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docs(retro): move the #437 learnings from private memory into repo records - #438

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KbWen merged 4 commits into
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docs/retro-skill-description-lessons
Sep 10, 2026
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KbWen merged 4 commits into
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docs/retro-skill-description-lessons

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@KbWen KbWen commented Sep 10, 2026

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Summary

/retro for #437. That unit's durable learnings had been written into Claude-private memory, which Codex and Gemini sessions cannot read. This moves them into the repo's own record surfaces, where every host looks.

Records only. No skill wording, workflow, rule, metadata or token-ceiling change.

Surface Change Why there
current_state.md Global Lessons +1 [skill-description-cost][HIGH][editing-skill-md] A behavioural pattern. As a HIGH lesson it surfaces in the /implement pre-execution review on every host - exactly when someone is about to edit a SKILL.md
current_state.md Global Lessons −1 [classification-flow] (MEDIUM, the GENESIS entry), archived Registry was at cap 20 with zero LOW entries, so /retro's LOW-only path could not free a slot. Chosen by the repo owner; bootstrap.md:25 already encodes it as a rule
.agent/rules/repo-gotchas.md §16 +1 paragraph A mechanical fact: the SKILL.md frontmatter description is consumed host-side. Codex selects on it; openai.yaml is UI metadata; Claude Code does not read .agents/skills in this layout
Ship History new entry + rotation of the 2 oldest into archive/ship-history-2026.md The #437 ship had taken the section to 11 without rotating; owed by that unit

The new lesson

Each character added to a .agents/skills/*/SKILL.md costs ~2.33 tokens against the aggregate lifecycle ceiling (~8.9x its own size), with 113 tokens of headroom. On #437 the targeted tests, both validators and two review rounds stayed green on a tree that breached it; only the full suite caught it. Backlog #199 is the open decision.

Why one lesson rather than four

Two of #437's record errors violated lessons already in the registry ([signal-preservation] for a swallowed exit code, [audit-verification] for trusting a reviewer's claim). Adding near-duplicates to a full registry adds length, not obedience. The other two are recorded in the committed review documents and archived Work Logs.

A defect I introduced and fixed before opening this

The first version of the §16 paragraph cited check_skill_provenance.py by bare filename. repo-gotchas.md ships force-update core tier and that tool is not in the deploy set, so every adopter would have been pointed at a file they do not have - another instance of #192. test_deployed_governance_referenced_tools_are_deployed stayed green because it matches only full .agentcortex/tools/<name>.py paths; #192 already records that bare basenames evade it. Fixed in 80401a7 by stating the fact without the citation.

Verification

All run after the last write, against the branch tip:

Check Result
validate.sh / validate.ps1 both exit 0, pass=99 warn=4 fail=0 skip=3, WARN sets identical
check_lesson_chain.py intact, 20 lessons
check_audit_chain.py intact, including the archive bridge record
test_repo_gotchas_discoverability.py, test_deploy_tiering.py (whole file), test_lesson_chain_archival.py 51 passed, 1 skipped
analyze_token_lifecycle.py aggregate 354887 before and after - delta 0, measured
Directive-keyword scan of repo-gotchas.md 0 hits

The 4 WARNs are pre-existing. pass reads 99 because no Work Log is active after archival. No subagent review was run; review is optional for quick-win and this is stated rather than implied.

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

KbWen and others added 4 commits September 10, 2026 15:41
…cords

The skill-description unit's durable learnings had been stored in
Claude-private memory, which Codex and Gemini sessions cannot read. They
now live where every host looks.

- Global Lesson [skill-description-cost][HIGH][editing-skill-md]: each
  SKILL.md character costs ~2.33 tokens against an aggregate ceiling with 113
  headroom, targeted checks stay green on a breaching tree, and backlog #199
  is the open decision. As a HIGH lesson it surfaces in the /implement
  pre-execution review on every host.
- repo-gotchas section 16: the SKILL.md frontmatter description is consumed
  host-side. Codex selects on it; openai.yaml is UI metadata; Claude Code does
  not read .agents/skills in this layout. Phrased as knowledge - the file's own
  test forbids directive keywords.

The registry was at cap 20 with no LOW entries, so /retro's LOW-only archival
could not free a slot. On the user's choice, [classification-flow] (MEDIUM,
the GENESIS entry) was archived through append_lesson.py --archive: chain
re-anchored, bridge record in INDEX.jsonl. bootstrap.md:25 already encodes it
as a rule. One lesson added, not four: two of #437's record errors violated
lessons already present, and near-duplicates add length, not obedience.

Also rotates the two oldest Ship History entries into the 2026 archive,
verbatim. The #437 ship took the section to 11 without rotating; that was
owed by the previous unit and is recorded as such.

Token aggregate unchanged: 354887 before and after, measured.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Terminal evidence write only: the validator, lesson-chain and audit-chain
results taken after every other write in this unit.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
…ion 16

repo-gotchas.md ships to adopters as force-update core tier, and
check_skill_provenance.py is not in the deploy set, so the new paragraph sent
every adopter to a file they do not have - another instance of backlog #192.
The guarding test did not catch it because it matches only full
.agentcortex/tools/<name>.py paths and the citation was a bare basename, a gap
#192 already records. Restated without the file reference.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Terminal evidence write only. Supersedes the record taken at 69278b6, which
predated the section-16 fix.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
@KbWen
KbWen merged commit 924a2dd into main Sep 10, 2026
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@KbWen
KbWen deleted the docs/retro-skill-description-lessons branch September 10, 2026 08:49
@KbWen KbWen mentioned this pull request Sep 14, 2026
1 task done
lawandtaxcarebd-byte pushed a commit to lawandtaxcarebd-byte/agentic-os that referenced this pull request Sep 15, 2026
Seven version surfaces + CITATION date-released, CHANGELOG entry for the
units merged since v1.8.26 (KbWen#425, KbWen#436, KbWen#437, KbWen#438, KbWen#435), Ship History
entry with cap-10 rotation, heartbeat 172, Work Log archived and chained.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
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