Session resume

Session Resume Skill

Purpose

Persist working context across sessions so Claude can resume exactly where it left off without re-discovering files, re-reading code, or re-learning what was being worked on.

Activation

• Save: At task completion, or when the user asks to save context
• Load: At the start of a new session (before any task work)

(A PreCompact hook could automate saving before context compaction, but none is wired by default — don't rely on it.)

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How It Works

A lightweight session snapshot is saved to: .claude/idev/session-resume/last-session.json

This file is loaded at session start, giving Claude instant awareness of:

• What feature/area was being worked on
• Which files were recently read/modified
• What the last task was
• Any pending issues or blockers

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Phase 1: Save Session State

At task completion (or when the user asks to save context), save:

{
  "savedAt": "YYYY-MM-DD HH:mm",
  "lastTask": {
    "description": "Brief description of what was being done",
    "status": "completed|in-progress|blocked",
    "blockedBy": "Description of blocker (if blocked)"
  },
  "activeFeature": "FeatureName (e.g., Orders)",
  "activeLayer": "frontend|backend|full-stack",
  "recentFiles": {
    "modified": [
      "relative/path/to/file1.ts",
      "relative/path/to/file2.cs"
    ],
    "read": [
      "relative/path/to/file3.ts"
    ]
  },
  "openIssues": [
    {
      "description": "Reject button not hitting API - needs browser console check",
      "file": "relative/path/to/file.tsx",
      "severity": "medium"
    }
  ],
  "workingBranch": "feature/branch-name",
  "notes": "Any important context that would be lost on session restart"
}

---

Phase 2: Load Session State

At session start:

1. Read last-session.json (~30 lines, roughly 300 tokens)
2. If lastTask.status == "in-progress":
   → Inform user: "Last session was working on: [description]"
   → Offer to continue or start fresh
3. If openIssues exist:
   → Mention pending issues briefly
4. Use activeFeature + activeLayer to pre-load the right context
5. Use recentFiles.modified to know which files were changed

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Phase 3: When to Save

Save the session state when ANY of these occur:

1. User explicitly says "save session" or "save context"
2. A task is completed (update lastTask.status)
3. User switches to a different feature/task
4. A blocker is encountered (update openIssues)

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Save Rules

• Keep recentFiles lists to max 10 entries each (most recent first)
• Keep openIssues to max 5 entries
• Overwrite previous session file (only latest session matters)
• Do NOT save file contents — only paths
• Do NOT save sensitive data (tokens, passwords, keys)
• Total file size should stay under 50 lines

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Integration with Other Skills

Session start:
  1. Load last-session.json (this skill)
  2. Load .claude/idev/smart-context/index.json (smart context skill)
  3. If activeFeature is set → grep file-index for that feature's files
  4. Ready to work in ~3 reads

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Anti-Patterns

1. Do NOT save entire file contents in the session state
2. Do NOT save more than 10 recent files
3. Do NOT load the session state AND re-explore the codebase
4. Do NOT ignore the session state when it exists