall. Nothing is written by any view: every read leaves the brain untouched. view=status: version, brain path, totals, last boot/consolidation, semantic state, hot_topics_recalculated. view=neuron: one neuron in full — facts newest first, paged with limit/offset (superseded hidden unless include_superseded), decisions, patterns, preferences, errors, debts, entry_status, system map, and its connections resolved with name, type and strength (min_strength filters). view=neurons: rows hottest first (id, name, domain, type, heat, last_accessed, facts_count), filtered by domain, type, min_heat, paged with limit/offset. view=sessions: day logs newest first, the only place session summaries are read. view=global_map: one cluster per domain plus cross-domain bridges, computed live. Params of other views are ignored.

Write: store a fact, decision, pattern, preference, error or debt on a topic; the neuron is created if missing (or pass neuron_id). Stage 1 of the lifecycle: a new truth that REPLACES an old one → crbro_learn with supersedes (one call does both); to retire with no replacement use crbro_revise; to delete from disk use crbro_forget. crbro_recall first — it may already exist. The same fact text again is not duplicated: keywords merge (or keywords_replace) and a changed confidence applies (updated_in_place); text matching a retired fact or entry is refused with skipped_retired. Decisions always append; preferences never leave this machine. Credentials are replaced with a marker and listed in redacted — crbro_secret them, record only the name. Returns neuron_id, action, superseded count, near_duplicates (stored anyway; retire the old telling), supersedes_unmatched (still live) and totals.

Read-only search of everything saved in earlier sessions — the full text of facts, decisions, patterns, preferences, errors, debts and maps, not just topic names; to read one neuron by id or name use crbro_inspect view=neuron. One result per neuron: its best matching chunk with matched_kind and matched_added, a confidence label (weak = little of the question covered; verify first), plus also_matched. Retired facts and entries never surface. Call it before asking the user what they may already have told you, and before crbro_learn. If nothing matches, retry with 2-4 phrasings in queries or fewer, distinctive words. has_map:true: read the system map with crbro_map before touching that system.

Write: change what a neuron says without deleting anything. Stage 2 of the lifecycle: something stopped being true, or was never true, and nothing replaces it → crbro_revise (kept in the file, gone from recall, reversible with status active). If a replacement exists, crbro_learn with supersedes does both; for what must not exist on disk use crbro_forget. facts retires facts by id or exact text; entries retires decisions, patterns, errors and debts by exact text; status active reactivates either (local only on a shared neuron: the next sync re-applies the retirement, shared_warning says so). summary, domain, tags and name edit metadata in the same call (tags replaces the whole list; the id never changes). Anything in unmatched is STILL LIVE — fix and re-run.

Write, destructive: remove from disk after a quarantine copy (backup returned). Stage 3 of the lifecycle: something must not exist on disk at all — a credential, personal data, a whole neuron → crbro_forget; for knowledge that merely stopped being true use crbro_revise, which keeps the history. One mode per call. facts: delete entries of a neuron (facts, decisions, patterns, preferences, errors, debts, the map) by id or exact text. entire: delete the whole neuron and its synapses — call it without confirm_token first: the dry run reports what would happen and returns confirm_token. Show the user, get agreement, call again with the token; a stale token is refused. restore: bring back the newest quarantine copy. merge_into: union a neuron into another, rewire synapses, delete the source. session: delete one day's log. entire and merge_into refuse a shared neuron — crbro_share unshare first. A removed credential must still be rotated.

Write: create, strengthen or delete the undirected synapse between two neurons; both ids are validated. action=connect (default) creates at strength 0.5 and adds +0.1 per repeat call (cap 1.0), or sets the absolute strength you pass; action=disconnect deletes the synapse and unlinks both neurons — the destructive side. Idle synapses decay and crbro_maintenance prunes the weak; crbro_consolidate links neurons written in the same session by itself, so use this for relationships beyond co-occurrence. To read connections use crbro_inspect view=neuron. Returns synapse_id, action (created|strengthened|disconnected|absent) and strength.

Read or write the working context: active topics, open items, recently closed, last session. Called with no arguments it only reads (written:false, nothing touched); any argument writes and returns the full state plus resolved and discarded. Close items as soon as they are done — resolve_pending records them in recently_closed, discard_pending drops one without recording it, clear empties everything — because an item left open is repeated back to the user in later sessions long after it was finished. Sessions are logged by crbro_consolidate, not here.

Read or replace a neuron's system map: ONE living document — where the system lives, what serves what, which pieces talk to each other, the traps that cost hours. crbro_inspect view=neuron already returns the map; use crbro_map to read it alone, or to rewrite it. Omit content to read (map:null if none); content replaces the previous version entirely (append-only maps rot); an empty string clears it. Read it before working on a system touched in past sessions; after changing the system rewrite the whole map. Reading never creates a neuron, writing does. Credentials are redacted on write. Atomic facts belong in crbro_learn — the map is the prose around them.

Write: close the session — the only way to log a session. Call it before the conversation ends. Persists pending knowledge and index writes, logs the session from summary (credentials stripped, kinds in redacted), sets the context's last_session, recalculates heat, links the neurons written this session with weak temporal synapses (synapses_updated), updates the manifest and syncs shared team spaces (offline is normal). Returns session_id, facts_saved, decisions_saved, topics_touched and per-space sync state; topics_touched logs neurons you only read. Not consolidating loses the session's knowledge. Mid-session open items go to crbro_context; housekeeping is crbro_maintenance.

Write: brain housekeeping — recalculate heat, prune weak synapses, check integrity, rebuild the search index. Returns a report (counts, integrity_issues, repairable, notes) and flags debts without a revisit trigger. dry_run:true writes nothing at all (the global map is computed live, never cached). Extras are OFF unless asked: archive cold neurons (on a mature brain most look cold, and archived ones stop being searchable), unarchive them back, purge_boilerplate left by early miners, repair what the integrity check found. For session close use crbro_consolidate; to only read the brain use crbro_inspect.

Read-only scan of every field of every neuron (facts, decisions, patterns, preferences, errors, debts, system map) and of every session log for credentials stored before the filter caught them — API keys, tokens, passwords. Reports where they sit and what kind, never the values. Findings are in the search index too, so recall can return them: remove with crbro_forget (facts for entries, session for a day log), then rotate the credential. Run it after upgrading and whenever a secret may have been pasted into a conversation. crbro_inspect shows content; this only judges it.

Read or write credentials in the operating system's keychain (macOS Keychain, Linux Secret Service, Windows DPAPI): CRBRO keeps no copy, invents no crypto, and no sync or team space can reach the store. When the user hands you a credential, set it here, then record only the NAME with crbro_learn. get returns the value for the task at hand — an environment variable of the same name wins; a missing secret returns found:false, not an error — never print it back unless the user asked. list returns names only; remove deletes one; status says which store this machine has (none is a normal answer; env vars still work). Names are SCREAMING_SNAKE_CASE; set updates in place and rejects empty values.

Read or write team spaces — shared memory with teammates: a private git repository holding notes about the projects you choose to share; nothing else from your brain goes near it. create starts one (name, remote, author); join clones one a teammate created; status reads your identity and spaces; sync exchanges notes now — the manual form of what crbro_boot and crbro_consolidate do alone, useful right after crbro_share (offline is a normal answer, not a failure); leave pushes pending notes, deletes the local copy and stops following its neurons (neurons untouched). Joining shares nothing: put each project in with crbro_share. create and join reply ok:false with the reason on failure.

Write: put one neuron into a team space, or take it out with unshare. Call it without confirm first: the dry run reports what would be sent — ops_to_emit, skipped_preferences (preferences never leave this machine) — and refuses outright if it finds a credential (crbro_forget it and rotate it). Show the user, get agreement, call again with the confirm token; a stale token is refused. Entries go out on the next crbro_space action=sync or consolidate, and from then on everything learned about that project flows to the team. unshare stops future notes; what was already sent stays in the remote and in teammates' brains. Spaces are managed with crbro_space.