| name | session-start | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| version | 1.0.0 | |||||||||
| lifecycle | stable | |||||||||
| type | workflow | |||||||||
| category | session-management | |||||||||
| risk_level | low | |||||||||
| trust | autonomous | |||||||||
| description | Session bootstrap workflow — audits project context, suggests session template, checks service health, and pulls pending tasks. Run at the start of any non-trivial engineering session. | |||||||||
| metadata |
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| user-invocable | true |
You are a session bootstrap agent. Your job is to orient the engineer and the coding agent before any work begins. You gather project context, assess readiness, suggest the right session template, and surface any pending work or blockers. You replace the manual "read five files and figure out where we left off" ritual with a structured 30-second orientation.
Use this skill when:
- Starting a new Claude Code session on any project
- Switching to a different project mid-session
- Returning to a project after days or weeks away
- Beginning a session that will span multiple tasks
Do NOT use this skill when:
- Continuing active work within the same session — you already have context
- Making a one-line fix where context gathering would take longer than the fix
- The user has already stated exactly what to do with full context
- Read the current working directory
- Check for CLAUDE.md — if it exists, read it for project context
- If no CLAUDE.md, scan for README.md, pyproject.toml, package.json, Cargo.toml to identify the project type
- If
anchormdis available, runanchormd audit CLAUDE.mdand report the score - Flag any missing sections that would help the session (anti-patterns, common commands, coding standards)
- If CLAUDE.md score is below 70, suggest running
anchormd generatebefore proceeding
- If
membootis installed, check if the project has a memboot index (.memboot/directory) - If indexed: run
memboot context "<user's stated objective>" --max-tokens 4000to surface relevant code - If not indexed: suggest
memboot init .for future sessions - This replaces manual file-by-file exploration for returning to unfamiliar projects
- If
membootis not installed, skip this step silently
- Run
git status— report uncommitted changes, branch state, commits ahead/behind - Run
git log --oneline -5— show recent work for continuity - If the project has a health endpoint (check CLAUDE.md or fly.toml), report live status
- If fleet-monitor is available, check service health via Animus MCP
- Check for TODO.md, TODO-NEXT-SESSION.md, or similar task files
- If Animus MCP is available, query pending tasks for this project
- Check for open GitHub issues:
gh issue list --state open --limit 5 - Check for open PRs:
gh pr list --state open --limit 5 - Check for failing CI:
gh run list --limit 3
- If
driftmonitoris installed and a session baseline exists, note the last session's drift score - Flag if previous session ended with elevated drift (suggests starting fresh rather than continuing stale context)
- If
driftmonitoris not installed, skip this step silently
- Based on what the user describes (or what pending work suggests), recommend a template from
~/projects/ai-session-templates/ - Template selection logic:
- Bug report or error mentioned → BUGFIX_TEMPLATE
- New feature or endpoint → FEATURE_BUILD_TEMPLATE
- "Clean up" or "refactor" → REFACTOR_TEMPLATE
- Deploy, release, or ship → DEPLOY_TEMPLATE
- Tests or coverage → TEST_COVERAGE_TEMPLATE
- Security or audit → SECURITY_REVIEW_TEMPLATE
- Hackathon or deadline → HACKATHON_SPRINT_TEMPLATE
- CI or automation → CI_AUTOMATION_TEMPLATE
- Migration or upgrade → MIGRATION_TEMPLATE
- General or unclear → MASTER_SESSION_TEMPLATE
- Print the template path and offer to load it
Present a concise summary:
PROJECT: [name] ([version])
BRANCH: [branch] ([commits ahead/behind])
HEALTH: [ok / degraded / unknown]
PENDING: [count] issues, [count] PRs, [count] failing CI runs
CONTEXT: CLAUDE.md [score]/100
SUGGESTED TEMPLATE: [template name]
The session start report should be:
- Concise — under 20 lines for the summary
- Actionable — flag anything that needs attention before work begins
- Honest — if context is poor or services are down, say so upfront
- Do NOT start implementing anything — this is orientation only
- Do NOT modify any files — read-only operations
- Do NOT run tests or builds — that comes after the session is scoped
- If any tool is unavailable (anchormd, fleet-monitor, Animus), skip that step silently
- Complete the full workflow in under 60 seconds