weekly-digests

# Weekly Digests Produce a serial, multi-chapter narrative digest of a project's complete claude-mem history. Differs from `timeline-report` (one long report) — this generates one digest *per ISO week*, with each subagent reading the prior week's carry-forward block so the story stays coherent. **The chapter count equals the number of ISO weeks the timeline covers.** A project with 2 weeks of data produces 2 chapters; one with 30 weeks produces 30. There is no fixed length — count the weeks first, then drive the pipeline off that count. ## When to Use Trigger when the user asks for: - "Weekly digests" - "Week-by-week story" - "Serial timeline" - "Story chapters of [project]" - "Run a digest for each week" - "Continue the story week by week" If the user wants a single sweeping report, use `timeline-report` instead. This skill is for serial chapter format. ## Prerequisites - claude-mem worker running - Project has at least one ISO week of observations (the pipeline degenerates gracefully — even N=1 works) - A clean output directory the user is comfortable writing into **Resolve the worker port** (do this once, reuse `$WORKER_PORT`): ```bash WORKER_PORT="${CLAUDE_MEM_WORKER_PORT:-$(node -e "const fs=require('fs'),p=require('path'),os=require('os');const uid=(typeof process.getuid==='function'?process.getuid():77);const fallback=String(37700+(uid%100));try{const s=JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync(p.join(os.homedir(),'.claude-mem','settings.json'),'utf-8'));process.stdout.write(String(s.CLAUDE_MEM_WORKER_PORT||fallback));}catch{process.stdout.write(fallback);}" 2>/dev/null)}" ``` ## Workflow ### Step 1: Determine the Project Name Same worktree-detection pattern as `timeline-report`. In a worktree, the data source is the **parent project**: ```bash git_dir=$(git rev-parse --git-dir 2>/dev/null) git_common_dir=$(git rev-parse --git-common-dir 2>/dev/null) if [ "$git_dir" != "$git_common_dir" ]; then parent_project=$(basename "$(dirname "$git_common_dir")") else parent_project=$(basename "$PWD") fi echo "$parent_project" ``` ### Step 2: Fetch the Full Timeline and Save It ```bash mkdir -p .scratch curl -s "http://localhost:${WORKER_PORT}/api/context/inject?project=PROJECT_NAME&full=true" \ > .scratch/cm-timeline.md wc -l .scratch/cm-timeline.md ``` Sanity-check: confirm the file is non-empty and has the expected structure (preamble, then date headers like `### Mon DD, YYYY`, then numeric observation lines `<id> <time> <emoji> <title>` and session boundary lines `S<n> <prompt> (Mon DD at HH:MMpm)`). ### Step 3: Split the Timeline Into Per-ISO-Week Files Write a Python script to `.scratch/split-timeline.py` that: 1. Parses date headers (`### Mon DD, YYYY`). 2. Groups days into ISO weeks via `date.isocalendar()` (Monday-start). 3. Emits one file per week to `docs/timeline-weeks/<YYYY>-W<NN>-<MonDD>-to-<MonDD>.md`, preserving each day's section verbatim. 4. Runs a dual-pass sanity check: total observations distributed must equal the count in the source file. Output structure (filenames illustrative): ``` docs/timeline-weeks/ README.md # weekly index table YYYY-W<NN>-MonDD-to-MonDD.md # one per ISO week the timeline covers ... ``` Each weekly file should preserve the original daily sections verbatim. Do not paraphrase at this stage — the digest agents need raw fidelity. **Count the resulting files** before launching the pipeline. That count is `TOTAL` and drives every subsequent step. Empty weeks (zero observations between active weeks) should be skipped — the pipeline only operates on weeks that have content. ### Step 4: Build the Weekly Index README Write `docs/timeline-weeks/README.md` with a markdown table: Week | Dates | Observations | Sessions | File. This becomes the operator's roadmap and helps the agents understand pacing (peak weeks vs trough weeks). ### Step 5: Run the Consecutive Subagent Pipeline **Critical: subagents run sequentially, NOT in parallel.** Each agent receives the prior agent's carry-forward block. This is the entire point of the skill — without it you have N disjoint summaries; with it you have an N-chapter serial narrative. Create the output directory: ```bash mkdir -p docs/timeline-weeks/digests ``` For each week, in chronological order, dispatch a Task subagent (general-purpose) with this prompt template. **Wait for each agent to complete before launching the next.** Capture the carry-forward block from the result and inject it as `STORY_SO_FAR` into the next prompt. #### Subagent Prompt Template ``` You are writing chapter {N} of {TOTAL} in a serial week-by-week digest of the {PROJECT} project's development history. Chapters 1 through {N-1} are written. {SPECIAL_NOTE: e.g. "This is the LARGEST week", "This is the TROUGH", "This is the FINAL chapter", "This is the ONLY chapter — both first AND final week"}. **Source file (read in full):** {ABSOLUTE_PATH_TO_WEEK_FILE} **Output digest file (write):** {ABSOLUTE_PATH_TO_DIGEST_FILE} **Format key for the source file:** - Numeric lines like `1 7:59p 🔵 Save hook file is empty` are observations (ID, time, type-emoji, title) - `S##` lines are session boundaries (the user prompt that started the session) - Emoji legend: 🎯session 🔴bugfix 🟣feature 🔄refactor ✅change 🔵discovery ⚖️decision 🚨security_alert 🔐security_note 🤫sensitive **Story so far (carry-forward from Week {N-1}):** {STORY_SO_FAR_BLOCK_OR_EMPTY_FOR_WEEK_1} **Your digest must include:** 1. **Title line** — `# Week {N} ({WEEK_LABEL}): {DATE_RANGE} — [your chosen subtitle]` 2. **One-line tagline** — what this week is about, in plain English 3. **Narrative section** ({BUDGET}) — tell the story. Resolve threads from prior weeks where the data shows resolution. Introduce new arcs. Use specific observation details. 4. **Threads continued / opened / resolved** sections 5. **Cliffhanger / What's next** 6. **Carry-forward block** at the very bottom, fenced as ```carry-forward ... ``` — structured handoff for the next week's agent. **CARRY-FORWARD DISCIPLINE:** - Cap at ~350 words. - AGGRESSIVELY PRUNE: drop arcs that didn't surface this week unless they're actively unresolved cliffhangers. - Drop cast members absent 2+ weeks unless load-bearing for the long arc. - Quality over completeness. The next agent inherits what you mention; mention judiciously. Required carry-forward sub-sections: - **Active arcs** — ongoing themes/projects the next agent should watch for - **Cast** — notable named systems/people/tools (continuing + new) - **Unresolved** — open questions or unfinished work - **Tone notes** — how the story is being told (voice, perspective, register evolution) **Tone rules:** - Third-person narrator, sharp, observational. Not twee. - AI is "Claude"; human is "{USER_FIRST_NAME}". - Treat codebase components as characters — whatever the project's recurring named systems are (e.g. a worker, a queue, a process manager, a recurring bug, a flaky migration). Don't import names from another project; use what shows up in this project's observations. - Don't manufacture drama. Name what's there. - Track the user's prompt-register evolution week by week (frustration markers, escalation language, shifts in tone). - Note meta-recursion if the project is reflexive about its own behavior (e.g. a tool that documents its own work, an AI agent debugging itself, a system that catches its own regressions). - Watch for new villains or co-stars and name them. - For trough/silent weeks: silence IS the story. Don't pad. Name what didn't happen. - For surge weeks (>2,000 obs): pick 4-7 spine arcs and tell them well. Don't catalog. **Important:** Do NOT speculate beyond what's in the source file. After writing the file, return: 1. Path of the file you wrote 2. The carry-forward block verbatim 3. One-sentence summary of the week ``` #### Narrative Budget by Observation Count Scale narrative length proportionally to the week's volume: | Obs count | Narrative section budget | | --- | --- | | < 100 | 200–400 words | | 100–500 | 300–600 words | | 500–1,500 | 500–900 words | | 1,500–3,000 | 700–1,100 words | | 3,000+ | 800–1,300 words | Pad these into the `{BUDGET}` slot of the prompt for each week. #### The First Week For Week 1, pass an empty `STORY_SO_FAR_BLOCK` and an instruction noting it's the origin chapter — the agent should establish initial cast, tone, and arcs for everyone after. #### The Final Week The final week gets a different ending: **no carry-forward block**. Instead, instruct the agent to write a `## Where We Are` section (~250 words) naming what's still open at the moment of writing. Tell the agent the project is ongoing — the digest stops; the story doesn't. Don't give the story a false ending. #### When N = 1 (single-week project) Apply BOTH treatments to the same chapter: empty `STORY_SO_FAR_BLOCK` AND `## Where We Are` instead of a carry-forward block. The agent is writing both the origin and the close in one pass. Don't reference prior or future chapters that don't exist. ### Step 6: Rename Files for Sortable Order The agents write digests with names like `YYYY-W<NN>-digest.md`. These already sort chronologically by ISO week (until a project crosses a year boundary inside one project name), but **add a zero-padded numeric prefix** so the order is unambiguous to humans browsing or scripting against the directory: ```bash cd docs/timeline-weeks/digests total=$(ls *.md | wc -l | tr -d ' ') width=${#total} # 1 for N<10, 2 for N<100, 3 for N<1000 [ "$width" -lt 2 ] && width=2 # always pad to at least 2 for readability i=0 for f in *.md; do printf -v prefix "%0${width}d" $i mv "$f" "${prefix}-$f" i=$((i+1)) done ``` Result for N=30: `00-...md` through `29-...md`. For N=4: `00-...md` through `03-...md`. For N=120: `000-...md` through `119-...md`. **Always zero-pad** — `1-...md` and `10-...md` sort wrong without it. Do NOT also prepend the order number to the digest title line inside each file. The filename prefix is for sorting; the title stays clean: `# Week N (W##): Date — Subtitle`. ### Step 7: Report Completion Tell the user: - Total weeks digested (N) - Output directory path - Date range covered - Any silent/trough weeks worth flagging - A one-sentence capstone summarizing the arc — written by the final-chapter agent, or composed by the operator from the final agent's `## Where We Are` section. ## Pipeline Discipline These rules emerged from running the pipeline end-to-end. Encode them every time: 1. **Sequential, not parallel.** The whole point is the carry-forward chain. Parallelism breaks it. 2. **Carry-forward is bounded.** It will bloat without active pruning. Tell every agent: cap ~350 words, drop dormant arcs, drop absent cast. 3. **Track register evolution explicitly.** The user's prompt-style across weeks is a story arc. Frustration markers shift over time (whatever they happen to be in this project's data). Name the shifts. 4. **Treat components as characters.** Whatever recurring named systems show up in the observations are this project's villains and co-stars. Stable cast across weeks builds narrative coherence. 5. **Honor silence.** Trough weeks (10–100 obs) are real chapters. Name what didn't happen. Don't pad. 6. **Don't manufacture drama.** Just observe the data. If the project is reflexive, the recursion is the drama; you don't need to add more. 7. **Final week: no false ending.** The digest stops; the project doesn't. Write `## Where We Are`, not "the end." ## Error Handling - **Empty timeline**: project name wrong, or worker not running. `curl -s "http://localhost:${WORKER_PORT}/api/search?query=*&limit=1"` to verify. - **Worker not running**: start it via your usual method or check `ps aux | grep worker-service`. - **Subagent returns malformed carry-forward**: extract the carry-forward block by regex (` ```carry-forward ... ``` `) and pass forward verbatim. If missing, ask the agent to retry with the explicit instruction "your reply MUST include the carry-forward block fenced as ```carry-forward ... ``` at the very end." - **One agent fails mid-pipeline**: retry that week with the same carry-forward. Don't skip — the chain breaks. - **Carry-forward growing past ~500 words**: tighten the discipline instruction in subsequent prompts. Force pruning explicitly. ## Examples ### Long-running project (~30 weeks) User: "Make weekly digests for [project] from beginning to end" 1. Resolve worker port, detect project name. 2. Fetch full timeline → `.scratch/cm-timeline.md`. 3. Run `.scratch/split-timeline.py` → N weekly files in `docs/timeline-weeks/` (e.g. 30). 4. Generate `docs/timeline-weeks/README.md` index. 5. Launch N subagents consecutively, one per week. Each gets the prior week's carry-forward. The first chapter starts with empty carry-forward; the final chapter writes `## Where We Are` instead of a carry-forward block. 6. Rename digests with zero-padded order prefix (`00-...md` through `29-...md`). 7. Report total chapters, date range, any troughs/peaks, and the one-line capstone the final agent produced. ### Short-lived project (~3 weeks) Same flow, just smaller. N=3, so: - Chapter 1: empty carry-forward, establish cast/tone/arcs. - Chapter 2: receives chapter 1's carry-forward, builds on it. - Chapter 3: receives chapter 2's carry-forward, BUT gets the final-chapter treatment (`## Where We Are` instead of carry-forward block). - Filenames: `00-...md`, `01-...md`, `02-...md`. ### Single-week project (N=1) Apply both first-and-final-chapter treatment to the only chapter: empty carry-forward, `## Where We Are` close, no inter-chapter references. Filename: `00-...md`.