Renew

Renew

Load focused context for a specific project or area to continue work.

Uses $JOURNAL_PATH (defaults to ~/dev/status) for the daily log journal, and ~/.whisper/ for accumulated operational knowledge. The log subdirectory defaults to log/; set $JOURNAL_LOG_SUBDIR to override (e.g. areas/log for the JORNAL layout).

Steps

1. Pull the journal repo:

   JOURNAL="${JOURNAL_PATH:-$HOME/dev/status}"
   LOG_SUBDIR="${JOURNAL_LOG_SUBDIR:-log}"
   cd "$JOURNAL" && git pull
   

2. Identify the target.

   If a <slug> is provided: The user says /renew <slug>.

   If no slug is provided: Infer from the current workspace context:

   • Get the repo name: basename $(git rev-parse --show-toplevel 2>/dev/null)
   • Get the branch name: git branch --show-current 2>/dev/null
   • Extract a candidate slug from the branch (strip prefix like ak/, feature/, etc.)
   • Use both the repo name and branch-derived slug as candidates

   Match candidates against:

   • $JOURNAL/projects/*.md — check filenames and grep for repo/branch references
   • $JOURNAL/areas/*.md — same
   • Try exact match, then partial/substring match
   • If multiple matches found, list them and ask the user to pick
   • If no match found, list available projects/areas and ask

3. Read the matched project or area file.

4. Read today's log ($JOURNAL/$LOG_SUBDIR/YYYY/YYYY-MM/YYYY-MM-DD.md). If it doesn't exist, create it with the daily log template. Scan for any earlier session entries related to this project/area today.

5. Search recent logs for context (last 3 days):

   grep -rl "<slug>" "$JOURNAL"/"$LOG_SUBDIR"/YYYY/YYYY-MM/ 2>/dev/null | tail -3
   

   Read any matches to understand recent session history.

6. Search inbox for related items:

   grep -i "<slug>" "$JOURNAL"/inbox.md
   

7. Check ~/.whisper/ for accumulated knowledge. If ~/.whisper/ exists, load context:

   repo_url=$(git remote get-url origin 2>/dev/null | sed 's|https://||;s|git@||;s|\.git$||')
   branch_slug=$(git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD | sed 's|/|--|g')
   whisper_dir=~/.whisper/repos/"${repo_url}"/branches/"${branch_slug}"
   

   • Read context.md if it exists (extract beads-epic, status)
   • Read plan.md if it has real content
   • Read notes.md if it has real content
   • Read env.md at repo level for infra facts
   • If beads is available, fetch open issues:

     bd list --label branch:<branch> 2>/dev/null
     bd list --status in_progress --label branch:<branch> 2>/dev/null
     

     Surface any in_progress tickets prominently. The Suggested next step must only reference tickets NOT currently in_progress.

8. If the project/area has a worktree or repo path noted in its file, gather git context:

   • cd <worktree-path> && git branch --show-current
   • git log --oneline -5
   • git status --short
   • git log --oneline origin/main..HEAD

Output format

---
**Resuming: Project/Area Name**

**Status**: brief one-line summary of where things stand

**Last session** *(from most recent log entry)*
- what was done last time

**Open tasks**
- [ ] task list from the project/area file

**Waiting**
- [~] any blocked items and who/what they're waiting on

**Related inbox items** *(if any)*
- items that mention this project

**Whisper context** *(if ~/.whisper/ exists)*
- Plan: summary of current plan
- Notes: key findings
- Beads issues: <n> open, <n> in_progress

**⚠ Active in flight** *(omit if none)*
- ◐ `<id>` — <title> [started: <date>]
- *(If your intended ticket is listed here, see **Claiming work** below.)*

**Workspace**
- Worktree: path, branch, status
- Commits ahead of main, uncommitted changes, etc.

**Suggested next step**
- what makes sense to do next — only suggest tickets NOT currently in_progress

Then ask: "Ready to continue, or want to adjust the plan?"

Claiming work

Before writing any code, claim the ticket atomically and check for file conflicts.

Steps

1. Claim atomically:

   bd update <ticket-id> --claim
   

2. Check for file-level conflicts with other in-progress tickets:

   bd list --status in_progress --label branch:<branch> --json 2>/dev/null \
     | python3 -c "
   import json, sys
   issues = json.loads(sys.stdin.read() or '[]')
   for i in issues:
       files = (i.get('metadata') or {}).get('files', [])
       for f in files:
           print(i['id'] + '\t' + f)
   "
   

   Cross-reference against the claimed ticket's own metadata.files. If overlap found, surface a warning:

   ⚠ File conflict detected:
     services/api.py is also claimed by ticket-abc (in_progress)
   
   Options:
     A) Gate this ticket until the blocker closes
     B) Coordinate merge order
     C) Proceed — accept the conflict (reconcile at merge time)
   

3. If backing off (chose option A):

   bd update <ticket-id> --assignee "" --status open
   bd gate create <ticket-id> --type bead --await-id <blocking-id>
   

Metadata coverage warning

File conflict detection only works when both tickets have metadata.files populated (set by create-issues or /w link at ticket creation time). Tickets created before this convention was adopted have no metadata. For those tickets, "no conflict found" means unknown, not safe.