session-goal

name	session-goal
description	Pin session objectives to prevent scope creep. Use for alignment across long multi-agent sessions.
context	fork
globs	[]
alwaysApply	false

Session Goal — Alignment Anchor

Use this skill to pin a session objective at the start of a long or complex session. All subsequent todos, delegation decisions, and verification steps must align with the pinned goal.

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Usage

Invoke via the /focus command:

/focus Implement JWT authentication with refresh token rotation

Or state it explicitly at the start of a session:

SESSION GOAL: Add product review feature with backend, frontend, and database layers.
All work in this session must serve this goal.

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What Pinning a Goal Does

1. Focuses todos — every todo added must relate to the goal
2. Focuses delegation — Zeus only invokes agents relevant to the goal
3. Focuses verification — Themis checks that implementations serve the goal
4. Surfaces drift — if a task drifts from the goal, flag it before proceeding

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Goal Format

A good session goal has 4 components:

GOAL: <What to build>
SCOPE: <Which layers/modules are in scope>
SUCCESS CRITERIA: <How we know it's done>
OUT OF SCOPE: <What to explicitly exclude>

Example:

GOAL: Add email verification to the registration flow
SCOPE: Backend (POST /auth/verify, token model), Frontend (VerifyEmail page), DB (verification_tokens table)
SUCCESS CRITERIA: User can register, receive a verification email link, click it, and have their account marked as verified. All layers tested >80% coverage.
OUT OF SCOPE: Password reset, 2FA, email template design

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Alignment Check Pattern

Before each major delegation or decision, run this quick check:

"Does this task directly serve the pinned goal?"

• Yes → proceed
• Partial → flag the out-of-scope portion and ask for clarification
• No → defer to a future session, note it as a separate task

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Cross-Session Persistence

For goals that span multiple sessions, write the goal to /memories/session/:

/memories/session/current-goal.md

# Active Session Goal
Goal: Implement JWT authentication
Started: 2026-05-15
Status: Phase 2 of 3 (backend done, frontend in progress)
Next: POST /auth/refresh endpoint

This ensures the goal survives context compaction and session restarts.

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When to Update the Goal

• When the user explicitly redirects the session
• When a phase completes and the next phase has a different scope
• When an unexpected blocker changes the scope

Never silently drift from the goal — always confirm with the user before changing it.

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Session Reuse (Cross-Task Continuity)

Reuse agent sessions between related delegations to avoid re-reading files and re-building context.

When to Reuse

Prefer reusing an existing session when:

• Follow-up task touches the same files or same feature thread as a previous delegation
• The specialist already loaded relevant file context in the prior session
• Debugging continues on the same stack trace or module

When to Start Fresh

Force a new session when:

• Unrelated feature or different part of the codebase
• Previous session has too much noise from an abandoned investigation
• The specialist's accumulated context would mislead the new task

How to Signal Reuse

When dispatching a follow-up task, include the session reuse context explicitly:

@hermes — continuing the auth endpoint work from the previous session.
Files already explored: backend/routers/auth.py, backend/services/auth_service.py.
New task: add refresh token rotation.

Session Tracking

Zeus tracks active sessions with a task_id per delegation:

Agent	Active Session	Files in Context	Max Age
hermes	ses_abc123	4 files	15 min
aphrodite	ses_def456	3 files	15 min

When session_max: 2 is set in routing.yml, Zeus keeps the last 2 sessions for that agent and discards older ones. This prevents stale context from accumulating.