Breadcrumbs

Breadcrumbs

When To Activate

Write breadcrumbs (during/end of session):

• After completing significant work
• After hitting a dead end or failed approach
• Before ending a session
• User says "remember this" or "note for next time"
• After discovering something important about the codebase

Instructions

File Location

.claude/breadcrumbs.md    # Project-specific (preferred)
~/.claude/breadcrumbs/    # Global breadcrumbs by project

Create .claude/ directory if it doesn't exist. Add to .gitignore if user prefers.

Reading Breadcrumbs (Session Start)

cat .claude/breadcrumbs.md 2>/dev/null || echo "No breadcrumbs found"

If found, summarize key points:

## Previous Session Context

**Last worked on:** [topic]
**Status:** [completed/in-progress/blocked]
**Key notes:**
- [important finding 1]
- [important finding 2]

**Warnings from past self:**
- [thing that didn't work]

Don't read the whole file aloud - summarize what's relevant.

Writing Breadcrumbs

---
## [Date] - [Brief Topic]

**What we worked on:**
[1-2 sentence summary]

**What worked:**
- [approach that succeeded]

**What didn't work:**
- [approach that failed] - [why it failed]

**Left off at:**
[current state, what's next]

**Notes for next time:**
- [important context]
- [gotcha to remember]
- [file locations worth knowing]

Breadcrumb Types

Discovery breadcrumb - Found something important:

## 2024-01-15 - Discovery: Auth flow

**Found:** Auth doesn't use middleware. It's in route handlers.
**Location:** src/routes/api/*.ts - each route calls `validateSession()` directly
**Why it matters:** Don't look in middleware/ for auth stuff

Dead end breadcrumb - Tried something that failed:

## 2024-01-15 - Dead End: Redis caching

**Tried:** Adding Redis cache for user sessions
**Failed because:** App uses serverless, Redis connections don't persist
**Don't try again:** Any persistent connection solution
**Instead:** Use edge-compatible cache (KV store)

Progress breadcrumb - Work in progress:

## 2024-01-15 - In Progress: API refactor

**Done:**
- [x] Moved routes to /api/v2
- [x] Updated auth middleware

**Not done:**
- [ ] Update client SDK
- [ ] Migration script

**Blocked on:** Waiting for DB schema approval
**Next steps:** Once approved, run migration then update SDK

Context breadcrumb - Important background:

## 2024-01-15 - Context: Why we use X

**Decision:** Using Prisma instead of raw SQL
**Why:** Team preference, type safety, migration tooling
**Trade-off:** Slower queries but faster development
**Don't suggest:** Switching to raw SQL (already discussed)

Breadcrumb Hygiene

Pruning old breadcrumbs:

• Keep last 10-15 entries
• Archive old ones to .claude/breadcrumbs-archive.md
• Delete truly obsolete info (completed features, resolved issues)

When to prune:

• File exceeds ~200 lines
• User asks to clean up
• Old breadcrumbs reference deleted code

Output Format

When reading:

📍 **Breadcrumbs found** - Last session: [date]

[Brief summary of relevant context]

Ready to continue, or starting fresh?

When writing:

📝 **Breadcrumb dropped**

[What was recorded]

This will be here next session.

NEVER

• Overwrite the entire breadcrumbs file (append only)
• Include sensitive data (passwords, keys, secrets)
• Write breadcrumbs for trivial work
• Ignore existing breadcrumbs at session start
• Write vague notes ("worked on stuff")

ALWAYS

• Check for breadcrumbs at session start
• Record dead ends (future you will thank you)
• Include file paths for important discoveries
• Note the "why" not just the "what"
• Keep entries scannable (bullets, not paragraphs)

Example Session

Session 1 ends:

---
## 2024-01-15 - Auth Bug Investigation

**What we worked on:**
Users randomly getting logged out. Investigated session handling.

**What we found:**
- Sessions stored in Redis with 1hr TTL
- TTL not refreshing on activity (bug in middleware)
- File: src/middleware/session.ts:45 - missing `touch()` call

**What didn't work:**
- Checked JWT expiry first - red herring, JWTs are fine
- Looked in auth/ directory - session logic isn't there

**Left off at:**
Found the bug, haven't fixed yet. Fix is adding `session.touch()` after validation.

**Notes for next time:**
- Session middleware is in src/middleware/session.ts, NOT src/auth/
- Redis TTL is 1hr (REDIS_SESSION_TTL env var)

Session 2 starts:

📍 Breadcrumbs found - Last session: 2024-01-15

Previous session investigated logout bug:
- Found: session TTL not refreshing (src/middleware/session.ts:45)
- Fix identified: add session.touch() call
- Note: session code is in middleware/, not auth/

Ready to apply the fix?