Continuous Learning

Continuous Learning

Extract patterns from sessions and save them as structured skill files that future sessions can consult by trigger match. This is the layer above Claude Code's auto-memory: memory captures facts and preferences about you and your projects; continuous-learning captures reusable problem-solving patterns that need more structure than a memory entry can carry.

Scope — how this differs from auto-memory

Claude Code has a built-in memory system (~/.claude/projects/.../memory/) that captures user, feedback, project, and reference memories — short, typed entries loaded into every future conversation's context. Use that for:

• Facts about the user's role, preferences, responsibilities.
• Corrections you want applied in all future work ("don't mock the database in integration tests").
• Project-state facts like deadlines, decisions, stakeholders.
• Pointers to external systems.

This skill handles the things auto-memory doesn't:

• Triggerable patterns — full YAML files with an exact error-message trigger, root-cause analysis, and copy-pasteable fix. When that same error shows up six months later, the pattern surfaces.
• Structured templates per pattern type — not just free text. Consistent shape across error resolutions, user corrections, workarounds, debugging techniques, project-specific conventions.
• Reusable skills layer — files land in ~/.claude/skills/learned/, discoverable as portable skills across projects and machines.
• Usage + confidence tracking — a pattern that's worked 5 times carries more weight than one that's worked once.

Rule of thumb: a one-line fact goes in memory. A reproducible fix-recipe or debugging playbook goes here.

When to use

Automatic triggers:

• Stop hook — runs when a Claude Code session ends. See references/hook-setup.md.
• Session timeout — same mechanism.

Manual triggers:

• After solving a particularly difficult bug.
• When the user corrects an approach (indicating a learning opportunity).
• After discovering an undocumented workaround.
• When a debugging technique proves especially effective.
• After understanding project-specific conventions.

Signal phrases to watch for:

• "Save what we learned"
• "Remember this for next time"
• "This should be a pattern"
• "Extract learnings from this session"
• "What patterns did we discover?"

The five pattern types

Each pattern gets classified into one of five types. Full YAML templates and extraction criteria for each → references/pattern-types.md. Detailed examples → references/examples.md. Brief summary:

1. Error resolution — non-obvious fixes to errors where the root cause matters. Trigger is the exact error message or pattern.
2. User correction — insights when the user redirected your approach. Captures original-vs-corrected-vs-why.
3. Workaround — clever solutions to limitations in tools, frameworks, or environments. Includes "when will this become unnecessary."
4. Debugging technique — systematic approaches for specific problem classes. Includes indicators for "when to reach for this."
5. Project-specific — conventions unique to one codebase (architecture, naming, testing, deployment). Must include concrete examples and rationale.

Extraction workflow

Step 1 — Session analysis

Scan the session for these learning signals:

• Error/exception events — error messages, stack traces, failed commands. Note which required multiple attempts.
• User corrections — messages where the user redirected the approach; phrases like "actually", "instead", "don't do that".
• Workarounds — "can't do X, so we'll do Y"; framework/tool limitations encountered.
• Debugging journeys — investigation sequences; hypotheses tested and results.
• Project conventions — corrections about "how we do things here"; architectural patterns discovered.

Step 2 — Threshold evaluation

Apply the extraction threshold to filter noise:

Include if:

• Pattern would save significant time if encountered again.
• Solution wasn't immediately obvious from error/docs.
• Pattern is specific enough to be actionable.
• Context is clear enough for future matching.

Exclude if:

• Solution was the first result in documentation.
• Pattern is too generic to be useful.
• Context is too narrow (one-time unique situation).
• Better patterns already exist for this case.

Configurable threshold — tune via ~/.claude/config/learning.yaml:

extraction:
  threshold: 0.7               # 0.0-1.0, higher = more selective
  min_investigation_steps: 3   # Minimum complexity for extraction
  require_root_cause: true     # Must understand why, not just what
  max_patterns_per_session: 10 # Prevent noise

Step 3 — Structuring

For each pattern that passes threshold:

1. Classify type into one of the five categories.
2. Extract context — framework, version, environment.
3. Formulate trigger — when should this pattern be recalled?
4. Structure solution per the type-specific template (references/pattern-types.md). Pattern-body fields only — the surrounding file wrapper (metadata, usage:, confidence:, tags:) lives in references/storage-format.md.
5. Assign confidence — initial confidence based on validation level (goes in the wrapper's confidence: block, not the pattern body).

Step 4 — Deduplication

Before saving, check for existing similar patterns:

1. Load existing patterns from ~/.claude/skills/learned/
2. For each candidate:
   a. Search for patterns with similar triggers
   b. Search for patterns in same category/context
   c. Calculate similarity score
3. If similarity > 0.8:
   a. Merge — combine insights, increment times_applied
   b. Update — if new pattern is more complete, replace
4. If similarity < 0.8: save as new pattern

Similarity by type: error patterns compare error-message patterns; user corrections compare original/corrected approaches; workarounds compare limitations+solutions; debugging compares problem classes; project-specific compares project+category.

Step 5 — Storage

Write the pattern file and update the index. Full file layout, naming, and schema → references/storage-format.md.

Quality criteria

Scoring

Patterns that score ≥ the threshold get saved.

quality_score = (
  non_obvious * 0.20 +
  time_investment * 0.15 +
  root_cause_depth * 0.20 +
  recurrence * 0.20 +
  transferability * 0.10 +
  specificity * 0.10 +
  actionability * 0.05
)

# Save if quality_score >= threshold (default 0.7)

What NOT to extract

• Documented in official docs (first page of results).
• Common knowledge for the technology stack.
• Insufficient context for future matching.
• Too narrow (unique one-time situation).
• Too broad (generic advice without specifics).
• Lacks root cause understanding.
• Would be outdated quickly (version-specific hacks).
• Duplicates existing patterns without adding value.

Best practices

Effective capture:

• Be specific: "React useState stale closure in event handler" > "React bug".
• Include context: framework, version, environment.
• Explain why — root cause beats surface fix.
• Show examples — concrete code beats abstract description.

Avoiding anti-patterns:

• Don't save obvious solutions — the first Google result doesn't need saving.
• Don't over-generalize — keep patterns focused and actionable.
• Don't skip validation — patterns should be tested before high confidence.
• Don't ignore updates — revisit patterns as frameworks evolve.

Pattern hygiene:

• Review patterns periodically (monthly suggested).
• Deprecate patterns for outdated framework versions.
• Merge similar patterns to reduce duplication.
• Increase confidence only after successful reuse.

Integration points

With context-saver: when context-saver runs at session end, it can include a "Patterns Discovered This Session" section pointing into ~/.claude/skills/learned/.

With brainstorm: learned patterns can inform brainstorming sessions — surface relevant patterns when discussing technical approaches, reference past workarounds when evaluating options.

With future sessions: at session start, patterns are loaded and available for automatic matching when similar errors occur, explicit recall ("what did we learn about X?"), and pattern suggestions during debugging.

References (loaded on demand)

• references/pattern-types.md — Full YAML templates and extraction criteria for all five pattern types
• references/examples.md — Complete worked examples, one per pattern type
• references/storage-format.md — Directory layout, file naming, skill file schema, index file structure, lifecycle
• references/hook-setup.md — Stop hook configuration, options, lifecycle integration, testing