From 081820a8d755b70786a0795a037f3343ce487fbb Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Matt Van Horn <455140+mvanhorn@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Tue, 7 Apr 2026 16:36:27 -0700
Subject: [PATCH 1/2] fix: allow mining directories without local
 mempalace.yaml

When no mempalace.yaml or mempal.yaml exists in the source directory,
return a default config (wing = directory name, room = general) instead
of calling sys.exit(1). This lets users mine any directory into their
palace without requiring init first.

Closes #14.
---
 mempalace/miner.py  | 22 +++++++++++++++++-----
 tests/test_miner.py | 16 +++++++++++++++-
 2 files changed, 32 insertions(+), 6 deletions(-)

diff --git a/mempalace/miner.py b/mempalace/miner.py
index 7b4e9491ff..d28e91b51a 100644
--- a/mempalace/miner.py
+++ b/mempalace/miner.py
@@ -279,16 +279,28 @@ def load_config(project_dir: str) -> dict:
     """Load mempalace.yaml from project directory (falls back to mempal.yaml)."""
     import yaml
 
-    config_path = Path(project_dir).expanduser().resolve() / "mempalace.yaml"
+    resolved_project_dir = Path(project_dir).expanduser().resolve()
+    config_path = resolved_project_dir / "mempalace.yaml"
     if not config_path.exists():
         # Fallback to legacy name
-        legacy_path = Path(project_dir).expanduser().resolve() / "mempal.yaml"
+        legacy_path = resolved_project_dir / "mempal.yaml"
         if legacy_path.exists():
             config_path = legacy_path
         else:
-            print(f"ERROR: No mempalace.yaml found in {project_dir}")
-            print(f"Run: mempalace init {project_dir}")
-            sys.exit(1)
+            print(
+                f"  No mempalace.yaml found in {resolved_project_dir} "
+                "— using auto-detected defaults"
+            )
+            return {
+                "wing": resolved_project_dir.name,
+                "rooms": [
+                    {
+                        "name": "general",
+                        "description": "All project files",
+                        "keywords": ["general"],
+                    }
+                ],
+            }
     with open(config_path) as f:
         return yaml.safe_load(f)
 
diff --git a/tests/test_miner.py b/tests/test_miner.py
index 337e949087..f7ec6a6348 100644
--- a/tests/test_miner.py
+++ b/tests/test_miner.py
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 import chromadb
 import yaml
 
-from mempalace.miner import mine, scan_project
+from mempalace.miner import load_config, mine, scan_project
 
 
 def write_file(path: Path, content: str):
@@ -50,6 +50,20 @@ def test_project_mining():
         shutil.rmtree(tmpdir)
 
 
+def test_load_config_uses_defaults_when_yaml_missing():
+    tmpdir = tempfile.mkdtemp()
+    try:
+        project_root = Path(tmpdir).resolve()
+        config = load_config(str(project_root))
+
+        assert isinstance(config, dict)
+        assert "wing" in config
+        assert "rooms" in config
+        assert config["wing"] == project_root.name
+    finally:
+        shutil.rmtree(tmpdir)
+
+
 def test_scan_project_respects_gitignore():
     tmpdir = tempfile.mkdtemp()
     try:

From 99d98499b638c7fe8d6573dd451e5a729cdbb124 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Matt Van Horn <455140+mvanhorn@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Tue, 7 Apr 2026 16:36:57 -0700
Subject: [PATCH 2/2] fix: remove unused sys import

---
 mempalace/miner.py | 1 -
 1 file changed, 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/mempalace/miner.py b/mempalace/miner.py
index d28e91b51a..025c15a827 100644
--- a/mempalace/miner.py
+++ b/mempalace/miner.py
@@ -8,7 +8,6 @@
 """
 
 import os
-import sys
 import hashlib
 import fnmatch
 from pathlib import Path