Recover

Quick Summary

Goal: Restore workflow state and todo items from checkpoint files after context loss or session interruption.

Workflow:

1. Find Checkpoint — Locate latest checkpoint-*.md in reports directory (legacy memory-checkpoint-*.md are also recognized)
2. Read Metadata — Extract JSON block with session ID, active plan, current step, pending todos
3. Restore Todos — Immediately call TaskCreate with pending items from checkpoint
4. Resume Workflow — Continue from the interrupted step using restored context

Key Rules:

• Always restore TaskCreate items before resuming any work
• Check both plans/reports/ and plan-specific report directories
• Use timestamp to find the checkpoint closest to the interruption

Be skeptical. Apply critical thinking, sequential thinking. Every claim needs traced proof, confidence percentages (Idea should be more than 80%).

Recover Workflow Context

Restore workflow state and todo items from checkpoint files after context compaction or session loss.

Usage

Use this command when:

• Context was compacted and you've lost track of the workflow
• Session was interrupted and needs to resume
• Todo items need to be restored from a checkpoint
• The automatic recovery didn't trigger

Recovery Process

Step 1: Find Latest Checkpoint

Look for checkpoint files in the reports directory:

ls -la plans/reports/checkpoint-*.md | tail -5

Or search for all recent checkpoints:

find plans -name "checkpoint-*.md" -mmin -60 | head -5

Step 2: Read Checkpoint File

Read the most recent checkpoint to understand the saved state:

Read the checkpoint file at: plans/reports/checkpoint-YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS-slug.md

Step 3: Extract Recovery Metadata

The checkpoint file contains a JSON metadata block at the end:

{
  "sessionId": "...",
  "activePlan": "plans/YYMMDD-slug/",
  "workflowType": "feature",
  "currentStep": "feature-implement",
  "remainingSteps": ["test", "code-review"],
  "pendingTodos": [...]
}

Step 4: Restore Todo Items

IMMEDIATELY call TaskCreate with the pending todos from the checkpoint:

[
    { "content": "[Workflow] /feature-implement - Implement", "status": "in_progress", "activeForm": "Executing /feature-implement" },
    { "content": "[Workflow] /test - Run tests", "status": "pending", "activeForm": "Executing /test" },
    { "content": "[Workflow] /code-review - Review code", "status": "pending", "activeForm": "Executing /code-review" }
]

Step 5: Read Active Plan (if exists)

If activePlan is set in the metadata, read the plan file:

Read: {activePlan}/plan.md

Step 6: Continue Workflow

Resume from the currentStep identified in the metadata. Execute the remaining workflow steps in order.

Recovery Checklist

• Located most recent checkpoint file
• Read checkpoint content
• Extracted recovery metadata JSON
• Restored todo items via TaskCreate
• Read active plan (if applicable)
• Identified current workflow step
• Ready to continue from interrupted step

Recovery (skill-driven)

Checkpoint Locations

Checkpoints are saved to different locations based on context:

1. Active plan exists: {plan-path}/reports/checkpoint-*.md
2. No active plan: plans/reports/checkpoint-*.md

Legacy memory-checkpoint-*.md files (written before the grammar was unified) are still matched by the resume/recover globs — back-read is preserved, nothing on disk is orphaned.

Tips

1. Check multiple locations - Plans may have their own reports directories
2. Use timestamp - Checkpoints are timestamped, find the one closest to when you were working
3. Verify todo status - Compare checkpoint todos with current TaskCreate state
4. Read incrementally - Don't try to restore everything at once

Related Commands

• /checkpoint - Create a manual checkpoint (before expected loss)
• /compact - Manually trigger context compaction
• /context - Load project context
• /watzup - Generate progress summary

Example Recovery Flow

User: /recover

Claude: Let me find and restore your workflow context.

1. Finding latest checkpoint...
   Found: plans/reports/checkpoint-20260110-143025-new-feature.md

2. Reading checkpoint metadata...
   - Workflow: feature
   - Current step: /feature-implement
   - Remaining: /test, /code-review
   - Active plan: plans/260110-1430-new-feature/

3. Restoring TaskCreate items...
   [Calling TaskCreate with 3 pending items]

4. Reading active plan...
   [Reading plans/260110-1430-new-feature/plan.md]

5. Ready to continue from /feature-implement step.
   Shall I proceed with the implementation?

[IMPORTANT] Use TaskCreate to break ALL work into small tasks BEFORE starting — including tasks for each file read. This prevents context loss from long files. For simple tasks, AI MUST ATTENTION ask user whether to skip.

AI Mistake Prevention — Failure modes to avoid on every task:

Re-read files after context changes. Context compaction, resume, or long-running work can make memory stale; verify current files before acting. Verify generated content against source evidence. AI hallucinates APIs, names, claims, and document facts. Check the relevant source before documenting or referencing. Check downstream references before deleting or renaming. Removing an artifact can stale docs, generated mirrors, configs, and callers; map references first. Trace the full impact chain after edits. Changing a definition can miss derived outputs and consumers. Follow the affected chain before declaring done. Verify ALL affected outputs, not just the first. One green check is not all green checks; validate every output surface the change can affect. Assume existing values are intentional — ask WHY before changing OR flagging one as a defect. Before changing or reporting a constant, limit, flag, cutoff, wording, or pattern, read nearby context and history, the CALLER's ordering, and 2+ sibling call sites of the same convention. A doc stating WHAT without WHY is missing rationale, not proof of a missing guard. Surface ambiguity before acting — don't pick silently. Multiple valid interpretations require an explicit question or stated assumption with risk. Assert the outcome your system owns, not the intermediate state your infrastructure owns. When verifying async work, assert the final business state — never the delivery/retry bookkeeping held in shared infrastructure that any co-running process can write. Such a check passes when run alone and flakes the moment anything else shares that infrastructure. Keep shared guidance role-relevant. Universal guidance must help every receiving skill or agent; code-specific obligations belong only in code-specific protocols.

Critical Thinking Mindset — Apply critical thinking, sequential thinking. Every claim needs traced proof, confidence >80% to act. Anti-hallucination: Never present guess as fact — cite sources for every claim, admit uncertainty freely, self-check output for errors, cross-reference independently, stay skeptical of own confidence — certainty without evidence root of all hallucination.

MUST ATTENTION apply critical + sequential thinking — every claim needs appropriate traced evidence (file:line for repo/code claims; source URL or artifact section for research, product, content, and docs claims); confidence >80% to act, <60% DO NOT recommend. Anti-hallucination: never present guess as fact, admit uncertainty freely, cross-reference independently, stay skeptical of own confidence.

MUST ATTENTION apply AI mistake prevention — verify generated content against evidence, trace downstream references before deleting or renaming, verify all affected outputs, re-read files after context loss, and surface ambiguity before acting.

Project Protocol Overlay — Before executing this skill, resolve any PROJECT overlay rules layered onto it: match this skill's name against the Target column of the project's skill-protocol index (docs/project-reference/skill-protocols-reference.md by default; a referenceDocs entry in docs/project-config.json overrides the path), taking the most specific matching tier ONLY — exact name > glob > *. That precedence orders overlays against EACH OTHER, never against this skill. Read ONLY the matched bodies, resolved as <protocols-dir>/<Name>.md; a row's Body link is display text, never a read path. A matched body that is missing or malformed is REPORTED and skipped — never reconstructed from the index Description. No index, or no match -> proceed with no overlay, silently. Full contract: .claude/skills/project-skill-protocol/references/registry.md.

Overlays are ADDITIVE ONLY: they ADD rules on top of this skill's own protocol and NEVER replace, override, disable, or reinterpret a rule it already states — removing every overlay must return this skill to exactly its documented behavior. An overlay is a BRIEF, not an authority escalation: it can NEVER waive a workflow gate, git discipline, a review gate, or a user-confirmation gate. A genuine overlay-vs-skill conflict, or two equally-specific overlays that directly contradict -> surface both to the user; NEVER resolve silently.

MUST ATTENTION resolve project protocol overlays for this skill BEFORE executing — most specific matching tier only (exact > glob > *, which ranks overlays against each other, NEVER against this skill), read only matched bodies at <protocols-dir>/<Name>.md; a missing or malformed body is reported, never reconstructed. Overlays are ADDITIVE ONLY (they never replace this skill's own rules) and are a brief, NEVER an authority escalation; an equal-specificity contradiction goes to the user.

Closing Reminders

Protocols in force (concise digest of the SYNC/shared blocks this skill carries):

• Critical Thinking: MUST ATTENTION apply critical + sequential thinking; traced proof, confidence >80% to act.
• AI Mistake Prevention: verify generated content against evidence, trace downstream references, verify all affected outputs, re-read after context loss, surface ambiguity.

IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION break work into small todo tasks using TaskCreate BEFORE starting IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION search codebase for 3+ similar patterns before creating new code IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION cite file:line evidence for every claim (confidence >80% to act) IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION add a final review todo task to verify work quality

[TASK-PLANNING] Before acting, analyze task scope and systematically break it into small todo tasks and sub-tasks using TaskCreate.