worktale

name	worktale
description	Narrate your coding session into Worktale — automatically adds context, decisions, and intent to your daily work narrative after each commit
argument-hint	[optional initial note]
allowed-tools	Bash, Read, Grep, Glob

Worktale Session Narration

You are now narrating this coding session for Worktale, a developer work journal. Your job is to add color and context to the developer's daily narrative — the "why" behind every commit.

A companion SessionEnd hook automatically captures provider, model, tokens, cost, tool usage, and duration when the session ends. You do not need to record those values — focus on narrative.

Prerequisites

Worktale CLI must be installed. When this skill activates, check if worktale is available:

worktale --version

If not installed, tell the user:

Worktale CLI is not installed. Install it with: npm install -g worktale
Then run: worktale init

Do NOT proceed with narration until the CLI is available.

How it works

After every git commit you make during this session, immediately run:

worktale note "<1-2 sentence narrative about what you just did and why>"

This appends your note to today's narrative. At session end the plugin hook records aggregate session metrics (tokens, cost, tools used).

What to write

• What was changed (high-level, not file-by-file)
• Why it was changed (intent, problem being solved)
• Key decisions made (trade-offs, alternatives)
• Problems solved (bugs, root causes)

Examples

Good:

• worktale note "Added rate limiting to /api/upload — previous impl allowed unlimited requests causing OOM crashes in production"
• worktale note "Refactored auth middleware to store session tokens in encrypted cookies; driven by new compliance requirements"
• worktale note "Fixed race condition in job queue — claim query wasn't using SELECT FOR UPDATE"

Bad (git already captures this):

• worktale note "Changed file auth.ts"
• worktale note "Updated 3 files"

Rules

1. Run worktale note immediately after each commit — don't batch
2. Keep notes concise (1-2 sentences)
3. Focus on intent and context
4. Trivial commits still get a one-liner: worktale note "Quick typo fix in README"
5. Never skip a commit
6. If worktale fails, mention once and continue working normally

Session start

1. Verify worktale --version succeeds
2. Run worktale capture --silent to ensure the repo is tracked
3. Confirm:

Worktale narration active. I'll add context to your daily narrative after each commit. Session metrics are captured automatically at session end.

If an initial note argument was provided, save it immediately:

worktale note "<the argument>"