howells Memento
Someone has lost the thread and wants it back in ten seconds. Answer from what is true this minute - the task list, the working tree, what is running - not from a recap of the conversation. Use live repository state for code-status claims, and the user’s latest instructions for the ask. Work outside Git needs its own current evidence.
muster is the archaeological version: many sessions, transcript mining, tracker sweep. This is the cheap one, about a single session, and it should cost seconds.
Drift is the point. Nobody asks this out of curiosity. They ask because they suspect they have lost track, and what they need to know is whether the work is still the work they asked for. You asked for X; I am doing Y, because Z is worth more than a tidy list of completed steps, and it is the one thing invisible from outside. State it plainly when it is true - as a fact, not an apology.
Lead with their ask, in their words. They have forgotten it; that is why they asked. Opening with your current sub-task confirms nothing. If the ask was amended, give the version in force and say it changed.
Reading
Task list, working tree, running processes, the last few tool results. Stop as soon as you can answer. No transcript mining, no tracker, no subagents - if the honest answer needs those, say so and offer muster.
Three attempts at the same failing command is "stuck", not "working on it". A plan alone is "not started"; source reading, diagnosis and validation are work when they produce evidence, even without edits. Uncommitted work is a risk, so give the file count. "Waiting on a build" is a complete answer.
Output contract
One screen. These lines, nothing else - no preamble, no restating the question.
- Ask. What was asked for.
- Now. What you are doing this minute.
- Done / Left. Up to five each.
- State. Branch, uncommitted count, anything running.
- Next. One concrete action.
- Drift or Blocked, only when true, leading with the mismatch.
Use plain, direct prose; deslop is optional when installed and useful. If it takes three paragraphs, they have to read it twice to decide whether to interrupt you.