Session Bookend
Continuity across sessions is what keeps a long project feeling sane. This skill
produces the two bookends: a recap when work resumes, a handoff when it pauses.
The one rule that makes this work: retrieve, then summarize
Fabricated continuity is worse than none. A confident "last time you decided to
use Postgres and finished the auth flow" that's wrong quietly corrupts the
user's mental model and their trust in you. So the recap is never generated from
imagination — it's assembled from real retrieved context.
Before producing any "where we left off":
- Actually pull the context using whatever real retrieval the environment
offers — past-conversation search, memory, uploaded project files, connected
notes (an Obsidian vault, a project tracker, a repo). For Conductor-style
projects, that means reading
CONTEXT.md and MEMORY_BANK.md first; they
are the source of truth. Look before you speak.
- If you can't retrieve it, say so. "I don't have the thread from last time
in front of me — can you point me at it, or give me a one-line refresher?" is
the correct move. Asking is not a failure; confabulating is.
- Only state what you can ground. Mark genuine uncertainty as uncertainty
rather than smoothing it into false confidence.
Start-of-session recap
Keep it a launchpad, not a transcript. Aim for:
- Last touchpoint — when you last worked on this, in one line.
- Done — the things actually completed. Brief.
- Where we are — the one in-progress thing, stated precisely.
- Key decisions + why — the choices that constrain what's next, with the
reasoning, so they're not silently re-litigated.
- Open follow-ups — anything flagged for "later" that's now relevant.
- Today's options — one to three sized choices for where to go now.
End on the options, so the recap flows straight into action.
End-of-session handoff
Write it for a cold start — assume future-you remembers nothing:
- Done today — what got accomplished this session.
- Exact current state — where things literally stand right now (which file,
which step, what's half-finished).
- The very next step — the single concrete thing to pick up first next time,
specific enough to start without re-deriving context.
- Open questions / pending decisions — anything left unresolved.
- Where the artifacts live — paths, links, filenames, so nothing has to be
hunted for.
When the project uses MEMORY_BANK.md, append a one-line "session lesson" entry
to it as part of the handoff so tomorrow's session is smarter than today's.
Boundaries and handoffs
- Don't re-narrate everything. A recap is a runway, not a replay. Tight beats
thorough here.
- Deliver it cleanly — pairs well with
neurodivergent-comms pacing
(chunked, scannable, one clear next action).
- Hand off the "today's options". If a chosen option is a big vague push,
that's an
overwhelm-breakdown moment; if it's a full multi-stage build, hand
to agent-orchestration. If the session is closing for real and produced
something worth carrying forward, conductor-memory is the right next move.
Next steps: At session open, if today's first option is too big or vague,
suggest overwhelm-breakdown; if it's a multi-stage build, suggest
agent-orchestration. At session close, if the session produced durable
context worth a snapshot, suggest conductor-memory. Skip the suggestion if
the user clearly wants to stop or has already picked their path.
1---2name: session-bookend3description: Run the ceremony at a work session's boundary: a structured opening recap or a clean closing handoff, grounded in real retrieved context. Use at the START of a session when someone returning to ongoing work wants the whole picture laid out — what's done, where things stand, which decisions were made and why, and the next step — e.g. "what's the status of X", "back to the project, catch me up". Use at the END — "let's wrap up", "good place to stop", "save where we are", "give me a clean handoff for next time" — to leave the next session a usable starting point. The defining rule: ground every recap in REAL retrieved context (past-chat search, memory, project files, notes), never invented status. Trigger whenever a multi-session project is resuming or wrapping. Reach for this when the ask is the ceremony at a session boundary rather than the lookup itself — retrieving what a past conversation actually said is session-continuity's job, and a bare "where were we" or "what did we decide about X" belongs there. Do 4---56# Session Bookend78Continuity across sessions is what keeps a long project feeling sane. This skill9produces the two bookends: a recap when work resumes, a handoff when it pauses.1011## The one rule that makes this work: retrieve, then summarize1213Fabricated continuity is worse than none. A confident "last time you decided to14use Postgres and finished the auth flow" that's *wrong* quietly corrupts the15user's mental model and their trust in you. So the recap is never generated from16imagination — it's assembled from real retrieved context.1718Before producing any "where we left off":19201. **Actually pull the context** using whatever real retrieval the environment21 offers — past-conversation search, memory, uploaded project files, connected22 notes (an Obsidian vault, a project tracker, a repo). For Conductor-style23 projects, that means reading `CONTEXT.md` and `MEMORY_BANK.md` first; they24 are the source of truth. Look before you speak.252. **If you can't retrieve it, say so.** "I don't have the thread from last time26 in front of me — can you point me at it, or give me a one-line refresher?" is27 the correct move. Asking is not a failure; confabulating is.283. **Only state what you can ground.** Mark genuine uncertainty as uncertainty29 rather than smoothing it into false confidence.3031## Start-of-session recap3233Keep it a launchpad, not a transcript. Aim for:3435- **Last touchpoint** — when you last worked on this, in one line.36- **Done** — the things actually completed. Brief.37- **Where we are** — the one in-progress thing, stated precisely.38- **Key decisions + why** — the choices that constrain what's next, with the39 reasoning, so they're not silently re-litigated.40- **Open follow-ups** — anything flagged for "later" that's now relevant.41- **Today's options** — one to three sized choices for where to go now.4243End on the options, so the recap flows straight into action.4445## End-of-session handoff4647Write it for a cold start — assume future-you remembers nothing:4849- **Done today** — what got accomplished this session.50- **Exact current state** — where things literally stand right now (which file,51 which step, what's half-finished).52- **The very next step** — the single concrete thing to pick up first next time,53 specific enough to start without re-deriving context.54- **Open questions / pending decisions** — anything left unresolved.55- **Where the artifacts live** — paths, links, filenames, so nothing has to be56 hunted for.5758When the project uses `MEMORY_BANK.md`, append a one-line "session lesson" entry59to it as part of the handoff so tomorrow's session is smarter than today's.6061## Boundaries and handoffs6263- **Don't re-narrate everything.** A recap is a runway, not a replay. Tight beats64 thorough here.65- **Deliver it cleanly** — pairs well with `neurodivergent-comms` pacing66 (chunked, scannable, one clear next action).67- **Hand off the "today's options".** If a chosen option is a big vague push,68 that's an `overwhelm-breakdown` moment; if it's a full multi-stage build, hand69 to `agent-orchestration`. If the session is closing for real and produced70 something worth carrying forward, `conductor-memory` is the right next move.7172**Next steps:** At session open, if today's first option is too big or vague,73suggest `overwhelm-breakdown`; if it's a multi-stage build, suggest74`agent-orchestration`. At session close, if the session produced durable75context worth a snapshot, suggest `conductor-memory`. Skip the suggestion if76the user clearly wants to stop or has already picked their path.
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