hone

name	hone
description	Capture the session's initial user prompt, analyze its effectiveness, and generate an optimized version. Use when the user says "/hone", "hone my prompt", "capture my prompt", "optimize my prompt", or wants to save and improve the prompt that kicked off the session. Produces HONE.md with the original prompt, analysis, and a refined version for reuse and learning.

Hone

Capture the original session prompt, analyze it, and generate an optimized version. Builds prompt-engineering intuition over time. Compose the body in conversation; sk write-artifact writes durably, appends the ledger, and mirrors to cwd/.stoobz/HONE.md.

Process

1. Rolling history — read the previous archive first. If ~/.stoobz/sessions/<project>/<sid>-active/HONE.md exists, preserve its prior content under a ## Previous Prompts heading; new entry goes on top with a fresh timestamp. (Archive path uses SESSION_KIT_ROOT, defaulting to ~/.stoobz.)

2. Identify the initial prompt — find the user's first substantive message that defined the session's work. Copy it verbatim; warts included.

3. Analyze the prompt across these dimensions:

   • Clarity — Was the goal unambiguous?
   • Scope — Was the scope well-defined or open-ended?
   • Context provided — Did it give enough background?
   • Constraints — Were boundaries / requirements stated?
   • Actionability — Could Claude act immediately or needed clarification?

4. Generate the optimized prompt — rewrite incorporating everything learned during the session: discovered context, specific paths / module names, explicit scope boundaries, skills to load, clear success criteria. The result must be self-contained — pasteable cold into a new session.

5. Add coaching notes — brief, session-specific tips. Generic advice ("be specific") is useless; ground every tip in what actually happened here.

6. Compose HONE_BODY in the Output Format below, then a single bash invocation:

   sk write-artifact --skill hone --artifact HONE.md --content-stdin <<< "$HONE_BODY"
   

Output Format

# Hone

**Date:** {YYYY-MM-DD}
**Session:** {branch or topic}

---

## Original Prompt

> {Exact verbatim copy of the user's initial prompt, in a blockquote}

## Analysis

| Dimension     | Rating                                     | Notes                           |
| ------------- | ------------------------------------------ | ------------------------------- |
| Clarity       | {good/fair/vague}                          | {specific observation}          |
| Scope         | {focused/broad/undefined}                  | {specific observation}          |
| Context       | {sufficient/partial/missing}               | {what was missing}              |
| Constraints   | {explicit/implicit/none}                   | {what should have been stated}  |
| Actionability | {immediate/needed-clarification/ambiguous} | {what blocked immediate action} |

**What worked well:** {1-2 things the prompt did right}

**What cost time:** {things that required clarification or discovery mid-session}

## Optimized Prompt

> {The rewritten prompt — ready to copy-paste into a new session.}
>
> {Self-contained: include context, constraints, relevant paths, skills to load,
> and clear success criteria. A new Claude session reading only this prompt
> should be able to start working immediately.}

## Prompt Tips

- {Tip grounded in what actually happened this session}
- {Tip about what context/constraint would have saved time}

---

_Generated by /hone — building prompt intuition one session at a time._

Exit Codes

sk write-artifact returns:

Code	Meaning	Caller behavior
0	Durable write + mirror both succeeded	Done
1	Durability failure	Surface error; do not claim success
2	Durable write succeeded; cwd mirror failed	Mention the warning; archive is authoritative
3	Usage error	Fix invocation

Rules

• Verbatim original — copy the exact original prompt; no editing.
• Honest analysis — if the prompt was great, say so. If it was vague, say that too. No flattery.
• Optimized != longer — best prompts are concise; add specificity, not word count.
• Session-specific tips — every tip grounded in what actually happened here.
• The optimized prompt must be self-contained — paste-and-go.
• The canonical write location is <active-archive>/HONE.md; cwd/.stoobz/HONE.md is the best-effort mirror.
• The ledger entry's name is HONE.md.

See also

• checkin/SKILL.md, write-artifact-protocol.md
• sk write-artifact --help