How do I install the Progress Ledger skill?

Run npx skillmds@latest add misssophiesterling/progress-ledger in your terminal (requires Node.js), paste this page's agent-chat prompt into Claude, Cursor, or any MCP-connected agent, or download the SKILL.md file and copy it into your agent's skills directory.

Is Progress Ledger safe to use?

This skill has not completed SkillMD's automated safety review yet. Capability flags: makes network calls. SkillMD never runs a skill's scripts for you; review the SKILL.md before installing.

Which AI agents work with Progress Ledger?

This skill is tagged as working with Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex. SKILL.md is an open format, so most agents that read a skills directory can load it too.

Is Progress Ledger free to use?

Yes. Installing skills from SkillMD is free. This skill is licensed under MIT.

Who published Progress Ledger?

MissSophieSterling (@misssophiesterling) published this skill. Their other Agent Skills are listed on their SkillMD profile.

Progress Ledger by misssophiesterling

Name: Progress Ledger
Rating: 4.5 (4 reviews)
Author: MissSophieSterling

Progress Ledger

Keep a short progress file on long, batch or multi-session work so a crash or a new session resumes from the last verified step instead of redoing it. Use for jobs longer than about 30 minutes or over many items, and when resuming ("pick up where you left off", "resume the batch", after a crash or compaction).

File contents

Progress ledger

Work an agent has done and then lost track of gets paid for twice. A ledger is one small file that says what's finished, where it is, what failed and what's next. With it, any new session (or a different agent) starts at the right step. Anthropic's harness for long-running agents uses the same idea: a progress log plus git commits, so each fresh context window can get its bearings quickly.

Start

Create PROGRESS.md (or use the project's existing equivalent) when the job starts:

# Progress: <goal in one line>
Updated: YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM

## Done (verified)
- <item> → <where the output is>

## In progress
- <item>: <state>

## Failed / blocked
- <item>: <exact error>; tried <what>

## Next
1. <next step>

## Decisions
- <choice made, and why, in one line>

For a batch, keep a machine-readable ledger beside it, one line per item, so a resume can skip finished items with a lookup instead of re-checking each one:

<item-id>	<done|failed|skipped>	<output path or error>

While working

Update right after each unit is verified (test passed, file written, draft saved). Not at the end, and never before the check.
Keep it under about 60 lines. Replace stale lines instead of appending a diary; git history (commit after each verified unit, when in a repo) holds the detail.
Log failures with the exact error and what was tried, so the next session doesn't walk into the same dead end.

Resume

Read the ledger before anything else.
Spot-check the last few "done" entries (the file exists, the test passes). A session that crashed mid-step can claim more than it finished.
Carry on from "Next". Trust the rest; don't re-verify everything.

Finish

Mark the goal done, then delete or archive the ledger. A stale ledger from an old task misleads the next agent that finds it, and it does so confidently.

Before you finish a session

Ledger updated after the last verified unit, with the date and time.
Every "done" line says where its output is.
Failures carry the exact error text.
If the goal is complete, the ledger is removed or archived.

Part of agent-skills · MIT · improvements welcome as issues.

---name: progress-ledgerdescription: Keep a short progress file on long, batch or multi-session work so a crash or a new session resumes from the last verified step instead of redoing it. Use for jobs longer than about 30 minutes or over many items, and when resuming ("pick up where you left off", "resume the batch", after a crash or compaction).license: MIT---# Progress ledgerWork an agent has done and then lost track of gets paid for twice. A ledger is one small file that says what's finished, where it is, what failed and what's next. With it, any new session (or a different agent) starts at the right step. Anthropic's harness for long-running agents uses the same idea: a progress log plus git commits, so each fresh context window can get its bearings quickly.## StartCreate `PROGRESS.md` (or use the project's existing equivalent) when the job starts:```markdown# Progress: <goal in one line>Updated: YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM## Done (verified)- <item> → <where the output is>## In progress- <item>: <state>## Failed / blocked- <item>: <exact error>; tried <what>## Next1. <next step>## Decisions- <choice made, and why, in one line>```For a batch, keep a machine-readable ledger beside it, one line per item, so a resume can skip finished items with a lookup instead of re-checking each one:```<item-id> <done|failed|skipped> <output path or error>```## While working- Update right after each unit is **verified** (test passed, file written, draft saved). Not at the end, and never before the check.- Keep it under about 60 lines. Replace stale lines instead of appending a diary; git history (commit after each verified unit, when in a repo) holds the detail.- Log failures with the exact error and what was tried, so the next session doesn't walk into the same dead end.## Resume1. Read the ledger before anything else.2. Spot-check the last few "done" entries (the file exists, the test passes). A session that crashed mid-step can claim more than it finished.3. Carry on from "Next". Trust the rest; don't re-verify everything.## FinishMark the goal done, then delete or archive the ledger. A stale ledger from an old task misleads the next agent that finds it, and it does so confidently.## Before you finish a session- [ ] Ledger updated after the last verified unit, with the date and time.- [ ] Every "done" line says where its output is.- [ ] Failures carry the exact error text.- [ ] If the goal is complete, the ledger is removed or archived.---Part of [agent-skills](https://github.com/MissSophieSterling/agent-skills) · MIT · improvements welcome as issues.

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