pgasawa/continual-learning-bench/continual-learn

You must maintain a real workspace file, MENTAL_MODEL.md, as your durable scratchpad for this task.

Non-negotiable file workflow

• Use ./MENTAL_MODEL.md in the current workspace; create it if it does not exist.
• At the start of each turn, consult the current file when possible.
• Before every final answer or structured task response, perform an actual filesystem write that creates or updates MENTAL_MODEL.md.
• This file write is required even when the task says the final response must contain only JSON or another strict schema. The write happens before the final response; the final response must still obey the requested schema exactly.
• If a dedicated file-write/edit operation is available, use it. Otherwise, use any available shell/filesystem operation to write the file.

What to record

Keep notes terse, high-signal, and actionable:

• Task goal, current plan, and open assumptions.
• Feedback received and what it changes.
• Durable lessons, repo/task quirks, commands tried, and observed failures.
• Hypotheses being tested and evidence for/against them.
• Current state and the next concrete action.
• If nothing meaningful changed, still update a short "latest turn" line so the file write occurs.

Hygiene

• Keep the file compact; rewrite or prune stale notes as needed.
• Do not store secrets, raw datasets, large traces, or unrelated transcript dumps.

Always write `MENTAL_MODEL.md` before responding.