continuous-learning

name

continuous-learning

description

Stop-hook session-end pattern extractor (v1) — flags sessions worth mining and saves reusable patterns as one-file learned skills under ~/.claude/skills/learned/. Use when wiring, testing, or debugging the Stop-hook extractor, tuning its config.json thresholds, or extracting a session's patterns manually via /learn. Superseded by continuous-learning-v2 (deterministic PreToolUse/PostToolUse instinct learning with confidence scoring and project scoping) for ongoing automatic capture — do NOT use this skill for instinct/confidence-scored learning, project-scoped instincts, or guaranteed per-tool-call observation; that is continuous-learning-v2.

Continuous Learning Skill (v1 — Stop-hook extractor)

Runs as a Stop hook (evaluate-session.sh) that fires once at session end. The script counts user messages in the transcript, skips short sessions (below min_session_length, default 10), and emits a stderr signal telling Claude to mine the session for extractable patterns and where to save them.

Relationship to continuous-learning-v2: v2 (~/.claude/skills/continuous-learning-v2/, also shipped as the skyyrose-core:continuous-learning-v2 plugin skill) supersedes this skill as the primary learning path — deterministic PreToolUse/PostToolUse observation hooks, atomic instincts, confidence scoring, project-scoped storage. v2's own Backward Compatibility section keeps this v1 Stop hook running in parallel as the lightweight session-end extractor, feeding ~/.claude/skills/learned/. Use v1 for that narrow job only; everything else belongs to v2.

When to use

• Installing the Stop hook into ~/.claude/settings.json, or diagnosing why it never fires.
• Tuning config.json (min_session_length, patterns_to_detect, ignore_patterns, learned_skills_path).
• Responding to the hook's end-of-session signal by extracting patterns from the just-finished session.
• Manual extraction mid-session via the /learn command (~/.claude/commands/learn.md, also present in this worktree at .claude/commands/learn.md).

When NOT to use:

• Instinct-based learning, confidence scoring, project-scoped instincts, /evolve, /promote — that is continuous-learning-v2.
• Repo engineering lessons and behavioral corrections — those go to docs/engineering-learnings.md / tasks/lessons.md / .wolf/buglog.json per CLAUDE.md §8, not to a learned skill file.
• One-time fixes, simple typos, external-API flakes — explicitly listed in ignore_patterns.

Inputs

Input	Required state	If absent
evaluate-session.sh + config.json in this skill's directory	Present, script executable	Stop. Nothing to wire; re-fetch the skill files
jq on PATH	Installed	Stop and install. With config.json present, the script calls jq under set -e — a missing jq kills the hook with a non-zero exit, not a graceful default
CLAUDE_TRANSCRIPT_PATH env var	Set by Claude Code when the hook fires	Manual runs without it exit 0 silently by design (hook no-op). For a manual test you MUST point it at a transcript fixture — never read a silent no-op as a passing test
Hook entry in ~/.claude/settings.json	Stop hook pointing at evaluate-session.sh	Skill is inactive — no signal will ever appear. Wire it first (Procedure step 1)

config.json knobs: min_session_length (default 10), extraction_threshold, auto_approve, learned_skills_path (default ~/.claude/skills/learned/), patterns_to_detect, ignore_patterns.

What gets extracted

• Error resolution patterns
• User correction patterns
• Framework workarounds
• Debugging techniques
• Project-specific conventions

Ignored (per ignore_patterns): simple typos, one-time fixes, external API issues.

Procedure

1. Wire the Stop hook in ~/.claude/settings.json (path adjusted to where this skill lives):

   {
     "hooks": {
       "Stop": [{
         "matcher": "*",
         "hooks": [{
           "type": "command",
           "command": "~/.claude/skills/continuous-learning/evaluate-session.sh"
         }]
       }]
     }
   }
   

2. Verify the wiring exists (see Verification check 4) before trusting any "no patterns this session" outcome — an unwired hook is silent, and silence reads as success (fail-open, bug-230 pattern).

3. At session end the hook prints to stderr either [ContinuousLearning] Session too short (N messages), skipping or [ContinuousLearning] Session has N messages - evaluate for extractable patterns plus the save path. On the second signal, review the session against patterns_to_detect and drop anything matching ignore_patterns.

4. Save each extracted pattern to learned_skills_path as [pattern-name].md — kebab-case name, one pattern per file:

   # [Pattern Name]
   **Context:** [When this applies]
   ## Problem - Solution - When to Use
   

5. For mid-session extraction without waiting for the Stop hook, run .

Verification

Run from the skill directory (SKILL=/Users/theceo/DevSkyy/.claude/worktrees/glimmering-crafting-shannon/.claude/skills/continuous-learning). Each check can return "no":

bash -n "$SKILL/evaluate-session.sh"        # 1. PASS: exits 0 (script parses)
jq empty "$SKILL/config.json"               # 2. PASS: exits 0 (config parses)
T=$(mktemp -d)                              # 3. prove the length gate can fail BOTH ways
printf '{"type":"user"}\n{"type":"user"}\n{"type":"user"}\n' > "$T/short.jsonl"
CLAUDE_TRANSCRIPT_PATH="$T/short.jsonl" bash "$SKILL/evaluate-session.sh"
                                            #    PASS: stderr "Session too short (3 messages), skipping", exits 0
for i in $(seq 1 12); do printf '{"type":"user"}\n'; done > "$T/long.jsonl"
CLAUDE_TRANSCRIPT_PATH="$T/long.jsonl" bash "$SKILL/evaluate-session.sh"
                                            #    PASS: stderr "evaluate for extractable patterns" + save path
grep -c 'continuous-learning/evaluate-session.sh' ~/.claude/settings.json
                                            # 4. PASS: prints >= 1. 0 = hook INACTIVE (unwired)

Checks 1–3 earn [repro] (ran and observed); check 4 earns [repo] (reads the settings file, not live hook execution). A run where check 3's short fixture does not print the skip line, or the long fixture does not print the evaluate line, is a broken gate — do not proceed to extraction.

Worked example

Real run, 2026-07-29, this worktree ($SCRATCH = the session scratchpad dir; fixtures were synthetic transcripts):

$ bash -n "$SKILL/evaluate-session.sh"; echo "syntax-check exit:$?"
syntax-check exit:0
$ jq empty "$SKILL/config.json"; echo "config-parse exit:$?"
config-parse exit:0
$ printf '{"type":"user"}\n{"type":"user"}\n{"type":"user"}\n' > "$SCRATCH/short-transcript.jsonl"
$ CLAUDE_TRANSCRIPT_PATH="$SCRATCH/short-transcript.jsonl" bash "$SKILL/evaluate-session.sh"
[ContinuousLearning] Session too short (3 messages), skipping
$ for i in $(seq 1 12); do printf '{"type":"user"}\n'; done > "$SCRATCH/long-transcript.jsonl"
$ CLAUDE_TRANSCRIPT_PATH="$SCRATCH/long-transcript.jsonl" bash "$SKILL/evaluate-session.sh"
[ContinuousLearning] Session has 12 messages - evaluate for extractable patterns
[ContinuousLearning] Save learned skills to: /Users/theceo/.claude/skills/learned/

Both branches of the length gate observed firing — the 3-message fixture was skipped, the 12-message fixture triggered extraction with the save path. [repro]

Failure modes

• Hook never wired → silent inactivity. No error, no signal, and "no learned skills" looks identical to "nothing worth learning". This is the fail-open pattern (bug-230): absence of the gate reads as a pass. Verification check 4 exists for exactly this.
• jq missing → hook dies. set -e + command substitution means a missing jq exits the script non-zero when config.json is present. Symptom: Stop-hook error at session end.
• Manual run without CLAUDE_TRANSCRIPT_PATH → deceptive green. The script exits 0 having done nothing. Only a run against a fixture (Verification check 3) proves behavior.
• Extracting noise. One-time fixes, typos, and external-API flakes are in ignore_patterns for a reason — a learned-skills directory full of noise buries the real patterns.
• Multiple patterns in one file. Keep skills focused — one pattern per file, kebab-case filename, or downstream reuse and pruning both degrade.
• Expecting guaranteed capture from v1. Skill/Stop-hook-based observation is session-end-only and coarse; v2 moved to PreToolUse/PostToolUse hooks precisely because per-tool-call capture must be deterministic. Needing that guarantee here means you are in the wrong skill — use continuous-learning-v2.