tomevault-io Continuous Learning v2 - Instinct-Based Architecture
An advanced learning system that turns your Claude Code sessions into reusable knowledge through atomic "instincts" - small learned behaviors with confidence scoring.
When to Activate
- Setting up automatic learning from Claude Code sessions
- Reviewing, exporting, or importing instinct libraries
- Tuning confidence thresholds for learned behaviors
- Evolving instincts into full skills, commands, or agents
The Instinct Model
An instinct is a small learned behavior stored as a YAML frontmatter file:
---
id: prefer-functional-style
trigger: "when writing new functions"
confidence: 0.7
domain: "code-style"
source: "session-observation"
---
# Prefer Functional Style
## Action
Use functional patterns over classes when appropriate.
## Evidence
- Observed 5 instances of functional pattern preference
- User corrected class-based approach to functional on 2025-01-15
Properties:
- Atomic -- one trigger, one action
- Confidence-weighted -- 0.3 = tentative, 0.9 = near certain
- Domain-tagged -- code-style, testing, git, debugging, workflow, etc.
- Evidence-backed -- tracks what observations created it
Quick Start
1. Observation
Observation is handled automatically by cc-tools hook. The ObserveHandler captures tool usage events (tool name, input, output, errors) to ~/.cache/cc-tools/observations/observations.jsonl.
No manual hook configuration is needed -- cc-tools hook dispatches to the ObserveHandler as part of its standard handler registry.
2. Use the Instinct Commands
cc-tools instinct status # Show learned instincts with confidence scores
cc-tools instinct evolve # Cluster related instincts into skills/commands
cc-tools instinct export # Export instincts as YAML to stdout
cc-tools instinct import <file> # Import instincts from others
Or via slash commands:
/instinct-status # Show instincts with confidence bars
/evolve # Cluster and suggest evolutions
/instinct-export # Export for sharing
/instinct-import <file> # Import from file
Commands
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
/instinct-status |
Show all learned instincts grouped by domain with confidence bars |
/evolve |
Cluster related instincts, suggest skill/command/agent candidates |
/instinct-export |
Export instincts as YAML or JSON for sharing |
/instinct-import <file> |
Import instincts with dedup, dry-run, force options |
/learn |
Extract patterns from current session into instinct files |
/learn-eval |
Extract with quality gate (scoring rubric) before saving |
Configuration
Managed through cc-tools config:
| Key | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
instinct.personal_path |
~/.config/cc-tools/instincts/personal |
Personal instincts directory |
instinct.inherited_path |
~/.config/cc-tools/instincts/inherited |
Imported instincts directory |
instinct.min_confidence |
0.3 |
Minimum confidence threshold |
instinct.auto_approve |
0.7 |
Auto-approve threshold |
instinct.decay_rate |
0.02 |
Weekly confidence decay rate |
instinct.max_instincts |
100 |
Maximum stored instincts |
instinct.cluster_threshold |
3 |
Minimum instincts to form a cluster |
File Structure
~/.config/cc-tools/instincts/
├── personal/ # Auto-learned instincts
│ ├── prefer-functional.md
│ └── always-test-first.md
└── inherited/ # Imported from others
└── team-conventions.md
~/.cache/cc-tools/observations/
└── observations.jsonl # Raw session observations
Privacy
- Observations stay local on your machine
- Only instincts (patterns) can be exported
- Exports include triggers, actions, confidence scores, and domains
- No actual code, file paths, or conversation content is shared
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