| name | reasoning-notation |
| description | Meta-skill that wraps reasoning skills to capture notes in real-time, protecting against context compression. Creates checkpoint files during reasoning sessions. |
| tier | φ |
| morpheme | φ |
| dewey_id | φ.3.1.3 |
| dependencies | ["gremlin-brain-v2"] |
Reasoning Notation
Overview
Meta-skill that wraps reasoning skills to capture notes in real-time, protecting against context compression.
Purpose: Before any reasoning skill runs, open a notes file. After each pass, write checkpoint. At end, move to references.
Protocol
1. BEFORE Reasoning — Initialize Notes File
When ANY reasoning skill is about to run (reasoning-patterns-v2, scale-game, supercollider, synthesis-engine, etc.):
Create: references/reasoning-notes-[YYYY-MM-DD]-[topic].md
# Reasoning Notes — [Topic]
**Date:** [timestamp]
**Target:** [what's being reasoned about]
**Skills:** [which reasoning skills will be applied]
**Status:** Active
---
## PASS 0: INITIAL STATE
[Capture starting state before any reasoning]
---
2. AFTER Each Reasoning Pass — Checkpoint
After EACH skill application or reasoning pass:
## PASS N: [SKILL NAME]
**Timestamp:** [time]
**Skill:** [which skill was applied]
### Input
[What was fed to the skill]
### Output
[Key results from the skill]
### Insights
[What was discovered]
### Survives/Breaks
[If scale-game: what survived, what broke]
---
3. ON COMPLETION — Finalize and Move
When reasoning session completes:
- Update status:
**Status:** Complete
- Add final synthesis section
- File stays in
references/ (already there)
- Add φ-tier index entry if significant
4. ON CONTEXT COMPRESSION — Recovery
If session gets compressed mid-reasoning:
- Notes file exists in
references/
- New Claude can read file to see progress
- Continue from last checkpoint
- Don't repeat completed passes
Usage
Invoke BEFORE reasoning:
Load: reasoning-notation
Then: [other reasoning skill]
The notation skill:
- Creates the notes file
- Reminds Claude to checkpoint after each pass
- Ensures nothing is lost to compression
File Naming Convention
references/reasoning-notes-YYYY-MM-DD-[topic-slug].md
Examples:
- reasoning-notes-2025-12-26-tier32-integration.md
- reasoning-notes-2025-12-27-chamber-spec.md
Integration with Other Skills
| Skill | How Notation Integrates |
|---|
| reasoning-patterns-v2 | Checkpoint after each Dokkado phase |
| scale-game | Checkpoint after each scale dimension |
| supercollider | Checkpoint generator results |
| synthesis-engine | Checkpoint each synthesis step |
| meta-pattern-recognition | Checkpoint each pattern found |
Why This Exists
Context compression loses work. The memory system is permanent. By writing notes to file DURING reasoning (not after), we:
- Protect against mid-session compression
- Create recoverable checkpoints
- Build reference library automatically
- Enable continuation across sessions
Template
# Reasoning Notes — [TOPIC]
**Date:** YYYY-MM-DD
**Target:** [document/concept being analyzed]
**Skills:** [list of skills to apply]
**Status:** Active | Complete
---
## PASS 0: INITIAL STATE
[Starting state]
---
## PASS 1: [SKILL]
**Timestamp:** HH:MM
**Skill:** [skill name]
### Input
### Output
### Insights
---
## PASS N: [SKILL]
...
---
## FINAL SYNTHESIS
[Only on completion]
---
## CROSS-REFERENCES
- [relevant decimal IDs]
Remember
- Create file FIRST, before any reasoning
- Write DURING, not after
- Checkpoint EACH pass
- File IS the memory
- Compression can't delete files
Tier: φ (seed-tier, lightweight)
Category: 3 (Methodology/HOW)
Dewey ID: φ.3.1.3
Notation is not optional. It's infrastructure against loss.
