| name | summarize |
| description | Mid-session context capture and proactive decision/pattern capture. Use when: significant progress made but session continues, approaching context limits, switching topics, checkpoint learnings, significant decisions made, patterns emerge, or session is winding down. Lighter than a full session summary — captures progress and continues.
|
| allowed-tools | ["Bash","Read","Write","Edit","Glob","Grep"] |
Summarize (Mid-Session)
Capture context, learnings, and progress without ending the session. Write a checkpoint, then continue.
When to Use
- Significant milestone reached but more work ahead
- Switching to a different topic within the same session
- Context getting long (>100k tokens) — checkpoint before compaction
- After completing a multi-step task, before starting the next
- Patterns or decisions have emerged that should be recorded
Not for session-ending summaries — use a full session summary for that.
Proactive Capture Triggers
Fire a capture immediately when any of these occur:
| Trigger | Action |
|---|
| Decision made | Record decision + rationale + alternatives considered |
| Pattern discovered | Note the pattern with "when to use" conditions |
| Significant work completed | Capture what was done + outcome |
| Problem solved | Record approach + what worked / what didn't |
| Session winding down | Offer to run a full session summary or auto-capture key points |
| Topic switch | Quick checkpoint before context shifts |
Session wind-down signals: "thanks", "that's it", "done for now", long pause after significant
work, context switch to unrelated topic, time indicators ("gotta go", "wrapping up").
What's Worth Capturing
Always: architectural decisions, technology choices with rationale, bug root causes + fixes,
performance optimizations, security considerations, integration patterns.
When significant: refactoring approaches, test strategies, debugging techniques,
file organization decisions, naming conventions.
Skip: routine edits, typo fixes, standard boilerplate, obvious patterns already documented.
Key Principles
- Fast > thorough: This is a checkpoint, not a dissertation. 2-5 minutes max.
- File-first: Write to
./notes/checkpoints/ so checkpoints survive context resets.
- Continue after: This skill does NOT end the session.
- Compound: Multiple checkpoints per session is fine — they build a trail.
- Searchable: Use clear prefixes (CHECKPOINT, PATTERN, DECISION, LESSON) for future grep.
- Silent capture: Don't interrupt flow. Capture at natural breaks, not mid-thought.
Anti-Patterns
- Writing a full session summary mid-session (use a full session summary)
- Spending >5 minutes on the checkpoint
- Only commenting in-line without writing a retrievable file
- Generic summaries without specifics ("worked on stuff")
- Over-capturing: not every line of code matters
See checkpoint-format.md for detailed checkpoint template,
memory type distinction, decision/pattern/lesson capture templates, and quality guide.
Relevant Source Files
lionagi/cli/_runs.py — run persistence at ~/.lionagi/runs/{run_id}/lionagi/cli/_logging.py — structured logging conventions used in CLI sessionslionagi/cli/agent.py — li agent --save for artifact persistence
