project-session-management skill

---
name: project-session-management
description: |
  Track progress across work sessions using SESSION.md with git checkpoints and concrete next actions. Converts IMPLEMENTATION_PHASES.md into trackable session state with phase status, progress markers, and recovery points.

  Use when: starting projects after planning phase, resuming work after context clears, managing multi-phase implementations, or troubleshooting lost context, missing progress tracking, or unclear next steps.
---

# Project Session Management Skill

Track progress across work sessions using SESSION.md with git checkpoints and concrete next actions.

---

## When to Use

- Starting projects after `project-planning` generates IMPLEMENTATION_PHASES.md
- Resuming work after context clears
- Mid-phase checkpoints when context is full
- Phase transitions
- Tracking Implementation → Verification → Debugging cycle

---

## Phases vs Sessions

**Phases** (IMPLEMENTATION_PHASES.md): Units of WORK (e.g., "Database Schema", "Auth API"). Have verification/exit criteria. May span multiple sessions.

**Sessions** (SESSION.md): Units of CONTEXT. Complete before clearing/compacting context. Can complete a phase, part of a phase, or multiple small phases.

**Example**: Phase 3 (Tasks API) → Session 1 (GET/POST) → Session 2 (PATCH/DELETE) → Session 3 (verify) ✅

---

## Workflow

**Starting New Project**:
1. After `project-planning` creates IMPLEMENTATION_PHASES.md, offer: "Create SESSION.md to track progress?"
2. Generate SESSION.md from phases, set Phase 1 as 🔄 (in progress), set concrete "Next Action"

**Ending Session**:
- **Automated**: `/wrap-session` (updates SESSION.md, creates checkpoint commit, outputs summary)
- **Manual**: Update SESSION.md → git checkpoint → set concrete "Next Action"

**Resuming**:
- **Automated**: `/continue-session` (loads context, shows summary, continues from "Next Action")
- **Manual**: Read SESSION.md → check "Next Action" → continue

---

## Automation Commands

**`/wrap-session`**: Analyzes state → updates SESSION.md → updates related docs → creates checkpoint commit → outputs summary → optionally pushes

**`/continue-session`**: Loads SESSION.md + planning docs → shows git history + summary → displays verification criteria (if in Verification stage) → opens "Next Action" file → asks permission to continue

---

## SESSION.md Structure

**Purpose**: Navigation hub referencing planning docs, tracking current progress
**Target**: <200 lines in project root
**Update**: After significant progress (not every change)

### Template

```markdown
# Session State

**Current Phase**: Phase 3
**Current Stage**: Implementation (or Verification/Debugging)
**Last Checkpoint**: abc1234 (2025-10-23)
**Planning Docs**: `docs/IMPLEMENTATION_PHASES.md`, `docs/ARCHITECTURE.md`

---

## Phase 1: Setup ✅
**Completed**: 2025-10-15 | **Checkpoint**: abc1234
**Summary**: Vite + React + Tailwind v4 + D1 binding

## Phase 2: Database ✅
**Completed**: 2025-10-18 | **Checkpoint**: def5678
**Summary**: D1 schema + migrations + seed data

## Phase 3: Tasks API 🔄
**Type**: API | **Started**: 2025-10-23
**Spec**: `docs/IMPLEMENTATION_PHASES.md#phase-3`

**Progress**:
- [x] GET /api/tasks endpoint (commit: ghi9012)
- [x] POST /api/tasks endpoint (commit: jkl3456)
- [ ] PATCH /api/tasks/:id ← **CURRENT**
- [ ] DELETE /api/tasks/:id
- [ ] Verify all endpoints (see IMPLEMENTATION_PHASES.md for criteria)

**Next Action**: Implement PATCH /api/tasks/:id in src/routes/tasks.ts:47, handle validation and ownership check

**Key Files**:
- `src/routes/tasks.ts`
- `src/lib/schemas.ts`

**Known Issues**: None

## Phase 4: Task UI ⏸️
**Spec**: `docs/IMPLEMENTATION_PHASES.md#phase-4`
```

---

## Status Icons

Use these emoji status icons consistently:

- **⏸️** = Not started (pending)
- **🔄** = In progress
- **✅** = Complete
- **🚫** = Blocked

---

## Stages Within a Phase

1. **Implementation** → Writing code
2. **Verification** → Testing against criteria
3. **Debugging** → Fixing issues

Update SESSION.md with current stage and progress. Example:

```markdown
**Current Stage**: Verification

**Verification Progress**:
- [x] GET /api/tasks returns 200 ✅
- [x] POST /api/tasks creates task ✅
- [ ] POST with invalid data returns 400 ❌ (returns 500)

**Current Issue**: Invalid data returning 500. Check src/middleware/validate.ts
```

---

## SESSION.md Guidelines

✅ Collapse completed phases (2-3 lines), concrete "Next Action" (file+line+task), reference planning docs, checkpoint at phase end or when context full

❌ No code copying, no duplicating IMPLEMENTATION_PHASES.md, no vague actions, keep <200 lines

---

## Git Checkpoint Format

```
checkpoint: Phase [N] [Status] - [Brief Description]

Phase: [N] - [Name]
Status: [Complete/In Progress/Paused]
Session: [What was accomplished this session]

Files Changed:
- path/to/file.ts (what changed)

Next: [Concrete next action]
```

**Example** (Phase Complete):
```
checkpoint: Phase 3 Complete - Tasks API

Phase: 3 - Tasks API
Status: Complete
Session: Completed all CRUD endpoints and verified functionality

Files Changed:
- src/routes/tasks.ts (all CRUD operations)
- src/lib/schemas.ts (task validation)

Next: Phase 4 - Start building Task List UI component
```

---

## Expected Uncommitted Files (CRITICAL)

**Checkpoint Cycle**: `/wrap-session` creates commit → gets hash → updates SESSION.md with hash. Therefore **SESSION.md is always uncommitted when resuming** (BY DESIGN).

**Expected uncommitted files** (no warning):
- **SESSION.md** - Checkpoint hash updated post-commit, always uncommitted between sessions (NORMAL)
- **CLAUDE.md** - Often updated during dev, may be uncommitted (NORMAL)
- **.roomodes** - Editor/IDE state, not relevant to session handoff (SAFE TO IGNORE)

**Warning triggers** (unexpected):
- Source files (.ts, .tsx, .js)
- Config files (vite.config.ts, wrangler.jsonc)
- Planning docs (IMPLEMENTATION_PHASES.md, ARCHITECTURE.md)
- New untracked files

**`/continue-session` behavior**:
- ℹ️ Info message when only SESSION.md/CLAUDE.md/.roomodes uncommitted
- ⚠️ Warning when code/doc changes uncommitted (shows filtered list excluding expected files)

---

## Context Management

**Context full mid-phase**: Update SESSION.md → checkpoint → clear context → read SESSION.md + planning docs → continue from "Next Action"

**Phase complete**: Check verification criteria → mark 🔄→✅ → checkpoint → move next phase ⏸️→🔄

**Troubleshooting**: Update to "Debugging" stage → document "Current Issue" → when fixed, return to "Verification" or "Implementation"

---

## Integration with project-planning

`project-planning` generates IMPLEMENTATION_PHASES.md (the plan) → `project-session-management` creates SESSION.md (the tracker) → work through phases → git checkpoints → resume from SESSION.md

Planning docs (/docs): Reference material, rarely change
SESSION.md (root): Living document, updates constantly

---

## Creating SESSION.md for New Project

After `project-planning` runs:

1. Read IMPLEMENTATION_PHASES.md
2. Create SESSION.md in root: Phase 1 as 🔄, others as ⏸️
3. Expand Phase 1 with task checklist
4. Set concrete "Next Action"
5. Output for review

Offer: "Would you like me to create SESSION.md to track progress through these phases? (clear current phase, progress tracking, easy resume, git checkpoint format)"

---

## Bundled Resources

**Templates**: SESSION.md.template, checkpoint-commit-format.md, CLAUDE-session-snippet.md

**Scripts**: resume.sh (show current state)

**References**: session-handoff-protocol.md, best-practices.md