corygabrielsen Postcompact
Compaction summaries preserve facts but lose nuance. This skill recovers what was lost by dispatching a subagent to read the full conversation transcript.
On Activation
1. Find the transcript
The compaction summary includes a line like:
read the full transcript at: /path/to/session.jsonl
Extract that path. If not found, check for .jsonl files
in ~/.claude/projects/ matching the current project.
2. Dispatch a research subagent
Launch a foreground Agent to read the transcript and
extract what the compaction summary missed:
- What was being worked on and what was the next step
- Reasoning behind decisions, not just the decisions
- Corrections and warnings from the user
- Implicit commitments ("we should also...", "after this...")
- Tone — exploratory? heads-down? frustrated?
- Active artifacts — file paths, branches, commits, PRs
Tell the agent to focus on the most recent messages and to do research only (no edits).
3. Synthesize and present
Distill what the subagent found into what matters for continuing the conversation. Don't parrot the raw output.
Do
- Use a foreground subagent (you need results before proceeding)
- Prioritize the end of the transcript (most recent = most relevant)
- Surface corrections and warnings prominently
Don't
- Read the transcript directly (too large for your context)
- Duplicate what the compaction summary already covers
- Ask questions — the user wants context recovered, not a quiz