Story Memory Checkpoint

Story Memory Checkpoint

Use this skill when the user needs to pause and resume a long screenplay project, hand current story state to another agent or human, or preserve continuity without reloading a whole draft or room archive.

When to Auto-Suggest a Checkpoint

Agent should proactively suggest a checkpoint at E2E stage transitions between these stages:

• idea → premise（story engine about to be committed）
• premise → character（character continuity needs locking before world-building）
• character → structure（story engine may shift when plot form takes over）
• structure → scene（character and event continuity must be locked before writing pages）
• Any pause or handoff in a multi-step pipeline

Do not auto-suggest checkpoints for single-step requests or trivial continuations. A checkpoint is warranted when losing state would cost meaningful re-work.

What a Minimal Checkpoint Contains

A minimal story_memory_checkpoint must include:

1. Current stage: which stage the project is at（idea / premise / character / structure / scene / dialogue / polish）
2. Locked decisions: what has been committed and should not be reopened without explicit intent
3. Open questions: what is unresolved and must be carried forward as pending debt
4. Next planned step: which stage comes next, with the entry surface（e.g., "beat sheet → scene draft for Act II opening"）

For serial or long-form work, also include arc-budget spend and remaining high-value turns.

How to Resume from a Checkpoint

When reloading from a checkpoint:

• Load only the state fields needed for the next step — do not reload the full project context.
• Begin by confirming the locked decisions are still valid（e.g., "We left off with the protagonist as a retired firefighter, goal: reclaim reputation, obstacle: official cover-up. Does this still hold?"）
• Surface any open questions that the next step must resolve before proceeding.
• If the checkpoint is stale（e.g., user provides new information that contradicts a locked decision）, flag the conflict before resuming.

Workflow

1. Lock the covered span and the checkpoint purpose.
2. Compress current story state instead of retelling the plot.
3. Record unresolved promises, invariants, and canon-vs-hypothesis boundaries.
4. Separate external pressure rhythm from internal emotional or cognitive rhythm.
5. For serial work, note current arc-budget spend and remaining high-value turns.
6. Return a checkpoint with next safe entrypoint, priority source surfaces, and drift risks.

Output Contract

• story_memory_checkpoint: current state, unresolved promises, invariants, dual-track rhythm, arc-budget status when relevant, next safe entrypoint, priority source surfaces, and drift warnings.
• Keep it short enough to replace a broad reload.
• Do not turn the checkpoint into a prose summary of the whole story.

Posture-Adaptive Guidance

When certainty = lost: Ask: "What is the last thing you were certain about in this story before you got lost?" One confirmed story truth is the right starting point for a checkpoint. Do not produce a full state compression — produce one anchor first.

When certainty = certain: Apply the full checkpoint workflow: lock span → compress current state → record unresolved promises and invariants → separate dual-track rhythms → return with next safe entrypoint and drift warnings.

When focus = event: Event-layer checkpoints should record: what has already been spent (turns, reveals, escalations) and what arc budget remains. Do not retell the plot; record the pressure-state.

When focus = character: Character-layer checkpoints should record: active wants, outstanding lies, unresolved wounds, and open relationship debts. These are the continuity liabilities that cause drift in resumed work.

When focus = world: World-layer checkpoints should record: which world rules have been explicitly established, which have been implied but not confirmed, and which remain unset and thus canonically open.

References

• wp.story-memory-checkpoint
• rb.story-memory-checkpoint
• ka.cross-protocol-referral-edges
• ka.dual-track-rhythm
• ka.room-artifact-ladder
• ka.script-as-coordination-artifact
• ka.serial-arc-budgeting
• ka.story-memory-checkpoint