agent-activity-logger

name

agent-activity-logger

description

Background reference skill defining the structured JSON log format written to logs/copilot/agent-activity.log by each phase agent on completion. Auto-loaded by Discuss, Research, Planner, TDD Implementer, and Verify agents when they append their completion log entry. Defines all required fields (timestamp, issueId, phase, agent, developer, status, summary, decisions, outputFile, nextPhase) and optional phase-specific fields (filesChanged for execute, testResults for verify). Also provides jq query examples for filtering logs by Issue, date, or status. Loads when log format, activity log, or agent logging is mentioned.

Agent Activity Log — Format Reference

Every phase agent appends one JSON entry to logs/copilot/agent-activity.log when it completes its work. This creates a full audit trail of every Issue's lifecycle.

---

Log File Location

logs/copilot/agent-activity.log     ← JSON Lines format (one JSON object per line)

Add logs/ to .gitignore — these are local audit files, not committed to git.

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Log Entry Format

{
  "timestamp": "2026-03-02T16:45:00Z",
  "issueId": "ISSUE-042",
  "issueName": "login-rate-limiting",
  "phase": "discuss",
  "agent": "Discuss",
  "developer": "sri-lokesh",
  "status": "complete",
  "summary": "Defined rate limiting requirements: 5 attempts per 15 min, admin exemption",
  "decisions": [
    "Rate limit window: 15 minutes (not 5 — to reduce friction for legitimate users)",
    "Admin role is exempt from rate limiting",
    "Lockout applies per email, not per IP (to avoid shared IP issues)"
  ],
  "outputFile": "docs/issues/ISSUE-042-login-rate-limiting.md",
  "nextPhase": "research"
}

---

Fields

Field	Type	Required	Description
timestamp	ISO 8601	✅	When the phase completed
issueId	string	✅	e.g., ISSUE-042
issueName	string	✅	kebab-case name of the Issue
phase	string	✅	discuss | research | plan | execute | verify
agent	string	✅	Which agent completed this
developer	string	✅	Who ran the session
status	string	✅	complete | blocked | partial
summary	string	✅	1-2 sentence summary of what was accomplished
decisions	string[]	✅	Key decisions made in this phase
outputFile	string	✅	Path to the Issue doc updated
nextPhase	string	✅	What phase comes next
blockers	string[]	❌	Any blockers (if status: blocked)
testResults	object	❌	For execute/verify phases
filesChanged	string[]	❌	For execute phase

---

Phase-Specific Fields

Execute Phase

{
  "phase": "execute",
  "filesChanged": [
    "src/middleware/rate-limit.ts (created)",
    "src/api/auth/route.ts (modified)"
  ],
  "commits": [
    "abc1234 - test: ISSUE-042 rate limit middleware tests",
    "def5678 - feat: ISSUE-042 apply rate limiting to login endpoint"
  ]
}

Verify Phase

{
  "phase": "verify",
  "testResults": {
    "unit": { "passed": 12, "failed": 0 },
    "integration": { "passed": 4, "failed": 0 },
    "e2e": { "passed": 2, "failed": 0 }
  },
  "requirementsMet": "3/3",
  "verdict": "ready"
}

---

How to Read the Log

# All activity for a specific Issue
grep "ISSUE-042" logs/copilot/agent-activity.log | jq .

# All completed phases today
cat logs/copilot/agent-activity.log | jq 'select(.timestamp | startswith("2026-03-02"))'

# All blocked sessions
cat logs/copilot/agent-activity.log | jq 'select(.status == "blocked")'

# What Issues are in progress?
cat logs/copilot/agent-activity.log | jq '{issueId, phase, status}'