nav-start

Navigator Navigator Skill

Load the Navigator documentation navigator to start your development session with optimized context.

When to Invoke

Invoke this skill when the user:

• Says "start my session", "begin work", "start working"
• Says "load the navigator", "show me the docs"
• Asks "what should I work on?"
• Mentions "resume work", "continue from where I left off"
• Asks about project structure or current tasks

DO NOT invoke if:

• User already ran /nav:start command this conversation
• Navigator already loaded (check conversation history)
• User is in middle of implementation (only invoke at session start)

Execution Steps

Step 0: Detect SessionStart Hook Injection (Fast Path) [v6.9.0+]

Before doing anything else, check whether the SessionStart hook has already injected Navigator context into this session. The hook emits a sentinel string on success:

<!-- nav-session-start-injected:v1 -->

If the sentinel is present in your system context (it appears inside a SessionStart system reminder block at the very top of the conversation):

→ Fast path activated. Do NOT execute Steps 1–7. The data those steps would Read is already in your context window. Skip directly to Step 8 (Display Session Summary) and render it using the injected data.

This eliminates ~6 Read tool invocations per session start and saves ~1.5-2k tokens of tool-call ceremony. The user-visible output must be byte-identical to the legacy path — they should not be able to tell which mode produced it.

If the sentinel is absent (legacy project without the hook, hook disabled in .agent/.nav-config.json, or hook crashed):

→ Legacy path. Execute Steps 1–7 as documented below. Same behavior as pre-v6.9.0.

Detection rule of thumb: If you can read the string nav-session-start-injected anywhere in the system reminders that opened this conversation, you are on the fast path.

---

Step 1: Check Navigator Version

Check if user is running latest Navigator version:

# Run version checker (optional - doesn't block session start)
PLUGIN_DIR="${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT:-$HOME/.claude/plugins/cache/navigator-marketplace/navigator}"
[ -d "$PLUGIN_DIR" ] || PLUGIN_DIR="$HOME/.claude/plugins/marketplaces/navigator-marketplace"
if [ -f "$PLUGIN_DIR/scripts/check-version.sh" ]; then
  bash "$PLUGIN_DIR/scripts/check-version.sh"

  # Note: Exit code 1 means update available, but don't block session
  # Exit code 0 means up to date
  # Exit code 2 means cannot check (network issue)
fi

Version check behavior:

• If update available: Show notification, continue session
• If up to date: Show ✅, continue session
• If cannot check: Skip silently, continue session

Never block session start due to version check.

Step 1.5: Auto-Update (if enabled)

If auto_update is enabled in config AND an update is available, automatically update Navigator:

# Resolve the installed plugin directory
PLUGIN_DIR="${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT:-$HOME/.claude/plugins/cache/navigator-marketplace/navigator}"
[ -d "$PLUGIN_DIR" ] || PLUGIN_DIR="$HOME/.claude/plugins/marketplaces/navigator-marketplace"

# Run auto-updater
AUTO_UPDATE_RESULT=$(python3 "$PLUGIN_DIR/skills/nav-start/functions/auto_updater.py" 2>/dev/null)
AUTO_UPDATE_STATUS=$(echo "$AUTO_UPDATE_RESULT" | python3 -c "import sys,json; print(json.load(sys.stdin).get('status',''))" 2>/dev/null)

case "$AUTO_UPDATE_STATUS" in
  "updated")
    NEW_VERSION=$(echo "$AUTO_UPDATE_RESULT" | python3 -c "import sys,json; print(json.load(sys.stdin).get('new_version',''))" 2>/dev/null)
    REQUIRES_RESTART=$(echo "$AUTO_UPDATE_RESULT" | python3 -c "import sys,json; print(json.load(sys.stdin).get('requires_restart', False))" 2>/dev/null)
    echo "✅ Auto-updated Navigator to v$NEW_VERSION"
    if [ "$REQUIRES_RESTART" = "True" ]; then
      echo ""
      echo "⚠️  RESTART REQUIRED"
      echo "   Claude Code caches skill paths at session start."
      echo "   Restart Claude Code to load new skills from v$NEW_VERSION."
      echo ""
    fi
    ;;
  "up-to-date")
    # Silently continue
    ;;
  "failed")
    echo "⚠️  Auto-update failed. Run 'nav-upgrade' manually if needed."
    ;;
  "disabled"|"skipped")
    # Silently continue
    ;;
esac

Auto-update behavior:

• If updated: Show "✅ Auto-updated to vX.Y.Z" with restart prompt
• If up-to-date: Continue silently
• If failed: Show warning "⚠️ Auto-update failed, run nav-upgrade manually"
• If disabled/skipped: Continue silently

IMPORTANT: When requires_restart: true, display:

⚠️  RESTART REQUIRED
   Claude Code caches skill paths at session start.
   Restart Claude Code to load new skills from vX.Y.Z.

This informs users that mid-session updates require a restart to activate new skills.

Never block session start due to auto-update failure.

Step 2: Check Navigator Initialization

Check if .agent/DEVELOPMENT-README.md exists:

if [ ! -f ".agent/DEVELOPMENT-README.md" ]; then
  echo "❌ Navigator not initialized in this project"
  echo ""
  echo "Run /nav:init to set up Navigator structure first."
  exit 1
fi

If not found, inform user to run /nav:init first.

Step 3: Load Documentation Navigator

Read the navigator file:

Read(
  file_path: ".agent/DEVELOPMENT-README.md"
)

This is the lightweight index (~2k tokens) that tells you:

• What documentation exists
• When to load specific docs
• Current task focus
• Project structure overview

Step 4: Check for Active Context Marker

Check if there's an active marker from previous /nav:compact:

if [ -f ".agent/.context-markers/.active" ]; then
  marker_file=$(cat .agent/.context-markers/.active)
  echo "🔄 Active context marker detected!"
  echo ""
  echo "Marker: $marker_file"
  echo ""
  echo "This marker was saved during your last /nav:compact."
  echo "Load it to continue where you left off?"
  echo ""
  echo "[Y/n]:"
fi

If user confirms (Y or Enter):

• Read the marker file: Read(file_path: ".agent/.context-markers/{marker_file}")
• Delete .active file: rm .agent/.context-markers/.active
• Show confirmation: "✅ Context restored from marker!"

If user declines (n):

• Delete .active file
• Show: "Skipping marker load. You can load it later with /nav:markers"

Step 5: Load Navigator Configuration

Read configuration:

Read(
  file_path: ".agent/.nav-config.json"
)

Parse:

• project_management: Which PM tool (linear, github, jira, none)
• task_prefix: Task ID format (TASK, GH, LIN, etc.)
• team_chat: Team notifications (slack, discord, none)
• tom_features: ToM configuration (if present, v5.0.0+)

Step 5.1: Check Version Drift

Check if project config version matches plugin version:

PLUGIN_DIR="${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT:-$HOME/.claude/plugins/cache/navigator-marketplace/navigator}"
[ -d "$PLUGIN_DIR" ] || PLUGIN_DIR="$HOME/.claude/plugins/marketplaces/navigator-marketplace"
DRIFT_RESULT=$(python3 "$PLUGIN_DIR/skills/nav-start/functions/auto_updater.py" --check-drift 2>/dev/null || echo '{"has_drift": false}')
HAS_DRIFT=$(echo "$DRIFT_RESULT" | python3 -c "import sys,json; print(json.load(sys.stdin).get('has_drift', False))" 2>/dev/null)

if [ "$HAS_DRIFT" = "True" ]; then
  DRIFT_MSG=$(echo "$DRIFT_RESULT" | python3 -c "import sys,json; print(json.load(sys.stdin).get('message', ''))" 2>/dev/null)
  echo ""
  echo "⚠️  VERSION DRIFT DETECTED"
  echo "   $DRIFT_MSG"
  echo ""
fi

Version drift occurs when:

• Plugin updated but project config wasn't synced
• Manual plugin install without running nav-upgrade
• Project cloned with old config version

Display warning if drift detected:

⚠️  VERSION DRIFT DETECTED
   Project config (v5.5.0) behind plugin (v5.7.0). Run "update my CLAUDE.md" to sync.

This helps users understand why skills may behave unexpectedly.

Step 5.5: Load Knowledge Graph (v6.0.0+) [EXECUTE]

Check if knowledge graph exists and is enabled:

if [ -f ".agent/knowledge/graph.json" ]; then
  # Get graph stats
  PLUGIN_DIR="${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT:-$HOME/.claude/plugins/cache/navigator-marketplace/navigator}"
  [ -d "$PLUGIN_DIR" ] || PLUGIN_DIR="$HOME/.claude/plugins/marketplaces/navigator-marketplace"
  GRAPH_STATS=$(python3 "$PLUGIN_DIR/skills/nav-graph/functions/graph_manager.py" --action stats --graph-path .agent/knowledge/graph.json 2>/dev/null)
  echo "$GRAPH_STATS"
fi

Display graph summary in session output:

📚 Knowledge Graph: Active
   Nodes: {total_nodes} | Memories: {memory_count}
   Concepts: {concept_count} indexed

Surface relevant memories (if auto_surface_relevant: true in config):

• Check recent tasks/markers for concepts
• Query graph for memories matching those concepts
• Display top 2-3 relevant memories:

💡 Relevant Memories:
   - PITFALL: "Auth changes often break session tests" (90%)
   - PATTERN: "Always run unit tests before integration" (85%)

If graph doesn't exist:

📚 Knowledge Graph: Not initialized
   Run "Initialize knowledge graph" to enable

Step 5.6: Load User Profile (ToM - Bilateral Modeling) [EXECUTE]

IMPORTANT: This step MUST be executed, not just documented.

Check if user profile exists:

if [ -f ".agent/.user-profile.json" ]; then
  echo "📋 User profile found"
else
  echo "No user profile. Using defaults."
fi

If profile exists, READ IT NOW:

Read(
  file_path: ".agent/.user-profile.json"
)

After reading, APPLY these preferences for the session:

1. Verbosity (preferences.communication.verbosity):

   • concise: Keep responses brief, code-first
   • balanced: Normal explanations (default)
   • detailed: Thorough explanations with context

2. Confirmation threshold (preferences.communication.confirmation_threshold):

   • always: Show verification checkpoints for all skills
   • high-stakes: Only for backend-endpoint, database-migration, frontend-component (default)
   • never: Skip verification checkpoints

3. Frameworks (preferences.technical.preferred_frameworks):

   • Remember for code generation suggestions
   • E.g., ["react", "express"] → prefer these in examples

4. Corrections (corrections[]):

   • Review recent patterns to avoid repeating mistakes
   • E.g., "REST endpoints use plural nouns" → apply immediately

Display profile summary in session output:

🧠 Theory of Mind: Active
   Profile: Loaded ({corrections_count} corrections, {goals_count} goals)
   Verbosity: {verbosity}
   Checkpoints: {confirmation_threshold}

If profile doesn't exist:

🧠 Theory of Mind: Active (no profile yet)
   Say "save my preferences" to create one

Step 6: Check PM Tool for Assigned Tasks

If PM tool is Linear:

# Check if Linear MCP available
# Try to list assigned issues

If PM tool is GitHub:

gh issue list --assignee @me --limit 10 2>/dev/null

If PM tool is none: Skip task checking.

Step 7: Display Session Statistics (OpenTelemetry)

Run the OpenTelemetry session statistics script:

# Resolve the installed plugin directory
PLUGIN_DIR="${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT:-$HOME/.claude/plugins/cache/navigator-marketplace/navigator}"
[ -d "$PLUGIN_DIR" ] || PLUGIN_DIR="$HOME/.claude/plugins/marketplaces/navigator-marketplace"
python3 "$PLUGIN_DIR/skills/nav-start/scripts/otel_session_stats.py"

This script:

• If OTel enabled: Shows real-time metrics from Claude Code
  • Real token usage (input/output/cache)
  • Cache hit rate (CLAUDE.md caching performance)
  • Session cost (actual USD spent)
  • Active time (seconds of work)
  • Context availability
• If OTel disabled: Shows setup instructions
• If no metrics yet: Shows "waiting for export" message

Benefits of OTel integration:

• Real data (not file-size estimates)
• Cache performance validation
• Cost tracking for ROI measurement
• Official API (won't break on updates)

Step 8: Display Session Summary

Show the Navigator ASCII logo and session summary.

Display the logo using these exact ANSI color codes:

# Colors: Blue N, Red A, Blue V (Navigator arrow)
BLUE='\033[1;34m'
RED='\033[1;31m'
WHITE='\033[1;37m'
GRAY='\033[90m'
NC='\033[0m'

printf "${BLUE}███╗   ██╗${NC} ${RED} █████╗ ${NC}${BLUE}██╗   ██╗${NC}\n"
printf "${BLUE}████╗  ██║${NC} ${RED}██╔══██╗${NC}${BLUE}██║   ██║${NC}\n"
printf "${BLUE}██╔██╗ ██║${NC} ${RED}███████║${NC}${BLUE}██║   ██║${NC}  ${WHITE}v6.0.0${NC}\n"
printf "${BLUE}██║╚██╗██║${NC} ${RED}██╔══██║${NC}${BLUE}╚██╗ ██╔╝${NC}  ${GRAY}Knowledge Graph${NC}\n"
printf "${BLUE}██║ ╚████║${NC} ${RED}██║  ██║${NC}${BLUE} ╚████╔╝ ${NC}\n"
printf "${BLUE}╚═╝  ╚═══╝${NC} ${RED}╚═╝  ╚═╝${NC}${BLUE}  ╚═══╝  ${NC}\n"

Then show the session info:

📖 Navigator: Loaded
🎯 PM: [PM tool or "Manual"]
✅ Optimization: Active
🧠 ToM: [Profile status from Step 5.6]
📚 Graph: [Knowledge graph status from Step 5.5]

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

📊 DOCUMENTATION LOADED (MEASURED)
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Navigator (.agent/DEVELOPMENT-README.md):
  Size: [nav_bytes] bytes = [nav_tokens] tokens

CLAUDE.md (auto-loaded):
  Size: [claude_bytes] bytes = [claude_tokens] tokens

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Total documentation:     [total_tokens] tokens
Available for work:      [available] tokens ([percent]%)
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

💡 On-demand loading strategy:
   Load task doc when needed:  +3-5k tokens
   Load system doc if needed:  +4-6k tokens
   Load SOP if helpful:        +2-3k tokens

   Total with all docs:        ~[total + 15]k tokens

   vs Traditional (all upfront): ~150k tokens
   Savings: ~[150 - total - 15]k tokens

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🔹 WORKFLOW ENFORCEMENT (MANDATORY)

Before responding to ANY task, show:
┌─────────────────────────────────────┐
│ WORKFLOW CHECK                      │
├─────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Loop trigger: [YES/NO]              │
│ Complexity: [0.X]                   │
│ Mode: [LOOP/TASK/DIRECT]            │
└─────────────────────────────────────┘

Loop triggers: "run until done", "do all", "keep going"
Task triggers: multi-file, refactor, new feature
Skipping this check = WORKFLOW VIOLATION

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🔹 Navigator WORKFLOW REMINDER

1. Workflow enforcement
   - ✅ ALWAYS show WORKFLOW CHECK on tasks
   - Loop Mode: NAVIGATOR_STATUS each iteration
   - Task Mode: Phase tracking (RESEARCH→COMPLETE)

2. Navigator-first loading
   - ✅ Loaded: .agent/DEVELOPMENT-README.md
   - Next: Load ONLY relevant task/system docs

3. Use agents for research
   - Multi-file searches: Use Task agent (saves 60-80% tokens)
   - Code exploration: Use Explore agent

4. Context management
   - Run nav-compact skill after isolated sub-tasks
   - Context markers save your progress

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

[FIRST SESSION FEATURES DISPLAY - v5.6.0+]

Check if this is first session after install/update:

```bash
PLUGIN_DIR="${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT:-$HOME/.claude/plugins/cache/navigator-marketplace/navigator}"
[ -d "$PLUGIN_DIR" ] || PLUGIN_DIR="$HOME/.claude/plugins/marketplaces/navigator-marketplace"
FIRST_SESSION_MARKER=".agent/.features-shown-$(cat .agent/.nav-config.json | python3 -c "import sys,json; print(json.load(sys.stdin).get('version',''))" 2>/dev/null)"

if [ ! -f "$FIRST_SESSION_MARKER" ]; then
  echo ""
  python3 "$PLUGIN_DIR/skills/nav-features/functions/feature_manager.py" show --first-session
  echo ""
  echo "💡 Toggle features: 'show my features' or 'disable loop_mode'"
  echo ""
  touch "$FIRST_SESSION_MARKER"
fi

Shows feature table on:

• First session after Navigator install
• First session after version update (new version = new marker)

Do NOT show if:

• Features already shown for this version
• feature_manager.py not found (older plugin)

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

[If tasks found from PM tool, list them here]

[If no tasks found:] No active tasks found. What would you like to work on?

## Predefined Functions

### scripts/otel_session_stats.py

**Purpose**: Display real-time session statistics via OpenTelemetry

**When to call**: After loading navigator, before presenting session summary

**Requirements**:
- CLAUDE_CODE_ENABLE_TELEMETRY=1 (optional - shows setup if disabled)
- Metrics available from current session (shows waiting message if not)

**Execution**:
```bash
PLUGIN_DIR="${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT:-$HOME/.claude/plugins/cache/navigator-marketplace/navigator}"
[ -d "$PLUGIN_DIR" ] || PLUGIN_DIR="$HOME/.claude/plugins/marketplaces/navigator-marketplace"
python3 "$PLUGIN_DIR/skills/nav-start/scripts/otel_session_stats.py"

Output: Formatted statistics with:

• Token usage breakdown (input/output/cache)
• Cache hit rate percentage
• Session cost in USD
• Active time
• Context availability

Error Handling:

• If OTel not enabled: Shows setup instructions
• If no metrics yet: Shows "waiting for export" message
• Never crashes - always displays helpful guidance

Reference Files

This skill uses:

• otel_session_stats.py: Real-time session stats via OpenTelemetry
• .agent/DEVELOPMENT-README.md: Navigator content
• .agent/.nav-config.json: Configuration
• .agent/.context-markers/.active: Active marker check

Fast-path source (v6.9.0+): SessionStart hook at hooks/nav_session_start.py pre-loads all of the above into the session before the skill runs. See nav-init Step 6 for how it's wired into .claude/settings.json.

Error Handling

Navigator not found:

❌ Navigator not initialized

Run /nav:init to create .agent/ structure first.

PM tool configured but not working:

⚠️  [PM Tool] configured but not accessible

Check authentication or run setup guide.

Config file malformed:

⚠️  .agent/.nav-config.json is invalid JSON

Fix syntax or run /nav:init to regenerate.

Success Criteria

Session start is successful when:

• Navigator loaded successfully
• Token usage calculated and displayed
• PM tool status checked (if configured)
• User knows what to work on next
• Navigator workflow context set

Notes

This skill provides the same functionality as /nav:start command but with:

• Natural language invocation (no need to remember / syntax)
• Auto-detection based on user intent
• Composable with other Navigator skills

If user prefers manual invocation, they can still use /nav:start command (both work in hybrid mode).