/project:distill

Distill session insights into reusable project knowledge. Reviews what was done during a session and proposes targeted updates to Claude rules, skills, and justfile recipes.

When to Use This Skill

| Use this skill when... | Use alternative when... | |------------------------|------------------------| | End of session, want to capture learnings | Need to write a blog post about work done -> /blog:post | | Discovered a pattern worth reusing | Need to analyze git history for docs gaps -> /git:log-documentation | | Found a CLI workflow worth saving as a recipe | Need to configure a justfile from scratch -> /configure:justfile | | Want to update rules based on session experience | Need to check project infrastructure -> /configure:status | | Avoiding reinventing solutions next session | Need to resume work where you left off -> /project:continue |

Core Principle: Update Over Add

Adding is not always better. Before proposing any new artifact, evaluate:

| Question | If yes... | |----------|-----------| | Does this replace an existing rule/recipe/skill? | Remove the old one, add the new | | Does this improve an existing one? | Update in place | | Does an existing one already cover this? | Skip it | | Is this genuinely new and reusable? | Add it | | Is this a one-off that won't be needed again? | Skip it |

Context

The primary context source is the current conversation history — all messages, tool calls, and results from this session are available. Git history is supplemental and may be unavailable (e.g., in non-git directories or multi-repo workspaces).

• Git repo detected: !find . -maxdepth 1 -name '.git' -type d
• Justfile: !find . -maxdepth 1 \( -name 'justfile' -o -name 'Justfile' \) -print -quit
• Rules directory: !find .claude/rules -name '*.md' -type f

Parameters

| Parameter | Description | |-----------|-------------| | --rules | Only analyze potential rule updates | | --skills | Only analyze potential skill updates | | --recipes | Only analyze potential justfile recipe updates | | --all | Analyze all three categories (default) | | --dry-run | Show proposals without applying changes |

Execution

Execute this session distillation workflow:

Step 1: Analyze session activity

Understand what happened during this session using all available context:

1. Review the conversation history — tool calls, file edits, commands run, agent dispatches, and results
2. If in a git repo, supplement with: git log --oneline --max-count=20 and git log --stat --oneline --max-count=10
3. Identify patterns: repeated operations, workarounds, discoveries
4. Catalog tools used: effective commands, flags, workflows
5. Note pain points: where time was spent figuring things out

Note: Conversation history is the primary source. Git history is supplemental — it may be empty (non-git directory, multi-repo workspace, or no commits this session).

Step 2: Evaluate against existing knowledge

For each potential insight, check existing artifacts:

Rules (.claude/rules/*.md):

• Does it update, contradict, or duplicate an existing rule?
• Prefer updating existing rules over creating new files

Skills (relevant plugin skills):

• Does this improve existing skill commands/examples?
• Does this suggest missing guidance?

Justfile recipes:

• Is there a repeated command that should become a recipe?
• Should an existing recipe be updated with better flags?
• Is an existing recipe now redundant?

Step 3: Check redundancy

For each proposed change, answer:

1. Does this make an existing artifact redundant? → Propose removal
2. Does this overlap with existing artifacts? → Propose merging
3. Is the existing version still better? → Skip the proposal
4. Will this be used more than once? → Skip if one-off

Step 4: Present proposals

Categorize findings as:

• [UPDATE] .claude/rules/X.md - Reason for update (description of change)
• [SKIP] Considered rule Y, but Z already covers it
• [UPDATE] plugin/skills/skill-name/SKILL.md - Pattern discovered
• [NEW] Genuinely new and reusable artifact (only if justified)
• [UPDATE] recipe-name - Better flags discovered (before/after)
• [REDUNDANT] old-recipe - Superseded by new approach

Step 5: Apply changes

If not --dry-run:

1. Use AskUserQuestion to confirm each category before applying
2. Edit existing files for updates (preferred)
3. Create new files only for genuinely new artifacts
4. Remove redundant artifacts

Step 6: Report summary

Output concise summary of what was changed (rules updated, recipes added, insights skipped)

Evaluation Criteria for Each Category

Rules Worth Capturing

| Capture when... | Skip when... | |-----------------|--------------| | Pattern applies across sessions | One-time fix | | Convention that prevents mistakes | Obvious best practice | | Project-specific constraint discovered | Generic advice | | Tool behavior that's non-obvious | Well-documented behavior |

Recipes Worth Capturing

| Capture when... | Skip when... | |-----------------|--------------| | Command was run 3+ times with same flags | One-off command | | Multi-step workflow that should be atomic | Single simple command | | Flags that are hard to remember | Common well-known flags | | Project-specific pipeline step | Standard just template recipe |

Skill Improvements Worth Proposing

| Propose when... | Skip when... | |-----------------|--------------| | Discovered better command flags | Minor style preference | | Found a pattern the skill doesn't cover | Edge case unlikely to recur | | Existing guidance was misleading | Niche use case | | New tool version changed behavior | Temporary workaround |

Agentic Optimizations

| Context | Command | |---------|---------| | Session diff summary | git log --stat --oneline --max-count=10 | | Recent commits | git log --oneline --max-count=20 | | Files changed | git log --name-only --max-count=10 --format='' | | List justfile recipes | just --list | | Dump justfile as JSON | just --dump --dump-format json | | Dry run recipe | just --dry-run recipe-name | | Find rules | find .claude/rules -name '*.md' -type f |

Quick Reference

| Flag | Description | |------|-------------| | --rules | Scope to rules only | | --skills | Scope to skills only | | --recipes | Scope to justfile recipes only | | --all | All categories (default) | | --dry-run | Propose without applying |