| name | finalize |
| description | Strongly prefer this skill after ANY completed VS Code Agent Host / agent host / AHP / Agent Host Protocol task when the user wants learnings captured, docs updated, or knowledge finalized. Use when the user says 'finalize knowledge', 'finalize the session', 'capture what we learned', or has finished Agent Host work and wants docs/changelog updated. Updates docs and changes/, cleans up the session's plan/ subfolder, then commits the knowledge session branch, merges it to main, and pushes main. |
Skill: finalize
Capture what was learned in this session as updates to the knowledge repo, then commit the knowledge session branch, merge it to main, and push main.
This skill writes doc updates, a new changes/ entry, removes the session's plan/ subfolder, and commits the lot. It is the publishing workflow for normal Agent Host tasks; reconcile separately writes and publishes routine drift maintenance.
Knowledge checkout bootstrap
The installed vsckb plugin is only the skill runner. The mutable knowledge base lives in a workspace-local checkout of git@github.com:roblourens/knowledge-vscode.git, with index.md, docs/, plan/, and changes/ at the checkout root.
Before reading or writing knowledge, resolve paths from the current workspace, not from this installed SKILL.md:
VSCODE_REPO is git rev-parse --show-toplevel for the workspace where the user is working.VSCODE_BRANCH is git -C "$VSCODE_REPO" branch --show-current.KNOWLEDGE_REMOTE is git@github.com:roblourens/knowledge-vscode.git.KNOWLEDGE_REPO is normally $VSCODE_REPO/.knowledge-vscode, a git submodule checkout of KNOWLEDGE_REMOTE.
If $VSCODE_REPO itself is the knowledge repo (it has index.md, docs/, plan/, and changes/, and its origin URL matches KNOWLEDGE_REMOTE or the equivalent HTTPS URL), use $VSCODE_REPO as KNOWLEDGE_REPO and do not create a nested submodule.
Otherwise, before reading or writing:
- Resolve
PLUGIN_ROOT as the directory two levels up from this installed SKILL.md.
- Run
"$PLUGIN_ROOT/scripts/init-knowledge-checkout.sh" "$PWD".
- Use the
VSCODE_REPO, KNOWLEDGE_REPO, and KNOWLEDGE_REMOTE values printed by the script for the rest of the skill.
The helper creates or reuses .knowledge-vscode, runs git submodule add -f when needed, unstages .gitmodules and .knowledge-vscode after creation, and fetches the knowledge remote. The parent workspace is expected to git-ignore .knowledge-vscode and .gitmodules from its root; the helper does not edit ignore or exclude files.
Pick the session slug
SESSION_SLUG is the session's subfolder under $KNOWLEDGE_REPO/plan/. If context, interface-planner, or reconcile ran earlier in this conversation, reuse the slug they used. Otherwise:
- If exactly one folder under
plan/ looks like this session's work, use it.
- If multiple folders are present (concurrent sessions in other VS Code windows), ask the user which slug belongs to this session — don't guess.
- If none exist (the session did not need a knowledge artifact earlier), generate one now:
YYYY-MM-DD-<short-description>.
Workflow
Before step 1, create or checkout the knowledge branch knowledge/$SESSION_SLUG: if the branch exists locally, check it out; if origin/knowledge/$SESSION_SLUG exists, check it out with tracking; otherwise create it from origin/main.
1. Make sure the knowledge branch is clean enough
Check git -C "$KNOWLEDGE_REPO" status --porcelain. If there are uncommitted edits that don't belong to this session (e.g. another in-flight finalize, hand edits the user is working on), stop and surface them — do not commit them along with this session's work.
Exception: unrelated uncommitted plan/<other-session>/ folders are common when another session is in progress. If the user confirms they are unrelated, you may ignore those folders and continue, but you must avoid git add -A; stage only this session's doc/change/plan cleanup files explicitly.
2. Sync the session branch with origin
git -C "$KNOWLEDGE_REPO" fetch origin main --quiet
git -C "$KNOWLEDGE_REPO" rebase --autostash origin/main
If the rebase fails (concurrent finalize from another session touched the same docs), stop and surface the conflict to the user. Don't attempt to auto-resolve prose conflicts.
3. Apply the proactively recorded knowledge gaps
The point of the knowledge base is to make the next session avoid the wasted work of this one. Those gaps must be captured when they happen, while the cause and impact are clear, rather than reconstructed from conversation history at finalize.
Read $KNOWLEDGE_REPO/index.md, $KNOWLEDGE_REPO/docs/design-principles.md, and $KNOWLEDGE_REPO/plan/$SESSION_SLUG/knowledge-gaps.md if it exists. The gap log is the source of truth for what went wrong or was unnecessarily expensive. Use conversation history and source changes to understand what was done and why, but do not run a retrospective pass over the conversation to invent additional gaps at finalize. Treat a missing log from an older session the same as an empty log.
For each logged gap, confirm that it is reusable Agent Host knowledge, then map it to one of:
- A
gotcha: entry on a specific doc (load-bearing weirdness someone would naively "fix" and break).
- A
debt: entry on a specific doc (something that genuinely is wrong and should be cleaned up).
- A doc body update (the description of how the component works was incomplete or misleading — including any prescriptive "how to work with this" notes that belong with the component).
- A new doc (no doc covers this area at all; that's why it bit you).
- A
changes/ summary entry (decision rationale or narrative that doesn't fit anywhere else, but the next person looking at this area should read it).
Steps 4–7 execute this mapping; they do not generate it from scratch.
If the file has no entries, preserve that result. Do not manufacture a retrospective item merely to fill the summary.
Note: things like decisions and their rationale belong in changes/, not docs/. Things about how a component currently works belong in docs/. Things to revisit or preserve carefully belong in ## Debt & gotchas.
4. Update existing docs
For each existing doc in $KNOWLEDGE_REPO/docs/ whose subject area was changed by this session:
-
Revise the doc body to reflect the new state.
-
Update the Covers: line if the set of relevant paths changed.
-
Update inline cross-references if relationships between components changed.
-
Update the ## Debt & gotchas section (see step 4a).
-
Insert a changelog entry as the first bullet in the doc's changelog section:
- **YYYY-MM-DD** — <SHA> — <one-line description of what changed>
Use the current HEAD of $VSCODE_BRANCH for the SHA, abbreviated to 10 characters: git -C "$VSCODE_REPO" rev-parse --short=10 HEAD. Changelogs are newest-first; normal finalize entries go above same-day entries and older entries. If you are backfilling an older dated entry, place it in date-sorted position instead of putting it at the bottom.
4a. Update Debt & gotchas
Review the proactive knowledge-gaps.md entries and the existing debt entries affected by the completed task. Each doc has a ## Debt & gotchas section between the body and the changelog — add or remove bullets as warranted.
Three triggers:
- Resolved debt: if this session fixed something a doc's
debt: entry called out, remove the entry.
- New debt: if a logged gap identifies something that looks wrong, is duplicated, is mid-migration, or should be revisited later — add a
debt: entry.
- New gotcha: if a logged gap identifies something that is load-bearing and a future agent could easily break by "cleaning it up" — add a
gotcha: entry. Be deliberate; gotchas are presumed permanent.
Format (one bullet line):
- **debt** (YYYY-MM-DD, <file:symbol>) — <one-line description of what's wrong and ideally how to fix>
- **gotcha** (YYYY-MM-DD, <file:symbol>) — <what's load-bearing and what a future change should preserve>
If no ## Debt & gotchas section exists in a doc that needs an entry, add one between the body and the ## Changelog.
If the new item is cross-cutting (spans multiple docs / affects how to work across the subsystem), also add a one-line pointer under ## Active debt & gotchas in $KNOWLEDGE_REPO/index.md referencing the doc(s) where the detail lives. Don't duplicate the detail — just point.
5. Create new docs if needed
If something material was learned about a component that has no doc yet, create one under $KNOWLEDGE_REPO/docs/<descriptive-name>.md:
# <Component name>
_Covers: <vscode-relative path 1>, <path 2>, ..._
<body — what it is, how it works, key files/classes/functions, how it relates to other components, with inline links to related docs as `[name](./other-doc.md)`>
## Debt & gotchas
_(Empty for now. Entries take the form `- **debt|gotcha** (YYYY-MM-DD, file:symbol) — description`.)_
## Changelog
- **YYYY-MM-DD** — <SHA> — initial entry
For the initial SHA: if the doc describes existing state in the VS Code repo, use the current HEAD of origin/main (git -C "$VSCODE_REPO" rev-parse --short=10 origin/main). If it describes something that's part of an in-flight change on the current branch, use the current HEAD of $VSCODE_BRANCH (git -C "$VSCODE_REPO" rev-parse --short=10 HEAD). When in doubt, use the branch HEAD. Always abbreviate to 10 characters.
Add a one-line entry to $KNOWLEDGE_REPO/index.md under Docs with the doc's name, a keyword-rich one-line description, and its Covers: paths.
6. Clean up session artifacts
Delete the session artifact folder, including knowledge-gaps.md and any interface snapshots: rm -rf "$KNOWLEDGE_REPO/plan/$SESSION_SLUG".
7. Write the change entry
Create $KNOWLEDGE_REPO/changes/$SESSION_SLUG/summary.md:
# <Title — one line, matches the plan if there was one>
**Date:** YYYY-MM-DD
**VS Code branch:** <VSCODE_BRANCH>
**VS Code SHA at finalize:** <git -C $VSCODE_REPO rev-parse --short=10 HEAD>
**PR:** <link if known, otherwise "TBD">
## What was done
<paragraph or two summarizing the change>
## Key decisions
- <decision and rationale>
- ...
## What went wrong or was misunderstood
The proactive gap log from step 3, distilled. Each bullet pairs the missing or misleading knowledge with what would have prevented the wasted work and where that prevention now lives:
- <what went wrong / what was assumed vs. what was true> — **prevented by:** <`gotcha:` on doc X | `debt:` on doc Y | doc body update on Z | new doc N | this summary>.
- ...
If no gaps were recorded, write `- (none recorded)`.
## What we learned
- <other noteworthy things that don't fit above — e.g. observations about the agent host itself, the workflow, or tooling, that aren't tied to a specific mistake>
## Doc updates
- <list of docs updated or created in this session, including which `## Debt & gotchas` entries were added or removed>
The What went wrong section is mandatory, but it must be sourced from knowledge-gaps.md. If that file has no entries, use the explicit none form above.
8. Commit, merge, and push
Use the title from the changes/$SESSION_SLUG/summary.md first heading (without the leading # ) as the commit subject:
SUBJECT="$(awk '/^# /{sub(/^# /,""); print; exit}' "$KNOWLEDGE_REPO/changes/$SESSION_SLUG/summary.md")"
git -C "$KNOWLEDGE_REPO" add -A
git -C "$KNOWLEDGE_REPO" commit -m "$SUBJECT"
git -C "$KNOWLEDGE_REPO" checkout main
git -C "$KNOWLEDGE_REPO" pull --rebase origin main
git -C "$KNOWLEDGE_REPO" merge --ff-only "knowledge/$SESSION_SLUG"
git -C "$KNOWLEDGE_REPO" push origin main
If step 1 identified unrelated plan folders that the user asked you to ignore, do not use git add -A here. Stage the specific files for this finalize (updated docs, changes/$SESSION_SLUG/summary.md, deleted plan/$SESSION_SLUG/, and any intentional skill updates) and verify git diff --cached --name-status does not include the unrelated plan folders before committing.
If main advanced between steps 2 and 8 and the fast-forward merge fails, checkout knowledge/$SESSION_SLUG, re-run step 2's rebase, then retry the checkout-main, pull, merge, and push sequence once. If it still fails, stop and surface to the user.
Do not push the session branch unless the user explicitly asks. The durable published state is main on the knowledge remote.
9. Report
Tell the user:
- The committed SHA (
git -C "$KNOWLEDGE_REPO" rev-parse --short=10 HEAD).
- Which docs were created/modified and which
## Debt & gotchas entries were added or removed.
- That
plan/$SESSION_SLUG/ is gone.
If the work needs amending later, the user can edit $KNOWLEDGE_REPO directly and make a follow-up commit.
