wtf-reflect

name

wtf.reflect

description

This skill should be used when a developer wants to capture learnings from a difficult session, record what Claude got wrong, save implementation gotchas, or update the steering docs with hard-won knowledge — for example "let's reflect", "capture what we learned", "that was painful, save this", "update the steering docs with what went wrong", "I need to debrief", "what went wrong today", "log this lesson", "save this gotcha", "document this mistake", "I want to write this down before I forget", "add this to the steering docs", or when prompted by the intervention tracker after multiple corrections. Routes each learning into the right steering doc (TECH, QA, DESIGN, or VISION) under a "Hard-Won Lessons" section.

WTF Reflect

Capture learnings from this session and route them into the right steering document. Every hard-won insight — especially about where the AI went wrong or where implementation was harder than expected — belongs in a steering doc so it guides future work automatically.

This skill is the producer for the ## Hard-Won Lessons section of the four steering docs — see ../references/steering-doc-process.md for the producer/consumer model and how other skills load these docs.

Intervention tracker: The hooks/track-interventions.py hook runs automatically on every UserPromptSubmit event and increments a per-user counter file in $WTF_STATE_DIR (default: $XDG_STATE_HOME/wtf/interventions-<user>, falling back to ~/.local/state/wtf/ or $TMPDIR/wtf/) when it detects correction or frustration language (e.g. "no,", "wrong", "actually", "stop that"). When the counter reaches 3, the hook prints a reminder at the end of the session to run wtf.reflect. Step 6 of this skill resets the counter to zero. No manual tracking is needed — the hook handles it.

Process

1. Check which steering docs exist

ls docs/steering/ 2>/dev/null

Build a map of which of the four docs are present: TECH.md, QA.md, DESIGN.md, VISION.md.

If none exist, call AskUserQuestion (per ../references/questioning-style.md):

• question: "No steering docs found. Would you like to create them first?"
• header: "No steering docs"
• options:
  • Create them now → run the steer-* skills to set up the docs
  • Skip — just capture notes → save all learnings to docs/steering/LEARNINGS.md instead

If Create them now → invoke wtf.steer-tech. Note that wtf.steer-tech will offer to chain to the other steer-* skills at the end — let the user complete that flow, then return here. When control returns, re-run the ls check to see which docs now exist. If Skip → set all four doc paths to the fallback: docs/steering/LEARNINGS.md.

If some exist but not all → continue. In step 4, route learnings for a missing doc to docs/steering/LEARNINGS.md as a per-doc fallback (create the file if needed).

2. Orient to the session

Briefly scan context to understand what was worked on:

• Recent git commits: git log --oneline -10
• Any failing/passing tests, PRs, or issues mentioned in conversation
• Do NOT dump this at the user — use it only to pre-fill questions.

3. Gather learnings

Q1 — What was harder than expected?

Call AskUserQuestion (per ../references/questioning-style.md):

• question: "What was harder or more painful than it should have been in this session?"
• header: "Session friction"
• options:
  • 2–3 inferred options based on what was worked on (e.g. "Debugging X took too long", "Claude kept misunderstanding Y")
  • Nothing — skip — session went smoothly

If Nothing — skip → skip to step 6 (reset counter) and exit with: "Great session — nothing to capture."

Q2 — Did Claude make a recurring mistake?

Call AskUserQuestion (per ../references/questioning-style.md):

• question: "Did Claude keep making the same mistake you had to correct?"
• header: "AI mistakes"
• options:
  • Yes — describe it → tell me what it kept doing
  • No recurring mistakes → one-off issues only

If Yes → call AskUserQuestion (per ../references/questioning-style.md):

• question: "Describe the mistake briefly. What rule would prevent it next time?"
• header: "AI mistake — the rule"
• options:
  • Skip — hard to articulate right now

Q3 — What is the one rule this session taught you?

Call AskUserQuestion (per ../references/questioning-style.md):

• question: "If you had to write one rule that would have prevented the most wasted time today, what would it be?"
• header: "The lesson"
• options:
  • 1–2 rules inferred from the session
  • Skip this one — nothing to add

4. Route each learning to the right steering doc

For each learning gathered, determine where it belongs:

Learning type	Target doc
Architecture pattern, implementation gotcha, AI coding mistake	TECH.md
Test failure pattern, flaky test cause, QA gap	QA.md
Design inconsistency, component misuse, style mistake	DESIGN.md
Scope confusion, priority conflict, domain language drift	VISION.md
Doesn't clearly fit one doc	TECH.md (default)

For each target doc, follow the writer-side procedure in ../references/steering-doc-process.md (see "Hard-Won Lessons (writer-side, for wtf.reflect)"):

1. If the target doc does not exist (from the map built in step 1) → use docs/steering/LEARNINGS.md instead. Create it with a # Overflow Learnings heading if it doesn't exist yet.
2. Read the current file.
3. Look for a ## Hard-Won Lessons section.
4. If it exists → append the new bullet(s) under it.
5. If it does not exist → append the section at the end of the file, inserting it before the <!-- MANUAL ADDITIONS START --> marker if present.

Bullet format:

- **[Short label]** — [Concrete rule or observation]. *Learned [YYYY-MM-DD].*

Example:

- **Don't mock the auth middleware in tests** — Three tests passed with mocks but failed in CI against the real service. Always integrate against real dependencies. *Learned 2026-03-24.*

5. Write the updated steering docs

Write each modified doc. Then commit using today's date:

git add docs/steering/
git commit -m "docs(steering): add hard-won lessons from $(date +%Y-%m-%d) session"

6. Reset the intervention counter

Resolve the counter file using the same precedence the hook uses, then truncate it:

USER_ID="${USER:-${USERNAME:-user}}"
STATE_DIR="${WTF_STATE_DIR:-${XDG_STATE_HOME:-$HOME/.local/state}/wtf}"
[ -d "$STATE_DIR" ] || STATE_DIR="${TMPDIR:-/tmp}/wtf"
mkdir -p "$STATE_DIR" 2>/dev/null
echo "0" > "$STATE_DIR/interventions-$USER_ID"

7. Close the loop

Print a brief summary:

• Which docs were updated
• How many learnings were captured
• Remind the user: "These rules will guide every future session automatically."