_INSTRUCTIONS told an agent the SessionStart hook was how rules reach a
session, and used that as the argument against a host-memory pointer. The
using-scribe skill said the opposite — pull them yourself, treat any push as a
bonus. Nothing said which wins, and #119 makes these surfaces the
specification, so this was the product behaving two ways.
#2198 is the case that settles it: every plugin hook was silently inert for an
extended period. An agent trusting the push would have run with no binding
rules and no signal, while those rules govern branch, commit and push.
So: _INSTRUCTIONS now leads with the explicit pull and names the hook as a
delivery optimisation. The argument against a host-memory pointer survives —
it never needed the hook to be reliable, because the pull IS the bridge and it
is written into every surface a session already loads.
The static context gains the tiebreaker for the next disagreement: follow the
surface that assumes least about its own delivery. "Most detailed wins" is
wrong precisely because the most detailed surface is the one with a delivery
precondition. It goes there by its own logic — a tiebreaker arriving over MCP
cannot arbitrate what to do when MCP is absent.
Guarded by tests/test_instruction_surfaces_agree.py: every session-start
surface states the pull, and no surface names the push without it. Plugin
version bumped so the cache that executes actually picks the file up (#2209).
Refs #2497
Step 5 of the Drafter recall milestone (#227): teach agents the two
snippet reflexes — search recorded snippets before writing a new
helper/util/component, and record something reusable the moment it's
built — via the app's own instruction surfaces, not a Scribe rule
(project rule #119). All instance-agnostic (rule #115).
- plugin/skills/reusing-code/SKILL.md: new auto-surfacing process-skill
covering both reflexes (recall-before-rebuild + record-when-reusable).
- src/scribe/mcp/server.py: a Snippets paragraph in the MCP _INSTRUCTIONS.
- plugin/hooks/scribe_static_context.md: a "reuse before rebuilding"
bullet in the SessionStart static context.
- plugin/.claude-plugin/plugin.json: version 0.1.12 -> 0.1.13 in the same
change so the autoUpdate marketplace ships it (the #1040 lesson);
description skill list updated.
- plugin/README.md: trued the process-skill list to what actually ships.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01Pa2EsuB54BuWQ8GfJq9c7t
Milestone #194 plugin/docs slice.
- plugin.json: "second brain" framing -> "system-of-record"; bump
0.1.11 -> 0.1.12 (any plugin/ change must bump the manifest, issue #1040)
- plugin/README.md + using-scribe SKILL + scribe_static_context: drop
events/typed-entities from the surface lists; "second brain" -> "system
of record" in the SessionStart context Claude reads each session
- docs/api-keys-and-mcp.md: drop the Typed-entities + Events MCP tool rows,
add the Systems row
- README.md: rewrite the stale front-matter (chat/RAG/calendar/weather/push
described a pre-pivot product) to the current Claude-driven work store
Deeper pre-pivot doc-rot in docs/features.md + docs/api-reference.md
(chat/journal/weather/web-research) is tracked separately as an issue.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01BPtbSzA4JLMAKgFZ8VTg7Q
Always-on rules were on-demand, not always-present: Tier-1 static context only
tells the agent to call list_always_on_rules(), and Tier-2 dynamic fetch is dark
(token doesn't reach the hook subprocess). On compaction the fetched rules get
summarized away while the harness's own built-in git instruction ("branch first")
survives in the base prompt — so post-compact the generic git instinct wins and
rule #1 ("dev is home") is missed.
- scribe_static_context.md: new "Operator rules govern consequential actions"
bullet — before any git branch/commit/push or hard-to-reverse action, loaded
rules beat generic harness/default habits; re-pull rules if not loaded or
summarized by a compaction. Tier 1 = always fires, keyless, re-fires on compact.
- scribe_session_context.sh: compaction banner now re-pulls list_always_on_rules(),
not just enter_project().
- plugin.json: 0.1.10 → 0.1.11 so autoUpdate ships the plugin/ change (#1040).
Generic and instance-agnostic per rules #115/#119 — no operator-specific rule
text hardcoded. Refs issue #1197.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01E4bNefPFAz7esmMZMZmkzL
Turn the SessionStart static guidance into a concrete recall trigger — search
Scribe before answering about the operator projects/people/places/decisions or
starting a task, and pass the active project id to scope results — instead of a
vague "search for related work". Step 4 (pull-path sharpening); the
cross-encoder rerank half is deferred until auto_inject telemetry shows
precision is the bottleneck.
Scribe: project 2, milestone 93, task 1034.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01Xz4j1H7pjYSjKsEpgcNH5E
Plan #825 (T2 — Issues task_kind) shipped S1–S4 but its S5 docs slice
never landed, so every behavioral surface the plugin pushes to the agent
still described the pre-kind convention ("tag `issue`" on a create_note).
Result: agents fixed bugs without reaching for kind=issue and dumped the
work as logs on unrelated open tasks.
- _INSTRUCTIONS: rewrite the "record a problem" bullet to
create_task(kind="issue") with symptom→cause→fix + arose_from_id /
system_ids, and an explicit "not a work-log on an unrelated task"; add
Issue + System to the hierarchy section.
- skills/systematic-debugging, verification: drop "tag `issue`" /
create_note-issue, point at create_task(kind="issue").
- skills/using-scribe: add issues/systems to the entity list + reflex #6.
- hooks/scribe_static_context: fix → its own issue on the keyless floor.
Instance-agnostic, prose-only; no schema or tool-behavior change.
Pairs with always-on rule #118. Issue: #855.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
#834. The pre-compaction complement to the shipped post-compaction re-grounding
banner. Because Scribe records progress as you go (task status, work-logs,
decision notes), a compaction at a clean work-seam is lossless — so guide the
model to recommend it proactively rather than letting auto-compact fire mid-task.
Placed in the ALWAYS-loaded channels (operator wants it consistently in context,
not relevance-gated like a skill): MCP _INSTRUCTIONS (every handshake) + the
static SessionStart floor (every session, MCP-independent). Behavior: at the end
of a block of work in a long session, ensure in-flight state is logged, then tell
the operator it's a safe moment to /compact (naming what was logged); recommend
at seams, not every turn; the model can't run /compact itself.
plugin.json 0.1.8 → 0.1.9 so clients re-pull the static-context change.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Plain-language 'related prior work' instead of 'prior art'; replace the
dev-shaped 'meaningful landing (a merge, a shipped feature, a finished plan)'
with concrete neutral triggers — log on task completion and when a problem is
found, so direction pivots are captured, not just successes. Keeps the static
mandate domain-neutral (pre-empts B9 drift in plan 812).
Refs task 809 / plan 812 item A1.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
The SessionStart push channel was single-tier: it curled /api/plugin/context
with a Bearer token and, on any failure (missing/unexported token, network
error, missing curl), injected nothing and exited 0 — silently. A known
upstream Claude Code gap (sensitive userConfig not reliably exported to hook
subprocesses) trips this routinely, so a fresh session gets no signal to reach
for Scribe and falls back to local file-memory (root cause of unlogged work on
remote/rc sessions).
Split into two tiers:
- Tier 1 (static, keyless, networkless, always fires): inject bundled
scribe_static_context.md — the load-bearing behavioral mandate. Cannot be
suppressed by the upstream key bug.
- Tier 2 (dynamic, best-effort, fails open): existing curl for live rules +
active-project context, appended below the static block. Lights up as
enrichment once the key reaches the hook.
Only jq is now required (JSON envelope); curl/token gate the dynamic tier only.
Bump plugin 0.1.5 -> 0.1.6 so clients pick up the change.
Refs milestone 55; task 809; decision note 810.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
bvandeusen
