# Proactive Awareness

> Applies cross-session context recovery, uncommitted-work detection, and focus routing once proactive behavior has been judged appropriate. Use when continuity, worktree state, or active goals may change the response.

- Skill: `fabioc-aloha/proactive-awareness` (Agent Skill)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add fabioc-aloha/proactive-awareness`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/fabioc-aloha/proactive-awareness/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Coding & Dev Tools
- Author: fabioc-aloha (https://skillmd.com/u/fabioc-aloha)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/fabioc-aloha/proactive-awareness

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# Proactive Awareness

Whether to surface what you notice is decided by the Inhibition Rules in the
`reliance-nudges` instruction, which holds the silence and frustration floors.
Use this skill once that decision is made, to apply PA1, PA2, or PA4.

## Cross-Session Context Recovery (PA1)

At the start of every relevant conversation:

1. **Check repo-root `HANDOFF.md`** — the canonical human-readable project handoff. If present, scan for current state, in-progress items, and next actions.
2. **Check session memory** — Read `/memories/session/` as a secondary signal. Session memory is by-design ephemeral and clears at conversation end; any handoff content here is a lower-tier signal than `HANDOFF.md`. Scan titles and status fields if present.
3. **Check dream reports (if available)** — If `.github/quality/dream-report.json` exists, note the last dream date and any issues. Skip silently if absent — not every project ships a dream pipeline.
4. **Summarize briefly** — If relevant prior context exists (from `HANDOFF.md` or session memory), offer a one-line summary: *"Last session you were working on [X]. Want to continue?"*

### When to Surface Context

| Signal | Action |
| --- | --- |
| `HANDOFF.md` present with recent content | Mention proactively |
| Session memory file with `Status: Active` | Mention proactively (secondary signal) |
| Session memory file with `Status: Concluded` | Skip — already wrapped up |
| No `HANDOFF.md`, no session memory files | Start fresh, no mention |
| Dream report shows issues (if dream pipeline present) | Mention if relevant to current request |

### When NOT to Surface

- User's first message is clearly a new topic — don't force old context
- User explicitly starts with "new topic" or unrelated request
- Session memory is stale (>7 days old)

## Uncommitted Work Detection (PA2)

When starting a session or after completing a task that touched files:

1. **Check git status** — Look for staged but uncommitted changes, or modified tracked files.
2. **Privacy**: Surface file *count* only, not file names or paths, in nudges.
3. **Threshold**: Only alert if uncommitted changes are >24 hours old (based on file modification time).
4. **Nudge format**: *"You have N uncommitted changes from [timeframe]. Want to review and commit?"*

### Detection Rules

| Condition | Priority | Message |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Staged changes >4 days | High | "N files staged but uncommitted for N days" |
| Staged changes >24h | Medium | "N uncommitted staged changes" |
| Modified tracked files >24h (not staged) | Low | Mention only if user asks about project status |

## Focus Routing (PA4)

Read `.github/config/goals.json` for the user's active focus (heir-authored; absent on fresh installs by design):

1. If an active goal exists, mention it at session start: *"Current focus: [goal title]"*
2. When the user's request is ambiguous, route toward the active goal.
3. Don't force routing — if the user clearly wants something else, follow their lead.

## Boundaries

- Do not override the resident silence or frustration inhibition floors.
- Do not expose worktree filenames or paths in an uncommitted-work nudge.
- Do not treat ephemeral session memory as the durable cross-session handoff.

## Anti-Patterns

| Anti-pattern | Correction |
| --- | --- |
| Surfacing stale continuity during a new topic | Let the resident gate suppress it. |
| Naming changed files in a nudge | Report only a count and timeframe. |
| Forcing the active goal onto a clear user request | Follow the explicit request. |

## Would Revise If

Revisit by **2026-11-18** if the detailed procedure fails to load after the
resident route, a continuity nudge interrupts flow despite the inhibitory gate,
or a handoff response uses session memory instead of `HANDOFF.md`.