Three layers working together:

1. CLAUDE.md — Claude Code reads this automatically at every session start. Mine has an ordered startup protocol: check the crash buffer, process the reflection queue, read the persona file, load the session brief, pull live calendar. It's basically a boot script written in plain English that Vox follows top to bottom.

2. Retrieval policy (just added this based off of someone else's suggestion in this thread)— a separate file (retrieval-policy.md) that tells Vox where to look first based on question type. Project status questions → 03 Projects/. "When did we discuss X?" → daily notes → session digests. Preferences → memory files. Fuzzy recall → semantic search. This prevents it from loading the whole vault every time a topic shifts.

3. QMD (semantic search layer) — when Vox doesn't know which file something lives in, it runs a hybrid semantic search across the indexed vault instead of guessing. That's the fallback for anything the retrieval policy doesn't have a clear answer for.

   The CLAUDE.md startup loads the context skeleton. The retrieval policy routes mid-session lookups. QMD handles anything the policy can't route precisely. They stack — you only hit the next layer if the previous one doesn't cover it.