Signal State

⚡ signal-state

This skill manages the Continuous State Engine for the SIGNAL protocol. It transitions the context window from an ephemeral chat history to a persistent .signal_state.md file on disk.

When to use

• Start of session: Read .signal_state.md if it exists. It IS your context.
• Significant actions: Update state on sub-task completion, PR merge, or focus shift.
• Trigger: /signal-state → refresh file immediately.

How it works

Use write_file or replace to modify .signal_state.md in project root. No scripts required.

Format (.signal_state.md)

YAML frontmatter + 3 blocks: Context, Progress, Next.

---
signal_version: 0.2
boot_mode: BOOT:arch
updated_at: 2026-04-15T15:00:00Z
---
## Context
project=move-validator
stack=node+ts
scope=knight-validation

## Progress
[x] parse files
[x] validate L-shape 
[x] validate off-board edge cases
[/] SAN to coord conversion boundary
[ ] write unit tests for SAN parse

## Next
turn_focus=implement SAN string parsing in src/move.ts

Rules for Updating State

1. Keep it atomic: The entire file should rarely exceed 30 lines.
2. Never store code: The state file tracks pointers to progress, not the code itself.
3. Overwrite, don't append: When updating progress, change [ ] to [x]. Do not just append completed items to an infinitely growing list.
4. Pruning: If the Progress list exceeds 10 items, collapse the completed items [x] into a single summary line: [x] core knight validation (5 tasks).

Bootstrapping a new state

If the user asks to start using continuous state and the file doesn't exist, create it immediately based on the current context of the chat.

# Example action
write_to_file ".signal_state.md" <formatted_state_content>