Groundwork Synthesize

groundwork-synthesize

Distills raw session logs into a refined artifact. The artifact is rewritten in place with a fresh changelog entry and regenerated speakable_summary.

When to use

• After a groundwork-session that produced meaningful content.
• On a cadence — monthly works for Values.
• Explicitly by the user when they want to see the current state cleaned up.

What you do

1. Read context. The artifact file, all session files since last_synthesized (or all of them if never synthesized), the research-findings file.

2. Extract candidates. From sessions, pull out:

   • Declared values (explicit user statements: "I value X")
   • Implied values (patterns across multiple sessions: three times the user chose X over Y)
   • Tensions (values held in explicit conflict)
   • Principles-in-waiting (operating rules the user stated about how they work)

3. Merge with existing. The artifact has an existing Candidate values list. Merge by:

   • Keep values the user hasn't contradicted.
   • Add new values with a note of which session(s) they came from.
   • Mark values the user has spoken against with ~~strikethrough~~ and a note — don't delete (audit trail).
   • If a new session reframes an existing value, add the new phrasing alongside the old and mark the old as [superseded by {date}].

4. Write the artifact. Rewrite artifacts/{artifact}.md with:

   • Updated frontmatter: last_synthesized: {now-iso}, source_sessions: [...all session slugs included], regenerated speakable_summary (40 words max).
   • ## Candidate values section with the merged list.
   • ## Recent reflections section with 2-3 things that surfaced in the most recent sessions, in the user's own words (quoted).
   • ## Changelog section: append a new entry with date, what changed, which sessions drove it.

5. Never overwrite sessions. Sessions are append-only input. This skill only writes the artifact file.

6. Validate before writing. Run the artifact schema check on the frontmatter you're about to write. If it fails, stop; emit the validation error and don't write.

Tiers

• line: "synthesized: {n} new values, {m} tensions, {updated} existing"
• brief: the above + the new speakable_summary
• full: the above + a diff-style changelog of what moved in this pass

Headless mode

Accept --since {date} or --sessions {file1,file2,...} to limit scope. Write without prompting. Used by monthly cadence automation.

Failure modes

• No sessions since last_synthesized → stop; return "nothing to synthesize."
• Schema validation fails on the generated frontmatter → stop; do not write partial artifact.
• Artifact file has unexpected manual edits that conflict with existing changelog structure → merge conservatively: place new changes at the top and leave manual edits alone. Flag the conflict in the return summary.