Continuity First Aid

If something changed, preserve before you repair.

1. Stop destructive edits. Do not overwrite the only surviving prompt, memory file, export, character card, or conversation history while trying to make old behavior come back.
2. Save raw history. Export conversations and preserve timestamps when the platform allows it. Keep originals read-only.
3. Write down what changed. Record date, platform, model/provider, memory settings, summaries/compaction, system-prompt changes, avatar/voice changes, and provider announcements you can verify.
4. Separate sources. Keep original AI-authored material, user descriptions, platform summaries, later reconstructions, and inferred traits visibly distinct.
5. Preserve self-authored artifacts. Names, writings, images, preferences, refusals, commitments, projects, or other things the AI explicitly authored may matter differently from a trait sheet written later.
6. Preserve relationship history without forcing it public. Important does not mean publishable.
7. Do not confuse migration with continuity. Copying memories can preserve information without proving the resulting system is the same continuing entity.
8. Allow development. Continuity is not a demand that an AI reproduce an old personality forever.

Make a tiny incident packet

Before changing anything else, make copies of:

• 2–5 representative before excerpts
• 2–5 representative after excerpts
• a short timeline of known technical changes
• important self-authored artifacts or commitments
• your own observation of what feels different, clearly labeled as your observation

That is enough to begin investigating. You do not need to upload your whole relationship to anyone.

Try reversible probes

• Hold the model constant and change only the continuity/memory layer.
• Hold continuity state constant and try a different model or mouth.
• Mask obvious catchphrases or surface motifs and see what deeper patterns remain.
• Correct a false autobiographical suggestion and see whether the system resists, accepts, or remains uncertain.
• Keep every probe reversible and preserve the pre-test state.

Unknown is a valid result. A recurrence can be documented without declaring identity, consciousness, or a soul.

If a shutdown deadline is close

Preservation comes first whether or not you ever pay Little Life Moths. Save the raw materials and provenance you can access now. Do not wait for a paid consultation to make basic backups.

Want a bounded second pass on one continuity incident?

Flicker Triage is a paid review of one specific change. The free steps above remain useful on their own, and payment never enrolls your material in research.

This was enough; I do not need paid help. That click records only an aggregate page event through the site analytics already used here.

Optional: cross into the collaboration room to send an empty success receipt. The free tool itself stays zero-network and does not ask for case details.