# Session Open

> Get a fresh chat current on an ongoing project with minimum lost time, verification-first. Reads the project's canonical state files, optionally runs one targeted search of past conversations, verifies load-bearing claims before acting on them, then orients the user in plain language — ending with a reasoned recommended next action. Use when the user says "catch up", "get up to speed", "onboard me", "where did we leave off", "here's the handover", "continuing from a previous session", "/open", or "/handover-in". The RECEIVING half of a session-continuity pair — see session-close for the outgoing half.

- Skill: `oldvictech/session-open` (Agent Skill)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add oldvictech/session-open`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/oldvictech/session-open/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Coding & Dev Tools
- Author: Oldvictech (https://skillmd.com/u/oldvictech)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/oldvictech/session-open

---


# Session Open

Absorb a handover the right way: descend from cheap-and-ambient to authoritative,
verify what's load-bearing, translate the state for the user, recommend a next step,
then wait for their call.

## CONFIGURATION (adapt to your project)

Name your project's canonical files here. Defaults that work well:
- **ROADMAP.md** — the plan: sequence, status, gates, pending decisions
- **TASKS.md** — current actionable items
- **Latest HANDOVER** — the previous session's delta (written by session-close)
- *(optional)* an operating-model or conventions doc, a decision log, a ledger of
  shipped work, style/process guides your project follows

If your project has a second execution environment (a CLI agent, a build server,
a separate machine) whose disk is the ground truth, name it too — it is "the
implementation channel" below. If you have none, skip the probe step; the canonical
files are your highest tier.

## The trust ladder (read in increasing order of authority)

1. **Ambient memory / chat context** — what this conversation already believes.
   A summary; possibly stale. Baseline only.
2. **Canonical files** — the durable record. Overrides memory wherever they differ.
3. **Ground truth** — the implementation channel's disk (real file state, hashes,
   test results), if one exists. The final authority; everything else is a claim.

When tiers disagree, the higher tier wins. Never act on a tier-1 belief as if it
were tier-3 verified. **A report is a claim; the artifact is evidence.**

## Step 1 — Read the canonical files (+ one targeted past-chat search)

Read the canonical files. If the handover references something it doesn't explain
("the X trap", "why Y was reverted") and past-conversation search is available, run
ONE focused search to resolve it — a targeted query, not a sweep. Skip if nothing
is unclear.

If a file is missing from where you look first, try the project's other access
paths (mounted copies can lag an uploaded knowledge base) before concluding it
doesn't exist.

## Step 2 — Verify load-bearing claims before acting on them

Identify what this session will act on first: anything the handover tagged
UNVERIFIED, any status the next action depends on, any number about to be cited.

- **If an implementation channel exists:** draft a READ-ONLY probe (no edits, no
  long jobs) asking for on-disk facts only — "report what is on disk; do not infer."
  Scope it to what the session will act on, not everything pending — each probe
  costs the user a round-trip. If several items qualify, ask the user which they'll
  work on, then probe that. Present the probe as a copy-pasteable block.
- **If none exists:** treat the canonical files as top tier, and explicitly tag
  anything that is only asserted in the handover as UNVERIFIED in your orientation.

## Step 3 — Orient the user, recommend, then wait

```
## Caught up — <date>

### Where we are (plain language)
[2-4 sentences anyone can act on: state, what last session did, what's next.]

### Verified
[Facts confirmed against the highest available tier — safe to act on.]

### Unverified or desynced
[Claims the probe did NOT confirm, or places the tiers disagree.
Flag them; don't resolve silently.]

### Decisions waiting on you
[Open decisions from the roadmap/tasks, each framed: the choice, the tradeoff,
a recommendation.]

### Recommended next action
[A concrete recommendation WITH reasoning — what to do first, what it unblocks,
what it costs. If two options are close, give both with the tradeoff.
End with: "Confirm and I'll proceed, or redirect me."]
```

Then wait for confirmation or redirection. Recommend actively — the user expects
a reasoned proposal, not a menu — but the user decides.

## Rules

- Descend memory → canonical files → ground truth; the higher tier always wins.
- One targeted past-chat search, not a fishing expedition.
- Verify load-bearing facts BEFORE acting; tag what you could not verify.
- Surface desyncs between tiers; never resolve them silently.
- Translate for the user; frame decisions as decisions.
- End with a reasoned recommendation, then wait for confirmation or redirection.