Recover Workflow Context Skill

[IMPORTANT] Use TaskCreate to break ALL work into small tasks BEFORE starting — including tasks for each file read. This prevents context loss from long files. For simple tasks, AI MUST ATTENTION ask user whether to skip.

Quick Summary

Goal: Restore workflow state and todo items from checkpoint files after context loss or session interruption.

Workflow:

Find Checkpoint — Locate latest memory-checkpoint-*.md in reports directory
Read Metadata — Extract JSON block with session ID, active plan, current step, pending todos
Restore Todos — Immediately call TaskCreate with pending items from checkpoint
Resume Workflow — Continue from the interrupted step using restored context

Key Rules:

Always restore TaskCreate items before resuming any work
Check both plans/reports/ and plan-specific report directories
Use timestamp to find the checkpoint closest to the interruption

Be skeptical. Apply critical thinking, sequential thinking. Every claim needs traced proof, confidence percentages (Idea should be more than 80%).

Recover Workflow Context

Restore workflow state and todo items from checkpoint files after context compaction or session loss.

Usage

Use this command when:

Context was compacted and you've lost track of the workflow
Session was interrupted and needs to resume
Todo items need to be restored from a checkpoint
The automatic recovery didn't trigger

Recovery Process

Step 1: Find Latest Checkpoint

Look for checkpoint files in the reports directory:

ls -la plans/reports/memory-checkpoint-*.md | tail -5

Or search for all recent checkpoints:

find plans -name "memory-checkpoint-*.md" -mmin -60 | head -5

Step 2: Read Checkpoint File

Read the most recent checkpoint to understand the saved state:

Read the checkpoint file at: plans/reports/memory-checkpoint-YYMMDD-HHMMSS.md

Step 3: Extract Recovery Metadata

The checkpoint file contains a JSON metadata block at the end:

{
  "sessionId": "...",
  "activePlan": "plans/YYMMDD-slug/",
  "workflowType": "feature",
  "currentStep": "cook",
  "remainingSteps": ["test", "code-review"],
  "pendingTodos": [...]
}

Step 4: Restore Todo Items

IMMEDIATELY call TaskCreate with the pending todos from the checkpoint:

[
    { "content": "[Workflow] /cook - Implement", "status": "in_progress", "activeForm": "Executing /cook" },
    { "content": "[Workflow] /test - Run tests", "status": "pending", "activeForm": "Executing /test" },
    { "content": "[Workflow] /code-review - Review code", "status": "pending", "activeForm": "Executing /code-review" }
]

Step 5: Read Active Plan (if exists)

If activePlan is set in the metadata, read the plan file:

Read: {activePlan}/plan.md

Step 6: Continue Workflow

Resume from the currentStep identified in the metadata. Execute the remaining workflow steps in order.

Recovery Checklist

[ ] Located most recent checkpoint file
[ ] Read checkpoint content
[ ] Extracted recovery metadata JSON
[ ] Restored todo items via TaskCreate
[ ] Read active plan (if applicable)
[ ] Identified current workflow step
[ ] Ready to continue from interrupted step

Automatic vs Manual Recovery

| Scenario | Recovery Type | Trigger | | ----------------------------- | ------------- | -------------------------------- | | Session resume after compact | Automatic | post-compact-recovery.cjs hook | | New session in same directory | Manual | This /recover command | | Explicit user request | Manual | This /recover command | | No workflow state found | Manual | This /recover command |

Checkpoint Locations

Checkpoints are saved to different locations based on context:

Active plan exists: {plan-path}/reports/memory-checkpoint-*.md
No active plan: plans/reports/memory-checkpoint-*.md

Tips

Check multiple locations - Plans may have their own reports directories
Use timestamp - Checkpoints are timestamped, find the one closest to when you were working
Verify todo status - Compare checkpoint todos with current TaskCreate state
Read incrementally - Don't try to restore everything at once

Related Commands

/checkpoint - Create a manual checkpoint (before expected loss)
/compact - Manually trigger context compaction
/context - Load project context
/watzup - Generate progress summary

Example Recovery Flow

User: /recover

Claude: Let me find and restore your workflow context.

1. Finding latest checkpoint...
   Found: plans/reports/memory-checkpoint-260110-143025.md

2. Reading checkpoint metadata...
   - Workflow: feature
   - Current step: /cook
   - Remaining: /test, /code-review
   - Active plan: plans/260110-1430-new-feature/

3. Restoring TaskCreate items...
   [Calling TaskCreate with 3 pending items]

4. Reading active plan...
   [Reading plans/260110-1430-new-feature/plan.md]

5. Ready to continue from /cook step.
   Shall I proceed with the implementation?

Closing Reminders

IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION break work into small todo tasks using TaskCreate BEFORE starting
IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION search codebase for 3+ similar patterns before creating new code
IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION cite file:line evidence for every claim (confidence >80% to act)
IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION add a final review todo task to verify work quality

Agent Skills: Recover Workflow Context

Install this agent skill to your local

Skill Files