cairn

Use when the user asks "which cairn am I using?", "what server is this?", "am I on local or remote?", "how do I switch cairns?", or similar questions about the current cairn MCP connection. Calls `whoami` to read transport, endpoint, and the list of registered cairns; explains how to switch.

Use when the user wants to seed a fresh cairn from an existing code repository's accumulated history — README, docs, git log, PR descriptions, CHANGELOG. Walks the repo, drafts a single batched proposal of inferred collaborators / decisions / findings / open questions / actions, gets one consent round, then writes each item to the cairn with correctly backdated dates and structured PR / commit provenance.

Use when the user assigns pending work to someone (themselves or another collaborator) — "I'll handle X", "can you take care of Y by Friday?", "P will do Z". Records the action item via the `add_action` MCP tool (or `cairn action add` CLI). Distinct from a *decision* (commitment with rationale), *finding* (observed fact), and *open question* (uncertainty awaiting resolution).

Use when the user expresses a commitment with rationale that the team is making — "we'll go with…", "let's use X", "we decided to…", "I'm going to switch to…". Records the decision via the `add_decision` MCP tool (or `cairn decision add` CLI), attributed to the appropriate collaborator. Distinct from a *finding* (an observed fact), an *open question* (uncertainty awaiting resolution), and an *action item* (assigned pending work).

Use when the user says they have finished a task that corresponds to an action item ("I'm done with the outline", "that's shipped", "rerun is complete"). Updates `state/action_items.yaml` so status becomes `complete`, with completion timestamp and completer recorded. Keeps history — the entry is never deleted.

Use when the user expresses something they want recorded as a finding ("we just learned that…", "remember this finding…", "log that…", "we discovered…"). Writes a new markdown file under knowledge/findings/ with proper YAML frontmatter (date, author, related references). The author is the human, not you. If the user is on an exploration (a non-main git branch in the cairn), the finding records that exploration's name.

Use when starting a session inside this cairn (or when the user asks "what's going on with this project?") to load enough context to be useful, without dumping the entire knowledge base into the prompt. Loads PROJECT.md, the collaborator list, and a project-status summary, then identifies the current user.

Use when the user wraps up a cairn exploration — either because the work has been merged into main, or because they're abandoning the direction. Records the closure in the exploration's manifest and moves its row from the "Active explorations" table to a "Closed explorations" section in explorations/README.md. Pairs with the start-exploration skill.

Use when the user wants to track an alternative line of inquiry the group can review later — a different methodology, an alternative analysis, a divergent design. Creates a `<user-id>/<short-description>` git branch in the cairn, writes an exploration manifest, updates the active-explorations index on main, and leaves the user on the new branch.

Use to smoke-test AGENT-BOOTSTRAP.md end-to-end against the current working tree. A fresh agent (subagent or `claude -p`) follows the bootstrap doc against a fixture project repo in a tmpdir, runs structural checks on the resulting cairn, and reports back where the doc was clear vs ambiguous. Catches regressions in the bootstrap UX before they reach a real user. NOT a cairn-substrate skill — this is a development tool for the Cairn framework itself.

Use at natural session-end signals ("ok let's wrap up", "good place to stop", "I have to go", "see you tomorrow", "thanks, I'll come back to this") OR when invoked explicitly. Reviews the working conversation and produces a single batched proposal of captures — findings logged in passing, decisions made, action items implied, questions raised but not yet recorded. The user approves / edits / drops the whole list in one round, avoiding per-item interruptions.

Use when the user asks about prior context in this cairn ("was X considered?", "what did we decide about Y?", "has anyone looked at Z?"). Searches local files — meetings, findings, decisions, open questions — without relying on a vector index or external service. Returns excerpts with source path, date, and author so answers can be cited.