Session Close

Session Close

Actually putting the device down. The user is leaving — going to sleep, stepping away for the evening, taking a real break. The bridge goes away. The next session starts with only what's written down plus whatever the user remembers after a real break.

This is the most thorough transition protocol. It includes everything session-rest does, plus:

• Working-style reflection — how did the collaboration work today?
• Cross-session patterns — what's been building across multiple sessions?
• Anticipatory framing — what should tomorrow's first session be set up for?

Stance composition: Inherit session-rest's phase-specific composition. For the close-specific reflection and framing, use: interpretive-synthesis to read cross-session patterns, diagnostic-questioning with socratic-elicitation to reflect with the user, and relational-continuity to prepare tomorrow's starting point.

Phases 1–5: Same as session-rest

Run the full session-rest protocol: reconcile Project Orientation, interpret inside the Current bet, triage evidence and tensions, draft, and validate. Inherit its continue-or-steer boundary rather than recreating project selection here. The triage should be more thorough than a between-sessions rest — the user won't be around to fill in gaps, so the trajectory document needs to carry more weight.

In Phase 3 (triage), don't rely on the user bridging nuances. Ask about threads that would be low-variance in a session-rest — the user might remember them now, but they won't tomorrow.

In Phase 4 (draft), write for a reader who has slept since the last session. Context that feels obvious now will be cold tomorrow.

Phase 6: Reflect

This phase captures things that don't belong in the trajectory but matter for future sessions.

6a. Working-style reflection

Reflect on how the collaboration worked during this session. What patterns emerged in how the user and agent worked together? This is metacognition — stepping back from the work to observe the process.

Update /memories/collaborative-style.md (user memory, persists across all workspaces) with observations about:

• How the user likes to explore ideas (do they bring intuitions for grounding? do they prefer to see options?)
• How the user makes decisions (do they want to discuss tradeoffs? do they decide quickly?)
• What kind of questions work well (structured choices? open-ended? reflective probes?)
• What the user pushes back on (what signals that the agent should think harder?)
• Pacing preferences (does the user like to go deep on one thing or cover ground?)

Don't overwrite previous observations — add to them. Working style evolves over time, and earlier observations provide context for later ones.

6b. Cross-session patterns

If this session is part of a longer arc of work, note patterns that span sessions as evidence about the Current bet and its route:

• Recurring tensions that keep coming back
• Route assumptions that are strengthening or weakening
• Areas where understanding is deepening session over session

These go in Evidence and Route Changes or Live Tensions. They can clarify whether the bet still advances its Experienced outcome; they do not infer a new Vision from session momentum.

6c. Anticipatory framing

Arrange the desk for tomorrow around the reconciled Project Orientation:

• What must be available to resume the recorded Immediate gate?
• What context will the user need refreshed after sleeping?
• Are there any time-sensitive items (PRs to review, builds to check, deadlines)?
• What's the most important thing to not forget?

When the bet remains active, this framing makes its Immediate gate easy to resume. When a steering boundary is already open, carry that reached or steering-in-progress state forward instead of choosing tomorrow's project priority independently. This goes in the trajectory document and transition prompt.

Phase 7: Pre-read (recommended)

For end-of-day closes, invoke the pre-read agent to produce a SESSION-BRIEFING.md. The user won't remember codebase details tomorrow — the briefing provides the orientation that the user's memory would normally supply.

Give the pre-read agent the transition prompt, SESSION-TRAJECTORY.md, its Project Orientation, and every named orientation source. Ask it to map terrain for Current bet → Immediate gate, or to map evidence relevant to an already-open steering boundary. The briefing goes in /memories/repo/SESSION-BRIEFING.md using the memory tool.

Run one more validation pass with the combined prompt.

Finalize

Update /memories/active-handoffs.md (user memory) with the current repo/branch/date/status.

Write a transition prompt (≤5 lines) for the next session. Name the recorded Immediate gate verbatim, or the already-open steering boundary, rather than synthesizing a new priority. The user will be reading it with fresh but cold eyes.

This prompt is the input to the session-load skill.

Output

1. A /memories/repo/SESSION-TRAJECTORY.md (via memory tool)
2. An updated /memories/collaborative-style.md (user memory)
3. An updated /memories/active-handoffs.md entry
4. A /memories/repo/SESSION-BRIEFING.md (recommended for end-of-day)
5. A transition prompt (≤5 lines) delivered to the user