feat(mcp): enter_project becomes a small primer: goal, recent work, open work, vocabulary (#4045)

The handshake carried the whole project record, every milestone's plan, full
rule text, the notes most recently edited and ~9k of design guidance. For
project 2 that was ~222k characters, past what an MCP client accepts as a tool
result. Each category was walked through with the operator and sized to what a
session needs on arrival; each names the call that has the rest.

- project: id, title, status and the full goal (session start's "full goal"
  pointer still lands here). get_project keeps the whole record.
- milestone_summary: the 5 most recently touched milestones, any status, most
  recent first, without plans. Summaries gain last_touched_at: the later of
  the milestone's own edit and its newest step update, from the query that
  already counts steps. milestone_summary_omitted counts the rest and points
  to list_milestones. get_project and list_milestones list every milestone,
  also without plans.
- open_tasks: the 10 most recently touched open tasks, with or without a
  milestone, each naming its milestone. list_notes gains sort="touched"
  (the later of updated_at and the newest work-log), because a log doesn't
  bump updated_at.
- recent_notes: dropped. Retrieval surfaces notes by relevance, and
  get_recent covers recency.
- systems: id and name.
- design_system: summary plus guidance_call. get_design_system gains
  resolved_guidance, the chain-merged prose; its own guidance field is only
  the departures, so session start's old pointer to it led to a fragment.
  The session start pointer and using-scribe's "Building UI" section now
  name resolved_guidance.
- rules: rules_payload(brief=True) gives project_rules as id and title plus
  subscribed_rulebooks, and records only what it shows. Retrieval delivers
  rules in full and ignores subscriptions (#4052). Other callers unchanged.
- pattern_coverage, inception and systems_bootstrap: unchanged.

Clients: the plugin's using-scribe skill, the compaction notice and session
start are updated here; the REST project summary only gains last_touched_at.
Plugin version minted.

Tests: a size ceiling on the handshake for a large project; milestone and
task selection and naming; brief rules; resolved_guidance; the session
start pointer; and a real-Postgres test that a work-log touches its task and
a step update touches its milestone.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01821k5B3Ysecp9fNYs92Kuy

src/scribe/mcp/tools/design_systems.py

@@ -108,14 +108,22 @@ async def get_design_system(design_system_id: int) -> dict:
     For what it actually resolves to once inheritance is applied, use
     `resolve_design_system`. The two answer different questions and a system
     that overrides nothing has an empty token list but a full resolved set.
+
+    `resolved_guidance` is the prose to build UI from: the guidance of every
+    system in the inheritance chain, outermost ancestor first, so the house
+    style comes before this system's departures from it. `design_system`'s
+    own `guidance` field is only the departures. Read `resolved_guidance`
+    before writing UI; enter_project carries just the summary (#4045).
     """
     uid = current_user_id()
     system = await ds_svc.get_design_system(uid, design_system_id)
     if system is None:
         raise ValueError(f"design system {design_system_id} not found")
     tokens = await ds_svc.list_tokens(uid, design_system_id)
+    context = await ds_svc.design_context(uid, design_system_id)
     return {
         "design_system": system.to_dict(),
+        "resolved_guidance": context["guidance"] if context else [],
         "tokens": [t.to_dict() for t in tokens],
     }
 

src/scribe/mcp/tools/projects.py

@@ -42,41 +42,22 @@ async def list_projects() -> dict:
     return {"projects": [p.to_dict() for p in rows]}
 
 
-# Done milestones a project read still lists: the recent ones say what just
-# finished, and older ones are a list_milestones call away (#4045).
-_DONE_MILESTONES_KEPT = 5
-
-
-async def _milestone_block(uid: int, project_id: int) -> dict:
-    """`milestone_summary` for a project read, brief and bounded (#4045).
-
-    Every open milestone plus the most recent done ones, without plan bodies.
-    `milestone_summary_omitted` is attached only when older done milestones
-    were left out, and names the calls that reach them (#2483).
-    """
-    rows = await milestones_svc.get_project_milestone_summary(uid, project_id)
-    brief, omitted = milestones_svc.brief_milestone_summary(
-        rows, done_kept=_DONE_MILESTONES_KEPT,
-    )
-    out: dict = {"milestone_summary": brief}
-    if omitted:
-        out["milestone_summary_omitted"] = (
-            f"{omitted} older done milestone(s) not listed. "
-            f"list_milestones({project_id}) lists every milestone; "
-            "get_milestone(id) has one milestone's plan and steps."
-        )
-    return out
+# How many of each kind the handshake lists. Enough to say what was worked on
+# lately and what's open; the rest is a list_milestones / list_tasks call away.
+# The handshake once carried every milestone's plan and came to ~222k
+# characters, past what a client accepts as a tool result (#4045).
+_HANDSHAKE_MILESTONES = 5
+_HANDSHAKE_OPEN_TASKS = 10
 
 
 async def enter_project(project_id: int) -> dict:
-    """Session-start handshake: load full context for working on a project.
+    """Session-start handshake: a primer on the project before you work in it.
 
     Call this FIRST whenever you're about to do project-scoped work
     (start_planning, create_task, update_*, anything that takes a project_id).
-    One round-trip returns the project, its applicable rules (both rulebook-
-    subscribed and project-scoped), milestone progress, open tasks, and
-    recently-updated notes — everything you need to know the lay of the land
-    before mutating.
+    One round-trip returns what the project is for, what was worked on
+    lately, what's open, and the vocabulary to record against. It is kept
+    small on purpose: each part names the call that has the rest.
 
     No persistent server state: this is a read snapshot. Re-call if the
     session goes idle long enough that the data feels stale.
@@ -84,15 +65,29 @@ async def enter_project(project_id: int) -> dict:
     Args:
         project_id: The project to enter.
 
-    Returns a dict with keys: project, milestone_summary, applicable_rules,
-    project_rules, subscribed_rulebooks, applicable_rules_truncated,
-    open_tasks, recent_notes, design_system, systems, pattern_coverage —
-    plus systems_bootstrap, present only when it applies (see below).
+    Returns a dict with keys: project, milestone_summary, open_tasks, systems,
+    design_system, project_rules, subscribed_rulebooks, pattern_coverage —
+    plus milestone_summary_omitted, inception and systems_bootstrap, each
+    present only when it applies (see below).
 
-    `milestone_summary` lists every open milestone and the most recently
-    finished done ones, each with its description and progress but NOT its
-    plan: get_milestone(id) reads a plan. `milestone_summary_omitted` appears
-    only when older done milestones were left out, and says how many.
+    `project` is id, title, status and the full goal. get_project has the
+    whole record.
+
+    `milestone_summary` is the 5 most recently touched milestones, any status,
+    most recent first. Touched counts a step changing, not only the milestone
+    itself. Each carries its description and progress but NOT its plan:
+    get_milestone(id) reads a plan and its steps. `milestone_summary_omitted`
+    says how many others exist; list_milestones lists them all.
+
+    `open_tasks` is the 10 most recently touched todo / in-progress tasks,
+    with or without a milestone. A work-log counts as touching its task. Each
+    names its milestone. list_tasks has the rest.
+
+    `project_rules` lists the project's own rules by id and title, and
+    `subscribed_rulebooks` the rulebooks it draws on. A rule reaches you in
+    full when your work matches it; get_rule(id) reads one, and
+    search(content_type="rule") asks whether one covers what you are about
+    to do.
 
     `pattern_coverage` (usually null) is the shape-accounting line — how many
     of the bound repo's extracted shapes carry a classification against canon
@@ -110,7 +105,7 @@ async def enter_project(project_id: int) -> dict:
     updating a record, ask which of these areas it is about and pass their ids
     as `system_ids`. If the area a record describes is missing from this list,
     create it with create_system rather than leaving the area unmodelled. Read
-    a subsystem's accumulated records with list_system_records.
+    a subsystem's accumulated records with list_system_records. Each is id and name; get_system has the charter.
 
     `inception` (milestone 297) appears ONLY when the project is yours and
     nobody has decided what it inherits: it carries the current defaults
@@ -125,10 +120,12 @@ async def enter_project(project_id: int) -> dict:
     lists. It stops appearing the moment the first System exists.
 
     `design_system` is null unless the project points at one. When present it
-    carries the chain-merged guidance (the house style AND this project's
-    departures from it) plus a summary of the token set — treat it as binding
-    for any UI you write, and pull the values with resolve_design_system or
-    get_design_system_stylesheet before reaching for a literal.
+    is a summary (title, what it inherits, token count and groups) and
+    `guidance_call`. The guidance binds any UI you write the way a rule does:
+    before writing UI, read `resolved_guidance` from get_design_system (the
+    house style AND this project's departures from it), and pull values with
+    resolve_design_system or get_design_system_stylesheet before reaching for
+    a literal.
 
     Entering a project also SCOPES the session: reference and offer work on
     this project only, and pass its id to search / list_* so results stay
@@ -151,19 +148,22 @@ async def enter_project(project_id: int) -> dict:
     applicable = await rulebooks_svc.get_applicable_rules(
         project_id=project_id, user_id=uid,
     )
-    milestones = await _milestone_block(uid, project_id)
+    milestone_rows = await milestones_svc.get_project_milestone_summary(
+        uid, project_id,
+    )
+    milestone_summary, omitted = milestones_svc.brief_milestone_summary(
+        milestone_rows, limit=_HANDSHAKE_MILESTONES,
+    )
+    milestone_titles = {m["id"]: m.get("title") for m in milestone_rows}
     open_tasks, _ = await notes_svc.list_notes(
         uid, is_task=True, project_id=project_id,
-        status=["todo", "in_progress"], sort="updated_at", limit=10,
-    )
-    recent_notes, _ = await notes_svc.list_notes(
-        uid, is_task=False, project_id=project_id,
-        sort="updated_at", limit=5,
+        status=["todo", "in_progress"], sort="touched", limit=_HANDSHAKE_OPEN_TASKS,
     )
     # The tagging vocabulary. Surfaced HERE because an instruction to "tag
     # records to Systems" is only executable if the list is in front of the
     # agent when it writes — which it never was, and tagging stopped within
-    # three days of the feature landing (#2546's audit).
+    # three days of the feature landing (#2546's audit). Untagged writes now
+    # also ask with the vocabulary listed; this copy lets the first write tag.
     systems = await systems_svc.list_systems(uid, project_id)
 
     # The arrival-moment half of the bootstrap ask (#2683): session start is
@@ -185,24 +185,30 @@ async def enter_project(project_id: int) -> dict:
     if project.user_id == uid and not inception_svc.is_decided(project):
         inception_ask = await inception_svc.inception_ask(uid, project_id)
 
-    # Probably the largest surfacing by volume, and it emitted nothing — so
-    # the pulls it caused floated unattributed and the surfaced:pulled ratio
-    # ran against a denominator missing its biggest contributor (#2477). An
-    # AMBIENT source: these are top-N-by-recency, not a ranked choice, and the
-    # readout counts them apart so dead-weight detection isn't poisoned by
+    # An AMBIENT source (#2477): top-N-by-recency, not a ranked choice, and
+    # the readout counts it apart so dead-weight detection isn't poisoned by
     # "recently updated in a project you opened".
     record_surfaced(
         user_id=uid,
-        note_ids=[int(t.id) for t in open_tasks] + [int(n.id) for n in recent_notes],
+        note_ids=[int(t.id) for t in open_tasks],
         source="enter_project",
     )
     # A project need not have one, and most installs won't — null is ordinary
-    # here, not a missing prerequisite.
+    # here, not a missing prerequisite. Summary only: the guidance is ~9k of
+    # prose most sessions never use, so it's one call away (#4045).
     design_system = None
     if project.design_system_id:
-        design_system = await design_systems_svc.design_context(
+        design = await design_systems_svc.design_context(
             uid, project.design_system_id,
         )
+        if design:
+            design_system = {
+                k: design[k]
+                for k in ("id", "title", "inherits_from", "token_count", "token_groups")
+            }
+            design_system["guidance_call"] = (
+                f"get_design_system({design['id']}) → resolved_guidance"
+            )
 
     # Cache read ONLY — computing coverage moves a repo tarball and never
     # belongs in this request path. Null is the ordinary state (no forge, or
@@ -223,38 +229,33 @@ async def enter_project(project_id: int) -> dict:
     )
 
     out = {
-        "project": project.to_dict(),
+        "project": {
+            "id": project.id, "title": project.title,
+            "status": project.status, "goal": project.goal,
+        },
         "pattern_coverage": coverage_svc.coverage_line(coverage) if coverage else None,
-        # Trimmed to what tagging needs. The full charter is get_system's job —
-        # this list rides along on every session start, so it stays lean.
-        "systems": [
-            {
-                "id": s.id, "name": s.name,
-                "description": (s.description or "").split("\n")[0][:200],
-            }
-            for s in systems
-        ],
+        "systems": [{"id": s.id, "name": s.name} for s in systems],
         "design_system": design_system,
-        **milestones,
-        **rulebooks_svc.rules_payload(applicable, user_id=uid, source="enter_project"),
+        "milestone_summary": milestone_summary,
+        **rulebooks_svc.rules_payload(
+            applicable, user_id=uid, source="enter_project", brief=True,
+        ),
         "open_tasks": [
             {
                 "id": t.id, "title": t.title, "status": t.status,
-                "priority": t.priority, "task_kind": t.task_kind,
                 "milestone_id": t.milestone_id,
+                "milestone_title": milestone_titles.get(t.milestone_id),
             }
             for t in open_tasks
         ],
-        "recent_notes": [
-            {
-                "id": n.id, "title": n.title,
-                "updated_at": n.updated_at.isoformat() if n.updated_at else None,
-            }
-            for n in recent_notes
-        ],
     }
     # Attached only when it applies — a key that usually says null trains
     # readers to skip it (#2483), and this one exists to be acted on.
+    if omitted:
+        out["milestone_summary_omitted"] = (
+            f"{omitted} other milestone(s) not listed. "
+            f"list_milestones({project_id}) lists every milestone."
+        )
     if systems_bootstrap:
         out["systems_bootstrap"] = systems_bootstrap
     if inception_ask:
@@ -265,18 +266,18 @@ async def enter_project(project_id: int) -> dict:
 async def get_project(project_id: int) -> dict:
     """Fetch a Scribe project by ID.
 
-    Returns full project fields, a milestone_summary list (shaped as in
-    enter_project: open milestones and the recent done ones, no plan bodies,
-    with milestone_summary_omitted when older done ones were left out), and
-    the rulebook-applicable_rules / subscribed_rulebooks pair the assistant
-    should consult when working on this project.
+    Returns full project fields, a milestone_summary list (every milestone,
+    with description and progress but no plan body; get_milestone reads a
+    plan), and the rulebook-applicable_rules / subscribed_rulebooks pair the
+    assistant should consult when working on this project.
     """
     uid = current_user_id()
     project = await projects_svc.get_project(uid, project_id)
     if project is None:
         raise ValueError(f"project {project_id} not found")
     data = project.to_dict()
-    data.update(await _milestone_block(uid, project_id))
+    rows = await milestones_svc.get_project_milestone_summary(uid, project_id)
+    data["milestone_summary"], _ = milestones_svc.brief_milestone_summary(rows)
     applicable = await rulebooks_svc.get_applicable_rules(
         project_id=project_id, user_id=uid,
     )

src/scribe/services/milestones.py

@@ -213,9 +213,13 @@ async def get_project_milestone_summaries(
         )).scalars().all())
 
         counts: dict[int, dict[str, int]] = {}
+        step_touched: dict[int, datetime] = {}
         if milestones:
             rows = await session.execute(
-                select(Note.milestone_id, Note.status, func.count(Note.id))
+                select(
+                    Note.milestone_id, Note.status, func.count(Note.id),
+                    func.max(Note.updated_at),
+                )
                 .where(
                     Note.milestone_id.in_([m.id for m in milestones]),
                     Note.status.isnot(None),
@@ -223,13 +227,21 @@ async def get_project_milestone_summaries(
                 )
                 .group_by(Note.milestone_id, Note.status)
             )
-            for milestone_id, status, count in rows.fetchall():
+            for milestone_id, status, count, latest in rows.fetchall():
                 counts.setdefault(milestone_id, {})[status] = count
+                if latest and (milestone_id not in step_touched
+                               or latest > step_touched[milestone_id]):
+                    step_touched[milestone_id] = latest
 
     out: dict[int, list[dict]] = {pid: [] for pid in project_ids}
     for m in milestones:
         entry = m.to_dict()
         entry.update(_progress_from_counts(counts.get(m.id, {})))
+        # A milestone's own updated_at doesn't move when its steps do, so a
+        # plan whose steps closed today would read as untouched since it was
+        # written (#4045). Touched is the later of the two.
+        touched = [t for t in (m.updated_at, step_touched.get(m.id)) if t]
+        entry["last_touched_at"] = max(touched).isoformat() if touched else None
         out.setdefault(m.project_id, []).append(entry)
     return out
 
@@ -254,22 +266,20 @@ _BRIEF_FIELDS = (
 
 
 def brief_milestone_summary(
-    rows: list[dict], *, done_kept: int | None = None,
+    rows: list[dict], *, limit: int | None = None,
 ) -> tuple[list[dict], int]:
-    """Trim summary rows to the listing fields, optionally capping done ones.
+    """Trim summary rows to the listing fields, optionally keeping only the
+    most recently touched.
 
-    `done_kept` keeps only the N most recently updated done milestones (every
-    open one stays), in the original order_index order. A done plan is
-    history, and a handshake that grows with a project's whole history grows
-    past what a client accepts. None keeps every row. Returns (rows, omitted),
-    where `omitted` counts the done milestones left out.
+    With `limit`, keeps the N rows with the latest `last_touched_at`, whatever
+    their status, most recent first: a handshake says what was worked on
+    lately, and "active" alone doesn't (a plan can sit active for months).
+    Without it, every row stays in its original order. Returns (rows, omitted).
     """
-    if done_kept is None:
-        kept = rows
-    else:
-        done = [r for r in rows if r.get("status") == "done"]
-        recent = sorted(done, key=lambda r: r.get("updated_at") or "", reverse=True)
-        keep_ids = {r.get("id") for r in recent[:done_kept]}
-        kept = [r for r in rows if r.get("status") != "done" or r.get("id") in keep_ids]
+    kept = rows
+    if limit is not None:
+        kept = sorted(
+            rows, key=lambda r: r.get("last_touched_at") or "", reverse=True,
+        )[:limit]
     brief = [{k: r[k] for k in _BRIEF_FIELDS if k in r} for r in kept]
     return brief, len(rows) - len(kept)

src/scribe/services/notes.py

@@ -318,6 +318,9 @@ async def list_notes(
     degraded but never empty. Superseded records are not demoted here: the
     penalty reorders a top-k, and reordering a paginated, counted list would
     make page boundaries lie. The search surfaces carry the demotion.
+
+    `sort` is a Note column name, or "touched": the later of updated_at and
+    the record's newest work-log.
     """
     from scribe.services.access import notes_visibility_clause
 
@@ -442,6 +445,19 @@ async def list_notes(
         if semantic_order is not None:
             # A query is a relevance claim — see the docstring.
             query = query.order_by(semantic_order)
+        elif sort == "touched":
+            # Last touched: the later of the task's own edit and its newest
+            # work-log. Logging doesn't bump updated_at, so a task worked
+            # through its logs would otherwise sort as untouched (#4045).
+            # GREATEST skips a NULL, so a task with no logs sorts by its edit.
+            from scribe.models.task_log import TaskLog
+            last_log = (
+                select(func.max(TaskLog.created_at))
+                .where(TaskLog.task_id == Note.id)
+                .scalar_subquery()
+            )
+            touched = func.greatest(Note.updated_at, last_log)
+            query = query.order_by(touched.asc() if order == "asc" else touched.desc())
         else:
             sort_col = getattr(Note, sort, Note.updated_at)
             if order == "asc":

src/scribe/services/plugin_context.py

@@ -2236,8 +2236,9 @@ async def build_session_context(
                         f"Values: `resolve_design_system({design['id']})` · "
                         f"stylesheet: `get_design_system_stylesheet({design['id']})` "
                         f"· the prose (aesthetic, voice, where the accent may "
-                        f"appear): `enter_project` returns it, or "
-                        f"`get_design_system({design['id']})`.",
+                        f"appear), inherited house style included: "
+                        f"`get_design_system({design['id']})` → "
+                        f"`resolved_guidance`.",
                     ]
     elif unbound_repo:
         lines += [

src/scribe/services/rulebooks.py

@@ -1306,7 +1306,9 @@ async def get_applicable_rules(
     }
 
 
-def rules_payload(applicable: dict, *, user_id: int | None, source: str) -> dict:
+def rules_payload(
+    applicable: dict, *, user_id: int | None, source: str, brief: bool = False,
+) -> dict:
     """The caller-facing shape of a get_applicable_rules() result.
 
     Every surface that hands rules to an agent (enter_project, get_project,
@@ -1333,7 +1335,25 @@ def rules_payload(applicable: dict, *, user_id: int | None, source: str) -> dict
     (`plugin_context`) — computed a marker and showed nobody
     anything, and counting those would put rules in the denominator that no
     agent ever saw.
+
+    `brief` is the session handshake's form (#4045): the project's own rules
+    as id and title, and the subscribed rulebooks, nothing else. Rules reach a
+    session in full by retrieval, which ignores subscriptions, so the handshake
+    lists which constraints exist rather than restating them; get_rule reads
+    one. Only what is shown is recorded as surfaced.
     """
+    if brief:
+        project_rules = [
+            {"id": r["id"], "title": r["title"]}
+            for r in applicable.get("project_rules", [])
+        ]
+        record_rule_surfaced(
+            user_id=user_id, rule_ids=[r["id"] for r in project_rules], source=source,
+        )
+        return {
+            "project_rules": project_rules,
+            "subscribed_rulebooks": applicable["subscribed_rulebooks"],
+        }
     record_rule_surfaced(
         user_id=user_id,
         rule_ids=(