Session Continuity

Session Continuity

Critical rules

• State lives in project .claude/ files (tasks.md, requirements.md, session.md), not conversation memory.
• EVERY message must start with the current state prefix.
• Never re-derive progress by investigating the codebase — read session.md.
• Never auto-advance tasks; never commit for the user; never use TodoWrite.
• VERIFY before COMPLETE; mark [x] only after user yes in AWAITING_COMMIT.
• Before operating or setting up, read references/state-machine.md and references/setup-and-antipatterns.md.

Workflow

1. On "continue": enter CHECK_STATUS — read only session.md, route by Status.
2. WORKING: implement current task only; update session.md at triggers.
3. VERIFY: run all requirements verification commands; show output; fail → WORKING.
4. COMPLETE → CHECK_STATUS → AWAITING_COMMIT (ask permission, STOP).
5. On yes: MARK_COMPLETE then CHECK_STATUS for next task.
6. On "create a plan" / "setup tasks": create the three files per setup reference.

Resources

• references/state-machine.md — states, transitions, file roles. Read every session.
• references/setup-and-antipatterns.md — file templates, anti-patterns, path fixes. Read on setup or resume failures.

Validation

• Every message has state prefix
• Three .claude/ files exist at project root
• CHECK_STATUS only reads session.md
• VERIFY ran all commands with verbatim output
• No [x] without user approval; no TodoWrite; no agent commits

Constraints

• Not for single self-contained one-session changes.
• Related: implementation-planning, verification-before-completion, tdd-workflow, investigation-modes, create-tasks.