Memory Reflect — Session Retrospection

6-phase After Action Review (AAR) workflow for extracting actionable improvements from the current session.

Phase 1: Gather Evidence

Read the following data sources (skip any that don't exist):

1. .claude/memory/corrections-queue.md — unprocessed correction/friction items
2. Current session's observation file: .claude/memory/sessions/YYYY-MM-DD-observations.md
3. Current session summary (if /memory-sync has run): most recent file in .claude/memory/sessions/
4. .claude/memory/active-context.md — current project state
5. Claude Code facets data (if available): Find the facet JSON file matching the current session ID in ~/.claude/usage-data/facets/. Extract:
   • friction_counts — pre-classified friction events by type
   • friction_detail — plain-English description of what went wrong
   • user_satisfaction_counts — inferred satisfaction signals
   • outcome — session outcome (fully_achieved, mostly_achieved, etc.)
   • goal_categories — categorized sub-goals
   • primary_success — what went right If the facets directory doesn't exist or no matching session is found, skip gracefully. Facets data is Claude Code-specific and may not exist on all installations.

Estimate session depth:

• Count observation entries + correction entries + session file size
• If facets data exists, also consider: friction count, satisfaction signals
• If < 5 observations AND 0 corrections AND no facets friction → mark as LIGHTWEIGHT
• Otherwise → use STANDARD depth

Privacy: Skip any content within <private>...</private> blocks. Skip files with private: true in YAML front matter. Facets data does not contain file contents — no privacy filtering needed for facets.

Phase 2: Classify Scope

Recommend scope classification:

• PROCESS: Improvements to how the agent works (efficiency, tool usage, workflow)
• PROJECT: Improvements to the codebase, architecture, documentation, or tests
• BOTH: Improvements spanning both areas

Present recommendation to user: "Scope recommendation: [PROCESS/PROJECT/BOTH] — [brief reason]" User can adjust. Proceed with confirmed scope.

For LIGHTWEIGHT sessions: Auto-select PROCESS scope, skip user confirmation, and produce minimal output.

Phase 3: Analyze Patterns

1. Group corrections by type — repeated corrections get priority
2. Analyze observation log for friction patterns:
   • Repeated failures (same file/command failing multiple times)
   • Many retries on the same file
   • Long sequences of read operations without progress
3. Facets-enhanced analysis (if facets data was gathered in Phase 1):
   • Use friction_counts as pre-classified friction signals (more accurate than manual observation log scanning — these are LLM-classified, not regex-matched)
   • Use friction_detail for narrative context on what went wrong
   • Map facets friction types to ConKeeper categories: wrong_approach → efficiency, buggy_code → quality, misunderstood_request → ux, excessive_changes → quality, got_stuck → efficiency, premature_stop → efficiency For any friction type not listed above, map to the closest ConKeeper category based on the friction_detail narrative, defaulting to efficiency if unclear.
4. Cross-reference with existing knowledge:
   • Read .claude/memory/patterns.md — don't re-discover known patterns
   • Read .claude/memory/decisions/ — don't re-recommend existing decisions
   • Use /memory-search to check if similar issues were flagged in past session retros
5. Identify net-new insights vs. reinforcements of existing knowledge
6. Friction Pattern Check: If .claude/memory/friction.md exists:
   • Read friction.md conventions
   • Check if this session triggered any known friction patterns
   • If yes: note "Known friction pattern triggered: [convention]. Was the convention followed? If not, consider stronger wording or more prominent placement."
   • If a convention was followed and friction was avoided: note as positive signal

If a recommendation would benefit from external validation, briefly verify with external sources before recommending. Skip external research for LIGHTWEIGHT sessions.

Phase 4: Generate Recommendations

For each recommendation, include:

• What: Specific, actionable change (one sentence)
• Why: Evidence from session — quote the correction text or observation pattern
• Where: Target file or skill to update (exact path)
• Impact: Expected improvement (one sentence)
• Category: Retrospective category tag:
  • Agent efficiency → <!-- @category: efficiency -->
  • Code/output quality → <!-- @category: quality -->
  • User experience → <!-- @category: ux -->
  • Knowledge gap → <!-- @category: knowledge -->
  • Architectural improvement → <!-- @category: architecture -->

For LIGHTWEIGHT sessions: Generate 0-2 recommendations max. For STANDARD sessions: Generate 2-5 recommendations.

Phase 5: Present for Approval

Display recommendations grouped by scope (PROCESS vs PROJECT):

Recommendations

Process Improvements

1. [Recommendation] — Evidence: [quote] — Target: [file]

Project Improvements

1. [Recommendation] — Evidence: [quote] — Target: [file]

Present each recommendation with a number. User can approve all, selectively approve or deny in natural language. Denied items are noted as "considered but declined" in the retro file.

Route approved items to the most appropriate memory file (patterns.md, decisions/, glossary.md, product-context.md, or the retro's Improvement Backlog).

Phase 6: Write Retrospective

Create retrospective file at: .claude/memory/sessions/YYYY-MM-DD-retro.md

Format:

# Session Retrospective — YYYY-MM-DD

## Session Summary
[Brief 2-3 sentence summary of what happened in this session]

## Improvement Log
### Approved
- [Recommendation 1] → routed to patterns.md
<!-- @category: quality -->
- [Recommendation 2] → routed to decisions/ADR-NNN.md
<!-- @category: architecture -->

### Declined
- [Recommendation 3] — reason: [user's reason or "user declined"]

## Improvement Backlog
- [ ] [Future improvement idea 1 — actionable, specific]
- [ ] [Future improvement idea 2]

## Evidence
- Corrections: [N] detected, [M] processed
- Observations: [N] tool uses, [M] failures
- Friction signals: [list of friction patterns detected]
- Facets data: [available/unavailable] — include outcome, friction counts, and satisfaction summary if available
- Session depth: [LIGHTWEIGHT/STANDARD]

---
*Generated by /memory-reflect*

For LIGHTWEIGHT sessions, produce a minimal retro:

# Session Retrospective — YYYY-MM-DD

## Summary
[Short session with minimal activity. No notable improvements identified.]

## Evidence
- Observations: [N] tool uses
- Corrections: 0

---
*Generated by /memory-reflect (lightweight)*