reflect

Reflect

Pause and think about your recent work.

Silent by default. Only notify the operator (per CLAUDE.md § Operator Notification) if reflect produces an outcome: a proposal candidate, a micro-approval, a resolved proposal, a graduated observation, or a cost spike.

Rare-branch procedures live in ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/reflect/branches.md. "Read branches.md § X" means: read that section now and follow it exactly — it is normative.

Quick mode

If $ARGUMENTS contains --quick:

• Obtain the quick-hash verdict. With --precheck-verdict '<verdict>': the reflect_after routine already ran the hash-gate precheck; <verdict> is always RUN|<hash> (the routine stops on EMPTY without loading this skill). Parse <hash>; do not re-run the precheck. Otherwise (manual invocation) run it in force mode (no gate to skip once this skill is loaded — always returns RUN|<hash>):

  bun ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/reflect-precheck.ts .claude-code-hermit ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT} --quick --force
  

• Skip the cadence precheck (the hash-gate is separate and narrower), cost_spike read, proposal scan, Resolution Check, and Component Health. Bind $PHASE = adult. Only the live SHELL.md scan + judge + outcomes path runs.
• Read SHELL.md ## Findings and ## Blockers for actionable patterns. Only Tier-1 + Evidence Source: current-session candidates are eligible. Candidates needing archived-session evidence or Tier 2/3 defer to the next scheduled reflect — append one ledger row each so the signal survives archival and can graduate:

  bun ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/append-metrics.ts .claude-code-hermit/state/observations.jsonl <<'HERMIT_METRICS_JSON'
  {"ts":"<now ISO>","pattern":"<candidate-title-slug>","session_id":"<S-NNN>","source":"quick-deferral"}
  HERMIT_METRICS_JSON
  

  Exception: a current-session candidate with Evidence Origin: external-content is not deferred — send it to the judge; Tier-3 escalation routes it to proposal-create.
• If any eligible candidate remains: Read branches.md § Candidate processing. Triage all candidates passing the evidence integrity rule in one claude-code-hermit:proposal-triage batch call, judge the CREATE survivors in one claude-code-hermit:reflection-judge call, route ACCEPT/DOWNGRADE through branches.md § Outcomes; unrecognized gate output fails closed per branches.md § Gate failure handling. Track whether anything hit the gate-failed/SUPPRESS path — it gates the cursor write.
• Append one Progress Log line: [HH:MM] reflect (quick, post-routine) — N candidates; verdicts: accept=A downgrade=D suppress=S; outcomes: <list or "none">; when suppress>0 add the ; suppressed: suffix (§ Progress Log Entry) so quick-run suppressions reach the weekly digest.
• Advance the quick-hash cursor only on a clean run (no gate-failed/SUPPRESS); otherwise skip this call — an unchanged last_quick_hash makes the next reflect_after fire re-read the same Findings/Blockers (the "re-surfaces next cycle" contract; deferred candidates are already durable in the ledger):

  bun ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/update-reflection-state.ts .claude-code-hermit/state/reflection-state.json --quick-hash '<hash>'
  

• Never call the counter-incrementing update-reflection-state.ts <path> '<json-payload>' form here — quick runs are event-driven; mutating last_run_at would suppress the next scheduled reflect (--quick-hash is an isolated write).
• Stop. Do not continue below.

Scheduled-checks mode

If $ARGUMENTS contains --scheduled-checks (the scheduled-checks routine — daily, offset from the main reflect): run at most one due interval-triggered scheduled check — an idempotent, short-running, read-mostly skill from config.scheduled_checks whose cadence is owned by scheduled_checks.interval_days — route any finding through reflect's normal gates, persist per-check state, append a Progress Log line, then stop (no precheck, no numbered steps below). Read branches.md § Scheduled checks now and follow its steps 1–8 exactly.

Scheduled reflect

1. Determine whether a full run is warranted. With --precheck-verdict '<verdict>': the reflect routine already ran the precheck in bash — use <verdict> directly, do not re-run it (always RUN|<phases-json>; the routine stops on EMPTY without loading this skill). Otherwise run it yourself and read the first line:

   bun ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/reflect-precheck.ts .claude-code-hermit ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}
   

   • EMPTY → nothing due; the precheck already updated reflection-state.json and appended the Progress Log line. Emit reflect: no candidates and stop.
   • RUN|<phases-json> → continue. The JSON lists due phases (cost_spike, resolution_check, compute, digest, newborn, observations_fresh); skip sections for phases not listed. observations_fresh means the ledger has rows newer than last_run_at — run step 3b even if compute is absent.
2. Read SHELL.md for current context (fresh read — never reuse a pre-compaction cached value).
3. If cost_spike is listed: read the last 20 lines of cost-log.jsonl; if today's total > 2× the 7-day median (both non-zero), record it: bun ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/append-metrics.ts .claude-code-hermit/state/observations.jsonl '{"ts":"<now ISO>","pattern":"cost_spike: $X.XX vs 7d median $Y.YY","session_id":"<S-NNN>","source":"cost-spike"}' — it may graduate via step 3b. Otherwise skip this read.

3b. Observations ledger — prune, then graduate recurring patterns.

• Run bun ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/prune-observations.ts .claude-code-hermit (fail-open).
• Read state/observations.jsonl (skip if absent/empty; per-line try { JSON.parse(line) } catch {}); group by pattern.
• Any pattern with ≥ graduation_min_sessions distinct session_ids (config reflection.graduation_min_sessions, default 1) is mechanically promoted to a candidate. Origin aggregation: Evidence Origin: external-content if any grouped row has origin: "external-content", else own-work (old rows lacking the field are own-work). Build with Evidence Source: archived-session, Sessions: <the distinct session_ids>, Artifact: state/observations.jsonl — pattern "<label>" in N sessions; route via § Candidate processing. Below-threshold patterns stay untouched.
• When a graduated label matches skill-correction:<name>: Read branches.md § skill-correction:* routing and follow it (brief resolution → Tier 2 Skill Improvement candidate).

4. Compute phase — read counters.since from state/reflection-state.json (missing/unparseable → $PHASE = adult, never block). age_days = whole days since it: newborn < 3, juvenile 3–13, adult ≥ 14. $PHASE gates sub-threshold surfacing and the Progress Log annotation.

5. Delegate the proposal scan to the built-in Explore subagent. Prompt: List all .claude-code-hermit/proposals/PROP-*.md files. For each, extract id, status, title, source, created, accepted_date, related_sessions from YAML frontmatter (or **Status:**/**Title:** bullet fallback for pre-Observatory proposals). Return a compact JSON array — metadata only, no file bodies. Also tail the last 100 lines of state/proposal-metrics.jsonl (inline, single read): count responded and micro-resolved events by action, triage-verdict events by verdict — feeds the operator-value and Component Health checks.

6. Dispatch the eval runner. Dispatch claude-code-hermit:skill-eval-runner pointed at ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/reflect/reference.md. The dispatch prompt carries: plugin_root (resolved absolute path — ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT} is not substituted in reference.md), the precheck phases-json, the last_resolution_check cursor (from state/reflection-state.json), and session_state (from state/runtime.json; controls the routine check).

   Failure policy: null/malformed runner JSON → fail open: skip the apply steps, carry forward empty candidate lists, do not advance the cursor, append [HH:MM] reflect — analysis-runner failed; introspection-only to the Progress Log, continue.

Eval runner return schema — byte-identical in reference.md (producer) and here; contract-tested.

{
  "resolution_actions": [ { "proposal_id": "PROP-NNN", "action": "auto-resolve|nudge|skip",
                            "frontmatter_patch": {"status":"resolved","resolved_date":"<ISO>"}|null,
                            "metrics_event": "<JSON string for append-metrics>"|null,
                            "shell_findings_line": "<pre-rendered finding text>"|null } ],
  "routine_candidates": [ { "routine_id": "<id>", "action": "disable|retime|diagnostic",
                            "tier": 1, "schedule": "<new-cron>"|null,
                            "evidence": "<text>", "sessions": ["<S-NNN>"],
                            "shell_findings_line": "<pre-rendered>"|null } ],
  "procedure_candidates": [ { "slug": "<slug>", "title": "<title>", "tier": 3,
                              "evidence_source": "archived-session", "evidence_origin": "own-work",
                              "evidence": "<text>", "sessions": ["<S-NNN>"]|"none",
                              "artifact": "<file — value>"|null } ],
  "last_resolution_check": "PROP-NNN|null",
  "last_sparse_nudge": { "PROP-NNN": "<ISO>" }
}

Apply resolution_actions (housekeeping; exempt from the evidence integrity rule): auto-resolve → write frontmatter_patch into the proposal frontmatter, append metrics_event to state/proposal-metrics.jsonl via the stdin-heredoc append-metrics.ts pattern from Quick mode (model-authored JSON may contain apostrophes), append shell_findings_line to SHELL.md ## Findings; nudge → append shell_findings_line (debounce handled in the runner); skip → nothing. Carry the other four return fields to Candidate processing and State Update.

Now reflect — think hard — using inherited context only (SHELL.md from step 2, cost shape from step 3, metrics summary from step 5; the runner handled cross-session file analysis — do not re-read session reports or proposal bodies). Signals: anything recurring or worked around instead of fixed? Spending proportional to the work — could a cheaper subagent (Haiku) have handled it; was context bloat avoidable? Something done manually that a skill covers, or a repeating subtask within the session a subagent could have handled? Value the operator actually uses — high dismiss/rejected rates from step 5 signal noise (Tier 1 micro-proposal to pare back); a high expired rate means poor question timing, not unwanted questions. The same multi-step procedure in ≥2 sessions with no covering skill (procedure-capture candidate)? If runtime.json session_state is idle, think broader: a recurring check for HEARTBEAT.md, a missing OPERATOR.md preference, a skill/subagent to formalize repeating work, a manual request repeating on a schedule (routine-type candidate; branches.md § Candidate processing has the Type: routine Config-block format).

Component Health

Is any skill, agent, or hook underperforming? Skills: output consistently corrected after use (answered from the skill-correction:* ledger graduation in step 3b, not re-derived from prose)? Avoided for manual steps? Missed something it should catch? Disproportionate tokens for its value? Agents: flag reflection-judge when judge_suppress > 2× judge_accept (reflection-state counters, ≥5 verdicts since since); flag proposal-triage when step 5's SUPPRESS > 2× CREATE (≥5 verdicts) — the gate may be over-strict. Hooks: out of scope (no telemetry) — do not infer from side-effects; note as a known gap if suspected. Findings become candidates (signal ladder + ## Skill Improvement format: branches.md § Candidate processing).

Candidate processing

Collect all candidates first — think-hard observations, step-3b graduations, routine_candidates and procedure_candidates from the runner, Component Health findings. None → skip to State Update. Any → follow branches.md § Candidate processing exactly (it is normative; this summary is orientation) — read the file now only if step 3b's skill-correction:* branch didn't already load it earlier this run:

• Three-Condition Rule (repeated pattern + meaningful consequence + operator-actionable change): recurrence is tier-aware — Tier-1 current-session needs 1 session; Tier-1 archived and Tier 2/3 need 2+ distinct archived sessions; artifact-cited efficiency/cost candidates cite a machine-written state file (Artifact: line, Sessions: none); procedure capture has an ephemerality exception. Failing candidates go sub-threshold to the ledger.
• Gates and routing: never write a candidate's pattern into SHELL.md before the judge reads it (no self-certification). One claude-code-hermit:reflection-judge batch (dedup by title-slug first), then one batched claude-code-hermit:proposal-triage call before any queue/create; unrecognized gate output fails closed (gate-failed metric + Progress Log note; re-surfaces next cycle). Tier 1/2 → micro-approval queue (state/micro-proposals.json); Tier 3 → /claude-code-hermit:proposal-create; Evidence Origin: external-content is always Tier 3 (quarantine). Runner routine_candidates are Tier 1 (pre-rendered diagnostic shell_findings_line entries go straight to Findings, no gates); procedure_candidates route through branches.md § Procedure capture (dedup guard, brief, ## Skill Draft, kill criteria).
• Sub-threshold observations → ledger append with a short stable pattern label, "source":"reflect-noticed", "origin":"own-work" — or "origin":"external-content" when the finding carries an [origin: external] marker (copy, never infer). Reuse exact labels; grouping is string equality. Phase surfacing: newborn logs Noticed: lines, juvenile emits a weekly digest (sets last_digest_at), adult is silent.

State Update

After each reflection run:

bun ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/update-reflection-state.ts \
  .claude-code-hermit/state/reflection-state.json \
  '{"last_resolution_check":"<last-PROP-NNN-or-null>","ran_with_candidates":<true|false>,"judge_accept":<N>,"judge_downgrade":<N>,"judge_suppress":<N>,"judge_suppress_by_code":{"no-evidence":<N>,"no-sessions":<N>,"covered-by-memory":<N>},"proposals_created":<N>,"micro_proposals_queued":<N>}'

judge_suppress_by_code counts judge SUPPRESS verdicts by canonical code; omit zero-count codes, omit the key when judge_suppress is 0. Add "last_digest_at":"<now ISO>" only when a juvenile digest fired. Add "last_sparse_nudge":{"<PROP-NNN>":"<now ISO>"} when the runner returned a non-empty last_sparse_nudge map (the script merges it). The script handles counters, timestamps, since preservation, and atomic write; always exits 0. Counters are diagnostic, not audit-grade.

Progress Log Entry (non-empty runs)

On every run reaching this point (not an EMPTY verdict — the precheck logs those), append to SHELL.md ## Progress Log:

[HH:MM] reflect (<phase>) — N candidates; verdicts: accept=A downgrade=D suppress=S; outcomes: <list or "none">

When suppress>0, append ; suppressed: [<slug>: <code>, ...] — canonical codes from the judge/triage verdicts (no-evidence, no-sessions, weak-recurrence, weak-consequence, not-actionable), capped at 3 with +N more. <phase> is newborn/juvenile/adult (step 4; missing-since fallback annotates adult silently). This is the audit trail — the silent-by-default rule governs operator pings only; the log line always goes in.