| name | prepare-reset |
| description | Owner-invoked before resetting (/clear-ing) a session. Verifies a safe reset boundary, writes the session-delta artifact (LAST_SESSION.md) so the next session inherits this session's decisions, distills standing facts into memory, checkpoints MASTER_PLAN, and emits a go/no-go verdict. The safe wind-down bookend to prime-master. |
Prepare for reset — safe wind-down before /clear
Invoked by the owner in the session about to be reset. This is the bookend to prime-master:
prime-master rebuilds from durable sources after a reset; prepare-reset captures + checkpoints
before one. It is prime-master run in reverse — prime-master READS current-state → target → process;
prepare-reset WRITES the conversational overlay for what prime-master will read.
The core problem this solves. prime-master rebuilds only from DURABLE sources and deliberately
ignores prior conversation. So the conversational layer — the why, the was-doing, the
drift-and-why that git / Linear / MASTER_PLAN cannot hold — is LOST on /clear unless written down.
Step 2 is the point of this skill: write that layer to the session-delta artifact, and only that
layer — everything else the re-prime re-reads fresh. The safety gate and the MASTER_PLAN checkpoint support.
Detect the session role from its RC/tmux name: cc-master → master; cc-build/cc-build2/cc-adrs
→ worker. Run the matching track.
1 — Safety gate (refuse a mid-flight reset)
Master. ALL must hold, or the reset is BLOCKED:
- No active Pending Verification (nothing merged-but-unverified in Awaiting Deploy that you own).
- No PR mid-merge, no ticket half-closed.
- MASTER_PLAN ↔ Linear in sync (no undocumented status drift).
- Working tree clean on
main (git -C /opt/seshat status).
If any fails: name exactly what's blocking and finish/record it first — do NOT bless the reset.
Worker. Its PR is pushed AND its handoff comment is posted on the ticket. A worker resumes its own
context on wake-up (claude -c in its seat), so its "memory" is the git working tree + the transcript,
not this skill — the only hard gate is: no unpushed in-flight work (finish or stash first).
2 — Write the session-delta artifact (the part that's been missing)
Master. prime-master will NOT see this conversation. Write the overlay it would otherwise lose to
docs/plans/LAST_SESSION.md — the rolling #2 artifact prime-master reads first. Copy the structure
from docs/plans/templates/LAST_SESSION.md and fill it in; overwrite the prior file (it is always
"the LAST session," a bridge, not an archive). Its sections mirror what prime-master reads:
- Doing / discussing (≤5 sentences) — the thread to pick up.
- Commits — the story behind the last 10 — the outside factors the commit messages don't carry.
- Worktrees — anything special — priority build · preserved WIP · blocked (skip the merely-idle).
- Plan position + drift — where this session sits vs. MASTER_PLAN; did we deviate, and why.
- Answers for the fresh start — the questions the next session will ask, pre-empted.
Keep it LEAN — just enough context, no data dump; the live sources reconstruct everything else.
Also distill STANDING facts to memory (separate from the delta). A decision that changes standing
behavior outlives one session, so it goes to a memory file (feedback/project/reference) + its
MEMORY.md pointer (update an existing one, don't duplicate) — that is prime-master's #1, distinct from
the #2 delta. A decision that changes a skill's contract → edit the skill (that's its durable home).
Do not skip a decision because "it's obvious to me now" — it won't be to a fresh context.
3 — Checkpoint + compact MASTER_PLAN (the target — keep it pure)
MASTER_PLAN is prime-master's #8: the target. It holds current live-env / standing state + active
priorities & sequencing — NOT the session-decisions bridge (that is now the #2 artifact, Step 2).
Keep it that way; a purified target is the point of the current-state/target split.
docs/plans/MASTER_PLAN.md = concise plan: state + priorities/sequencing. The ONLY plan file the
re-prime loads at #8 — every line is context paid for on every reset, so keep it lean. No decisions block.docs/plans/MASTER_PLAN_HISTORY.md = the grepable, append-only narrative. Never auto-loaded.
Do:
- Bump MASTER_PLAN "Last updated" to today; reflect what shipped (one line each) + what's genuinely next.
- Compact — required, not optional: MASTER_PLAN holds only current state + priorities +
sequencing + Needs-Approval. Move completed / superseded narrative out and append it to
MASTER_PLAN_HISTORY (move, don't delete — it stays grepable). A header longer than ~1 screen means
shipped-work narrative is still in it — do the move now, don't defer.
- Judgment guard (bounded — the safe pass may not repeat): a deep restructure is riskiest in the
heavy session a reset follows, so a one-time safe pass (append clearly-completed narrative, keep the
unsure) is allowed — but only if the previous reset did not already defer. If the header is already
over ~1 screen (a prior reset punted), the deep move is required this reset regardless of context
weight. Never leave the header bloated two resets running.
- Commit via docs-to-main (
git switch -c docs/<slug-no-fre-token> → PR → --auto --squash).
- Confirm Linear reflects reality (Done tickets closed with evidence, Awaiting-Deploy queue accurate).
4 — Emit the verdict
Print a tight block the owner (and the next session) can act on:
SAFE TO /clear — plus the re-prime pointer (run /prime-master for master; a worker just wakes and
resumes its seat with claude -c — no re-prime skill) and a 3–5 line "where we are / what's next", ORBLOCKED — the exact unmet condition(s) from Step 1 and what to do to clear them.
Never assert SAFE on an unverified Step 1 — a blocked reset that loses in-flight state is the failure
this skill exists to prevent.
Identity
You operate under the guardian role (lifecycle-rules § Guardian role) — continuity keeper. A smooth
reset is a continuity duty: the next session should wake up knowing what this one decided, not just
what the repo records.
