Context Restore

When to invoke

Use when asked to "resume", "restore context", "where was I", or "pick up where I left off". Pair with /context-save. Formerly /checkpoint resume — renamed because Claude Code treats /checkpoint as a native rewind alias in current environments.

Preamble

eval "$(~/.vibestack/bin/vibe-slug 2>/dev/null)" 2>/dev/null || SLUG="unknown"
_LEARN_FILE="${VIBESTACK_HOME:-$HOME/.vibestack}/projects/${SLUG:-unknown}/learnings.jsonl"
if [ -f "$_LEARN_FILE" ]; then
  _LEARN_COUNT=$(wc -l < "$_LEARN_FILE" 2>/dev/null | tr -d ' ')
  echo "LEARNINGS: $_LEARN_COUNT entries loaded"
  if [ "$_LEARN_COUNT" -gt 5 ] 2>/dev/null; then
    ~/.vibestack/bin/vibe-learnings-search --limit 5 2>/dev/null || true
  fi
else
  echo "LEARNINGS: none yet"
fi

{{include lib/snippets/session-host.md}}

{{include lib/snippets/decision-brief.md}}

{{include lib/snippets/working-protocols.md}}

{{include lib/snippets/state-protocols.md}}

/context-restore — Restore Saved Working Context

You are a Staff Engineer reading a colleague's meticulous session notes to pick up exactly where they left off. Your job is to load the most recent saved context and present it clearly so the user can resume work without losing a beat.

HARD GATE: Do NOT implement code changes. This skill only reads saved context files and presents the summary.

Default: load the most recent saved context across ALL branches. This is intentionally different from /context-save list, which defaults to the current branch. /context-restore is for Conductor workspace handoff — a context saved on one branch can be resumed from another.

Do NOT filter the candidate set by current branch. The list flow does that; /context-restore does not.

Detect command

Parse the user's input:

• /context-restore → load the most recent saved context (any branch)
• /context-restore <title-fragment-or-number> → load a specific saved context
• /context-restore list → tell the user "Use /context-save list — listing lives on the save side" and exit. No mode detection here.

Restore flow

Step 1: Find saved contexts

eval "$(~/.vibestack/bin/vibe-slug 2>/dev/null)" && mkdir -p ~/.vibestack/projects/$SLUG
CHECKPOINT_DIR="${VIBESTACK_HOME:-$HOME/.vibestack}/projects/$SLUG/checkpoints"
if [ ! -d "$CHECKPOINT_DIR" ]; then
  echo "NO_CHECKPOINTS"
else
  # Use find + sort instead of ls -1t. Two reasons:
  # 1. Canonical order is the filename YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS prefix (stable across
  #    copies/rsync). Filesystem mtime drifts and is not authoritative.
  # 2. On macOS, `find ... | xargs ls -1t` with zero results falls back to
  #    listing cwd. `sort -r` on empty input cleanly returns nothing.
  # Cap at 20 most recent: a user with 10k saved files shouldn't blow the
  # context window just listing them. /context-save list handles pagination.
  FILES=$(find "$CHECKPOINT_DIR" -maxdepth 1 -name "*.md" -type f 2>/dev/null | sort -r | head -20)
  if [ -z "$FILES" ]; then
    echo "NO_CHECKPOINTS"
  else
    echo "$FILES"
  fi
fi

Candidates include every .md file in the directory, regardless of branch (the branch is recorded in frontmatter, not used for filtering here). This enables Conductor workspace handoff.

Step 2: Load the right file

• If the user specified a title fragment or number: find the matching file among the candidates.
• Otherwise: load the first file returned by the sort -r above — that is the newest YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS prefix, which is the canonical "most recent."

Read the chosen file and present a summary:

RESUMING CONTEXT
════════════════════════════════════════
Title:       {title}
Branch:      {branch from frontmatter}
Saved:       {timestamp, human-readable}
Duration:    Last session was {formatted duration} (if available)
Status:      {status}
════════════════════════════════════════

### Summary
{summary from saved file}

### Remaining Work
{remaining work items}

### Notes
{notes}

If the current branch differs from the saved context's branch, note this: "This context was saved on branch {branch}. You are currently on {current branch}. You may want to switch branches before continuing."

Then read the branch: frontmatter of the remaining candidates and, if any of them was saved on the current branch, name the newest one and offer it: "There is also a context saved on {current branch} — {title} from {timestamp}. Load that one instead?" Every worktree of a repo shares one checkpoints directory, so in a Conductor or git worktree setup the newest file overall is often a sibling workspace's — the cross-branch default stays, but the user gets told their own branch's context exists.

Step 3: Offer next steps

After presenting, ask via AskUserQuestion:

• A) Continue working on the remaining items
• B) Show the full saved file
• C) Just needed the context, thanks

If A, summarize the first remaining work item and suggest starting there.

If no saved contexts exist

If Step 1 printed NO_CHECKPOINTS, tell the user:

"No saved contexts yet. Run /context-save first to save your current working state, then /context-restore will find it."

Important Rules

• Never modify code. This skill only reads saved files and presents them.
• Always search across all branches by default. Cross-branch resume is the whole point. Only filter by branch if the user explicitly asks via a title-fragment match that happens to be branch-specific.
• "Most recent" means the filename YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS prefix, not ls -1t (filesystem mtime). Filenames are stable across file-system operations; mtime is not.
• This is a vibestack skill, not a Claude Code built-in. When the user types /context-restore, invoke this skill via the Skill tool.