Gotcha

Gotcha Log

This skill manages a living document of project-specific pitfalls.

Config

Reads gotchas_file from .claude/project.json (default: GOTCHAS.md at the repo root).

When invoked with /gotcha (no arguments)

Read and display the current gotcha list from the configured file, organized by category. Summarize the count per category and highlight any gotchas relevant to recent conversation context.

When invoked with /gotcha <text>

Add a new entry to the gotchas file. Parse the argument to extract:

• Category: Match against existing categories, or infer from context. If the text starts with a category tag in brackets like [Database] or [Testing], use that. Otherwise, infer from keywords.
• Title: A short, scannable name for the gotcha.
• Description: What goes wrong — the surprising or non-obvious behavior.
• Why: Why this happens (root cause).
• Fix: The correct approach or workaround.

Use this format when appending:

### Title Goes Here
**Added**: YYYY-MM-DD
**Why**: Root cause explanation.
**Fix**: The correct approach.

Description of the gotcha — what goes wrong and how you'd encounter it.

Place the entry under the correct category heading. If the gotchas file doesn't exist, create it with a default category structure (see below). If a similar gotcha already exists, update it rather than creating a duplicate.

When writing code (automatic / model-invoked)

Before writing or modifying code, read the configured gotchas file and check whether any listed gotchas apply to the code you're about to write. If a gotcha applies, follow its prescribed fix. You don't need to mention the gotcha to the user unless it materially changes your approach from what they might expect.

Capture at loop-exit (model-invoked) — the shared protocol

The delivery skills (/task, /sdlc) run this at the end of a run. Goal: turn a hard-won trap into a durable entry without capture fatigue.

Objective trigger — auto-draft ONLY on hard evidence of a trap:

• a test / eval / flowsim fix-loop actually ran and failed-then-recovered, or
• the user explicitly voiced surprise ("huh", "that's a gotcha", "didn't expect").

A clean run (no fix-loop, no surprise) produces no prompt — skip silently. Do not gate on a vibe like "was anything non-obvious?"; that fires every run.

When triggered: auto-draft the entry yourself in the format above (don't make the user compose it), route it through the dedup check (update a similar existing entry, never duplicate), and ask a single confirm before writing. Create gotchas_file only on confirm. Emit /gotcha <drafted text> — never a bare /gotcha (that's review mode). If the user declines, the caller may drop a .next-action sentinel instead (see each delivery skill's seam step).

Default Categories

When creating a new gotchas file, start with these category headings (omit any that don't apply to the project):

• Database/SQL
• Auth/Session
• API/Routing
• Frontend
• Testing
• Integrations (LLM, third-party APIs, webhooks)
• Infra (Docker, deployment, environment)
• Logging/Observability
• Code Hygiene

Projects should add, remove, or rename categories to fit their domain.