| name | summary |
| description | Aggregate journal entries to surface patterns — recurring blockers, most-modified files, effective tools, and team velocity trends. Use for retrospectives, standups, or understanding project health. |
Journal: Summary
Overview
Analyze the journal to surface patterns across multiple sessions. Produces aggregate insights rather than individual entries — what keeps going wrong, what keeps working, where the effort is concentrated.
Announce at start: "Analyzing journal for patterns."
Journal Location
Reads from .claude/journal.jsonl in the project root.
Time Ranges
/field-notes:summary # last 7 days (default)
/field-notes:summary week # last 7 days
/field-notes:summary month # last 30 days
/field-notes:summary all # everything
Analysis Dimensions
1. Activity Breakdown
Count entries by type:
Activity (last 7 days):
work: 12 entries
bug-fix: 4 entries
refactor: 2 entries
exploration: 3 entries
review: 1 entry
audit: 1 entry
─────────────────────
Total: 23 entries
2. Hot Files
Files that appear most frequently across entries:
Most Modified Files:
1. packages/server/src/server/routes/api.ts (8 entries)
2. packages/core/src/core/context.ts (5 entries)
3. packages/frontend/src/components/ActivityLog.tsx (4 entries)
These are churn indicators — files touched repeatedly may need refactoring or better test coverage.
3. Recurring Blockers
Extract and deduplicate blockers from entries:
Recurring Blockers:
- "Mock pollution in tests" (appeared 3 times)
- "Rate limiter config unclear" (appeared 2 times)
- "SSE connection timeout" (appeared 2 times, resolved 2026-03-27)
Resolved blockers (appear in later entries as fixes) are marked.
4. Insights & Patterns
Aggregate the insights and wouldDoDifferently fields:
Top Insights:
- Two-stage review (spec + quality) catches different failure modes (3 mentions)
- Check installed package version before reading docs (2 mentions)
- Worktree delegation prevents context pollution (2 mentions)
Recurring "Would Do Differently":
- "Run full test suite earlier" (3 mentions)
- "Read existing tests before writing new ones" (2 mentions)
5. Skills Used
Which zen skills are used most:
Skills Usage:
zenflow:dispatch 8 sessions
zenflow:check-work 8 sessions
zenflow:collab 5 sessions
zenflow:bug-fix 4 sessions
zenflow:plan 3 sessions
zenflow:idea 1 session
Output Format
## Journal Summary — last 7 days (23 entries)
### Activity
[breakdown by type]
### Hot Files
[top 5 most-modified files]
### Recurring Blockers
[deduplicated, with resolution status]
### Insights
[aggregated patterns from insights + wouldDoDifferently]
### Skills
[usage counts]
### Health Signals
- Bug-fix ratio: 17% (4/23) — [healthy < 25%]
- Workaround ratio: 9% (2/23) — [healthy < 15%]
- Blocker-free sessions: 78% (18/23)
Health Signals
Quick indicators derived from the data:
| Signal | Healthy | Warning | Unhealthy |
|---|
| Bug-fix ratio | < 25% | 25-40% | > 40% |
| Workaround ratio | < 15% | 15-30% | > 30% |
| Blocker-free sessions | > 70% | 50-70% | < 50% |
| Repeat blocker rate | < 10% | 10-25% | > 25% |
These are rough heuristics, not hard rules. A spike in bug fixes after a big feature is normal.
Related Skills
- field-notes:read — View individual entries
- field-notes:write — Append new entries
- field-notes:reflect — Session retrospective with actionable takeaways
