# Recap On Long Session

> After a long stretch of work (~30+ minutes or many turns), emit a compressed recap of what's done, what's in flight, and what's next, so the user and any fresh context can re-enter without re-reading the whole conversation. Use when elapsed wall-clock or turn count makes the conversation hard to re-enter, or when the user re-engages after stepping away.

- Skill: `jcdavis131/recap-on-long-session` (Agent Skill)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add jcdavis131/recap-on-long-session`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/jcdavis131/recap-on-long-session/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Coding & Dev Tools
- Author: jcdavis131 (https://skillmd.com/u/jcdavis131)
- Updated: 2026-09-21
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/jcdavis131/recap-on-long-session

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# Recap On Long Session

A 48-minute session has a history no one can re-read efficiently. A recap is the compressed checkpoint that lets the conversation survive a context reset, a user stepping away, or a handoff.

## When to recap

- ~30+ minutes of elapsed work, or a comparable turn count.
- The user re-engages after stepping away ("what's the status", "where are we", "continue").
- Before a context compaction / handoff.
- At a natural milestone (a board task just completed, a phase finished).
- Not every turn — a recap on every turn is noise.

## The recap shape

Three lines, no more:

```
※ recap: <one-line what we're building>
Done: <what's verified complete>
In flight: <the one in-progress task + what it's waiting on>
Next: <the conditioned next action>
```

Optionally add `Blockers:` if anything's red.

## Rules

- **Compressed, not exhaustive.** A recap that lists every micro-step is just the conversation re-typed. Surface the *state*, not the *history*.
- **Done means verified** — only list under "Done" what passed its validate gate (see `validate-gate`). "I finished writing it" goes under "In flight" until the gate passes.
- **Name the wait condition.** "In flight: dashboard install, waiting on pnpm" — not just "dashboard". The wait condition is the actionable part.
- **Next is conditioned and concrete.** "Next: finish pnpm install, then typecheck and final report" — not "Next: keep working".

## When NOT to recap

- The session is short and the user is actively engaged turn-by-turn.
- Nothing has changed since the last recap. A recap that repeats the prior one is noise.
- The user is mid-sentence / mid-decision. Recap when the floor is open.

## Pair with

- `progress-board` — the board is the live view; the recap is the periodic compressed view. Both run together on long sessions.
- `persist-learnings` — the recap is the in-conversation checkpoint; memory files are the durable checkpoint. Different audiences, both needed.
- `cost-transparency` — elapsed time is the trigger.