tldrs-session-start

Session Start Reconnaissance

BEFORE reading any code files, determine your starting point.

Decision Tree

1. Are there recent changes?

Check: git status or git diff --stat HEAD

YES — changes exist:

tldrs diff-context --project . --preset compact

YES + large diff (>500 lines changed):

tldrs diff-context --project . --preset minimal

NO — clean working tree:

tldrs structure src/

2. Is this a multi-turn task?

If you expect multiple rounds of queries on the same codebase:

# Add --session-id auto to ALL tldrs calls this session
tldrs diff-context --project . --preset compact --session-id auto

3. After diff-context, identify targets

• [contains_diff] symbols → tldrs context <symbol> --project . --preset compact
• [caller_of_diff] symbols → check for breakage with tldrs impact <symbol> --depth 3
• Unknown area? → tldrs find "query" before Reading files

4. Spawning a subagent for code work?

Compress context for sub-agent consumption:

tldrs distill --task "description of the subtask" --budget 1500 --session-id auto

5. Test impact

After reviewing diff context, check which tests are affected:

tldrs change-impact --git

Returns affected_tests and a suggested test_command. Run only affected tests.

Rules

• Always use --preset compact unless you have a reason not to
• Use --preset minimal for large diffs (>500 lines) or budget-constrained sessions

When to Skip

• Editing a single file under 200 lines that you already know
• Simple config file changes (.json, .yaml, .toml)

Non-Python Repos

Add --lang flag: tldrs diff-context --project . --preset compact --lang typescript