Reflect

Reflect and Learn

CodeCortexLoop v2.2 — turn successful Direct fixes into reusable playbook memory.

Overview

After a Direct-mode run (or manual reflect), produce a human retrospective and a structured reflection that playbook.mjs record can upsert into .cortexloop/playbook.json.

Playbook entries are recall, not authority — new entries start as candidate until diverse verified evidence promotes them. Never skip analysis or blindly apply stored fixes.

Scope (what this skill covers)

Topic	Authoritative doc
When to run reflect, skip conditions, Step 6 gates (learning.enabled, Direct + re-verify)	commands/cortexloop.md
Manual /cortexloop-reflect orchestration	commands/cortexloop-reflect.md
Playbook trust model, signature, tiers, feedback / prune	rules/learning-loop.mdc

This skill covers only: how to extract generalizable patterns from a successful fix session and write high-quality 08-reflection.md + reflection.json. Do not duplicate CLI or trust-model details here — follow the table above when those questions arise.

When to Use

• Automatically after CodeCortexLoop Direct mode completes re-verification successfully (orchestrator loads this skill in Step 6)
• Manually via /cortexloop-reflect when you want to capture learnings from a recent fix session
• When you have evidence of what was fixed (ideally docs/cortexloop/report.json + git diff)

When NOT to use:

• Report-only runs with no fixes applied
• Failed or incomplete Direct runs (tests still failing)
• One-off project-specific hacks that cannot generalize

Inputs

Read before writing:

1. docs/cortexloop/report.json — findings marked fixed, before/after scores
2. Git diff of changes applied in Direct mode (diff wins if it disagrees with the report)
3. .cortexloop/playbook.json — skim existing entries for authoring-time dedup
4. cortexloop.config.json → learning block (paths, global flag) — for record flags only
5. rules/learning-loop.mdc — when unsure whether something belongs in playbook memory

Extraction procedure

Work in this order:

1. List fixes — from report.json, collect findings that were actually fixed; note category, location, score impact.
2. Verify with diff — read the git diff; drop anything the report claims but code does not show.
3. Generalize each fix — ask: Would this pattern help on a different codebase? If no → discard (may still mention in md Pitfalls).
4. Merge siblings — multiple fixes of the same class (e.g. three N+1 sites) → one playbook entry, several example pointers if needed.
5. Select 3–5 — apply Selection heuristic; fewer is fine.
6. Apply authoring gates — every surviving entry must pass Authoring gates and Authoring-time dedup.
7. Write outputs — 08-reflection.md first or in parallel with reflection.json; bilingual fields must be written together per entry.
8. Record — only if entries.length > 0; see Record to Playbook.

Selection heuristic

When more fixes exist than you can record:

• Prefer patterns that transfer across files/modules over single-point renames or formatting
• Prefer fixes tied to clear score or severity improvement in the report
• Tie-break (highest first): security / correctness → performance → errorHandling → tests → simplicity → cleanup
• Cap at 5 entries; 1–2 strong entries beats 5 weak ones
• Never invent patterns to hit a quota — see Empty or weak session

Authoring gates

Every reflection.json entry must pass both gates before you write it.

Generalization gate

• problemPattern describes a class of bug, not a specific symbol, table, or business entity
• OK: "N+1 query — related rows fetched inside a loop"
• Not OK: "N+1 in UserOrderService.fetchLineItems"
• fixMethod describes a technique, not a pasteable diff

Bilingual parity gate

• problemPatternZh / fixMethodZh must describe the same pattern and technique as the English fields
• Chinese is for humans reading playbook-zh.md — not a loose summary, not more specific than English
• If you cannot write accurate Chinese for an entry, do not include that entry

Authoring-time dedup

Before adding an entry, skim .cortexloop/playbook.json:

• Same problem class already recorded → skip unless the fix method genuinely evolved (then update wording to reflect the new technique; record will merge by signature)
• Unsure if it's duplicate → compare problem class, not file path
• Skipped near-duplicates can be noted in 08-reflection.md under Pitfalls / false starts or Next time

Signature and tier mechanics live in learning-loop.mdc — do not re-derive them here.

Outputs

1. Human evolution log — docs/cortexloop/08-reflection.md (append only)

Do not overwrite prior runs. Append after --- with 运行时间 from run-meta (e.g. 2026年6月25日 14:30 — not raw ISO in titles).

---
## 运行记录 · 2026年6月25日 14:30

> Run: `docs/cortexloop/runs/2026-06-25_14-30` · mode: direct

### Summary
What was fixed, overall score delta, test status.

### Effective fixes
Bullet list of what worked and why.

### Pitfalls / false starts
What did not work or required rework.

### Next time
Concrete reminders for similar codebases.

Orchestrator may run: node scripts/append-reflection.mjs --file=.cortexloop/reflection-section.md

Keep each section concise (1–2 screens). Focus on patterns, not line-by-line diffs.

2. Structured reflection — .cortexloop/reflection.json

{
  "runDisplayTime": "2026年6月25日 14:30",
  "runId": "2026-06-25_14-30",
  "mode": "direct",
  "entries": [
    {
      "category": "performance",
      "language": "js",
      "problemPattern": "N+1 query — related rows fetched inside a loop",
      "fixMethod": "Collect ids first, single WHERE id IN (...) or JOIN, map back",
      "problemPatternZh": "N+1 查询 — 在循环内逐条拉取关联数据",
      "fixMethodZh": "先收集 id，再用 WHERE id IN (...) 或 JOIN 一次查回并映射",
      "example": "src/api.js:6"
    }
  ]
}

Field rules:

• Record 3–5 most valuable generalizable patterns when available (fewer is OK)
• problemPattern / fixMethod — English (model recall via playbook.json)
• problemPatternZh / fixMethodZh — Chinese (human playbook-zh.md; not fed to query)
• category — one of: correctness, security, performance, simplicity, tests, errorHandling, cleanup
• language — e.g. js, ts, py, or omit for any
• example — optional file:line pointer

Do not record:

• Project-specific business rules
• Temporary workarounds
• Secrets, credentials, or environment-specific config

Empty or weak session

If no fix generalizes to a reusable pattern:

1. Still write a short 08-reflection.md explaining what was fixed and why nothing was recorded
2. Write reflection.json with "entries": []
3. Do not run record — empty entries are a no-op and should not be forced

Do not fabricate patterns to fill the array.

Record to Playbook

Run only when reflection.json has one or more entries:

node scripts/playbook.mjs record .cortexloop/reflection.json

If learning.global is true in config, append --global. Confirm stdout shows added/updated counts and playbook-zh.md path.

• English JSON (.cortexloop/playbook.json) — sole source for playbook.mjs query
• Chinese markdown (.cortexloop/playbook-zh.md) — auto-generated for team reading; re-export: node scripts/playbook.mjs export-zh

Post-record feedback hooks (failed, rejected, external_verified) → see rules/learning-loop.mdc.

Quality Checklist

• Extraction followed diff-verified fixes, not report claims alone
• Each entry passes generalization + bilingual parity gates
• Each entry is reusable on a different codebase
• fixMethod is actionable without reading the original diff
• Near-duplicates in existing playbook were skipped or evolved intentionally
• Retrospective mentions verification (tests passed)
• record run only when entries is non-empty
• User knows playbook hits are recall — re-derive and verify; use feedback --outcome=failed if a recorded pattern fails later