Session store history

Use this skill when

• The user asks what they worked on recently or in the past.
• The user asks whether they have worked on a topic, repository, file, issue, PR, or branch before.
• The user asks how a similar problem was handled in an earlier session.
• The user wants to trace a session back to a PR, issue, commit, file path, or checkpoint.
• The main task is retrieving or summarizing historical session evidence rather than changing the current workspace.

Do not use this skill when

• The main task is exploring the current repository or finding code in the current checkout; use direct repo tools instead.
• The user wants implementation, planning, review, or debugging work rather than historical recall.
• The request is generic conversation memory with no need for session evidence or structured history.
• The answer can be read directly from the current turn or current workspace without querying session_store.

Inputs to gather

Required before querying

• The user's actual history question.
• Any explicit repo, branch, PR, issue, commit, file path, or time-range hint.
• The core topic terms plus likely synonyms, neighboring concepts, or failure words for query expansion.

Helpful if present

• Whether the user wants a summary, exact session IDs, referenced files, or linked PRs and issues.
• Whether the user cares more about recent work, first occurrence, or the best matching prior example.
• Known spelling variants, abbreviations, package names, or subsystem names.

Only investigate if encountered

• Whether the first search should be FTS, LIKE, or a structured join based on the user's wording.
• Whether the answer depends on checkpoints, refs, or edited-file evidence rather than turn text alone.
• Whether multiple similarly named repositories or concepts need disambiguation in the final summary.

First move

1. Translate the user's question into 3 query shapes: keywords, structured filters, and likely synonyms.
2. Start broad in session_store, then narrow once you see real candidates.
3. Say so explicitly in your first progress update: mention session_store, the broad-to-narrow plan, and the evidence surfaces you are checking.
4. Return evidence-backed findings with timestamps, session IDs, and refs instead of answering from memory.

Workflow

1. Classify the request:
   • recent activity -> recent sessions and turns ordered by timestamp
   • have I worked on X -> broad keyword expansion with FTS and LIKE
   • how did I handle X -> search turns and checkpoints, then extract the concrete approach
   • which session changed Y -> join session_files and session_refs with sessions
   • which PR or issue was tied to Z -> search refs first, then pull nearby turns or checkpoints
2. Read references/query-patterns.md when you need query-expansion patterns, table choice, or SQL shapes for the request.
3. Read references/request-examples.md when the wording is ambiguous and you want representative prompt-to-query translations before composing SQL.
4. Expand conceptual searches manually. Use FTS5 OR terms plus LIKE fallbacks instead of relying on a single literal phrase.
5. Combine text search with structure:
   • turns for what the user asked and what was answered
   • checkpoints for durable session summaries
   • session_files for file-change evidence
   • session_refs for PR, issue, and commit linkage
   • sessions for repo, branch, summary, and timestamps
6. Start with a recall-oriented query that favors finding candidates, then tighten with repo, branch, time, file, or ref filters once the likely sessions appear.
7. If you send a progress update before the final answer, make it concrete enough to name the database and evidence surfaces, for example: I'm querying session_store turns and checkpoints first, then I'll narrow with refs and files if needed.
8. Synthesize the result into a short evidence-backed answer that names the most relevant sessions, what happened there, and any uncertainty or ambiguity.

Guardrails

• Must use the read-only session_store database for cross-session history instead of the scratch session database.
• Must expand topic searches with synonyms or neighboring terms when the user's request is conceptual.
• Must cite the evidence surface you used: recent turns, checkpoints, refs, or edited files.
• Must make partial or in-progress updates explicit about session_store usage and which evidence surfaces are being searched.
• Must not answer history questions from model memory alone when session_store can provide evidence.
• Must state the limitation and ask for another evidence source when the current harness does not expose a read-only sql tool or session_store database.
• Must not stop at one narrow literal query if the first result set is empty and the concept can be expanded safely.
• Should prefer structured joins when the user names a file, PR, issue, commit, or branch.
• Should make uncertainty explicit when multiple sessions are plausible matches.
• May quote short snippets from matched turns or checkpoints when they clarify why a session is relevant.

Validation

• Confirm the final answer matches the user's requested timeframe, repo, or ref scope when one was provided.
• Confirm the findings come from session_store tables that actually support the claim you are making.
• When the first query returns nothing, retry with expanded terms before concluding there is no history.
• Run python _shared/validate-skills.py skills from the catalog root after editing this skill.
• If you changed trigger wording, anti-triggers, or the frontmatter description, run python _shared/run-trigger-evals.py skills/session-store-history/evals/trigger-queries.json.
• If you changed workflow guidance, guardrails, or support-file load conditions, run python _shared/run-functional-evals.py skills/session-store-history/evals/evals.json.
• Re-read skills/README.md beside this skill to confirm the boundary stays distinct from current-workspace exploration and non-history tasks.

Examples

• "What did I work on last week in my Go repos?"
• "Have I touched auth token refresh before?"
• "Which session created PR #42?"
• "Did I ever edit internal/auth/service.go in a previous session?"

Reference files

• Read references/query-patterns.md when you need table-selection rules, query expansion tactics, or reusable SQL shapes.
• Read references/request-examples.md when the user's wording needs to be translated into keywords, filters, and expected evidence surfaces.