Session Start

Orient yourself at the beginning of a work session. This skill reads project context, roadmap progress, and provides a summary to get started quickly.

Steps

1. Sync with Remote Machine

Run Unison to pull latest changes from the other machine:

unison folders -batch -terse

• -batch — non-interactive, skips conflicts (won't hang waiting for input)
• -terse — minimal output

This syncs all @folders and configs (.claude, .codex, .gemini, vault) before reading project context. Conflicts are skipped and left unsynced — review manually if needed.

2. Read Project Context

Check for context files in order of priority:

1. CLAUDE.md - Primary project context (if exists)
2. agents.md - Agent/workflow instructions (if exists)
3. README.md - Fallback for project overview
4. .claude/ directory - Check for local settings

3. Detect Repo Type

Look for type: declaration in CLAUDE.md, or infer from contents:

Indicator	Repo Type
type: code or package.json, requirements.txt, go.mod	Code
type: research or mostly .md files, no code dependencies	Research/Writing
Both code and documents	Mixed

4. Check Git State

Run these commands to understand current state:

git status --short
git branch --show-current
git log --oneline -5

4b. Check Remote for New Branches

Fetch from remote and identify branches that exist on origin but have no local counterpart:

# Fetch and prune stale references
git fetch --prune 2>/dev/null

# Find remote-only branches (exist on origin, not locally)
comm -23 \
  <(git branch -r | grep -v HEAD | sed 's|^ *origin/||' | sort) \
  <(git branch | sed 's|^[* ] ||' | sort)

What to report:

• If remote-only branches exist, list them with a 🆕 marker
• Show the latest commit on each (one-liner) so user knows what it contains
• Skip main/master if they appear (these are typically tracked)

Example output:

**Remote-only branches:**
| Branch | Latest Commit |
|--------|---------------|
| 🆕 `feature/new-auth` | a1b2c3d Add OAuth2 support |
| 🆕 `claude/experiment-xyz` | e4f5g6h Initial setup |

Why this matters:

• Catches work from other machines or sessions
• Surfaces auto-created claude/* branches from Claude Code
• Identifies collaboration branches pushed by teammates

5. Parse Project Actions (if present)

Look for ## Project Actions section in CLAUDE.md or agents.md:

1. Find all ### action-name headers under ## Project Actions
2. Extract action name and brief description (first line after header)
3. List them in the output summary

Example parsing:

## Project Actions

### new-experiment <name>
Creates a new experiment branch with worktree...

→ Action: new-experiment <name> - Creates a new experiment branch with worktree

6. Parse Roadmap Sections (if present)

Look for these sections in CLAUDE.md and parse them:

## Current Focus - The single item being worked on right now

• Extract the checkbox item (e.g., - [ ] Dark mode toggle)
• This is the suggested starting point for the session

## Roadmap - The feature checklist

• Count total items and completed items ([x] vs [ ])
• Calculate progress: "3/7 items complete"
• List next 2-3 incomplete items as "upcoming"

## Session Log - Historical record of sessions

• Find the most recent date entry (e.g., ### 2025-12-22)
• Extract what was completed and what was set as "next"

7. Output Orientation Summary

Provide a structured summary based on repo type:

For Code Repos:

• Project name and purpose
• Current branch
• Uncommitted changes (if any)
• Recent commits
• Remote-only branches (if any exist on origin but not locally)
• Project Actions (from ## Project Actions section, if any)
• Current Focus (from ## Current Focus section)
• Roadmap Progress (from ## Roadmap section)
• Last Session Summary (from ## Session Log)

For Research/Writing Repos:

• Project/document name and purpose
• Document structure (chapters, sections)
• Recently edited files
• Word count or progress (if tracked)
• Where writing left off
• Roadmap Progress (if present)

For Mixed Repos:

• Combine relevant aspects from both

Example Output

## Session Start: helloworld

**Purpose:** Experiment framework for rapid prototyping

**Current State:**
- Branch: `main`
- Status: Clean (no uncommitted changes)

**Recent Commits:**
- 9f139bd Update agents.md with session workflow and worktree docs
- 6b19a1f Reorganize main as experiment framework only

**Remote-only Branches:**
| Branch | Latest Commit |
|--------|---------------|
| 🆕 `feature/dark-mode` | c3d4e5f Add theme toggle component |

**Project Actions:**
- `new-experiment <name>` - Creates a new experiment branch with worktree
- `graduate-experiment <name>` - Promotes an experiment to its own repo

**Current Focus:**
- [ ] Add bulk import from CSV

**Roadmap Progress:** 4/7 items complete
- [ ] Next: Add bulk import from CSV
- [ ] Then: Export to PDF
- [ ] Then: Analytics dashboard

**Last Session (2025-12-21):**
- Completed: Supabase integration, helpful tips for editors
- Next: Bulk import feature

Notes

• This skill is generic and works across all repos
• Repo-specific context comes from CLAUDE.md
• Pairs with /wrap-up-session which updates the roadmap sections

Structure Checks (Guardrails)

After gathering context, check what's missing and prompt the user. This ensures new projects get properly set up.

Check 1: No CLAUDE.md

If no CLAUDE.md exists:

⚠️ **No project context found.** This project is missing CLAUDE.md.

Would you like me to create one? I'll add:
- Project description (I'll ask what this project is for)
- Roadmap sections for session tracking
- Current focus placeholder

This enables `/start-session` orientation and `/wrap-up-session` session logging.

If yes, ask: "What is this project for? (one sentence)"

Then create CLAUDE.md with:

# Project Name

[User's description]

## Current Focus
- [ ] [Ask user or use "Initial setup"]

## Roadmap
- [ ] [Feature 1]

## Backlog
- [Ideas for later]

## Session Log
### YYYY-MM-DD
- Completed: Initial project setup
- Next: [First focus item]

Check 2: CLAUDE.md exists but missing roadmap sections

If CLAUDE.md exists but lacks ## Current Focus, ## Roadmap, or ## Session Log:

⚠️ **Missing roadmap sections.** This project has CLAUDE.md but no session tracking.

Missing:
- [ ] ## Current Focus
- [ ] ## Roadmap
- [ ] ## Session Log

Would you like me to add them? This enables progress tracking and `/wrap-up-session` integration.

If yes, append the roadmap template to CLAUDE.md.

Check 3: Summary of missing items

At the end of the orientation output, if anything is missing, add a Setup Suggestions section:

**Setup Suggestions:**
- [ ] Add CLAUDE.md with project description
- [ ] Add roadmap sections for session tracking
- [ ] Consider adding `## Project Actions` if this repo has custom workflows

Run these suggestions? [y/n]

This serves as the "guardrail" - the system actively tells you what's missing instead of requiring you to remember.