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Learning Loop

The toolkit accumulates knowledge over time, making each project faster and more reliable than the last.

How it works

graph TD
    WORK[Daily Work] -->|"/journal"| J[Session Journal]
    J -->|"/consolidate"| S[Specs + ADRs]
    BUGS[Bug Fixes] -->|"/compound"| SOL[Solutions Library]
    SOL --> PATTERNS[Critical Patterns]
    S --> KB[Knowledge Base]
    PATTERNS --> KB
    KB -->|"Step 0: Load Knowledge"| NEXT[Next Project]

The three capture commands

/journal — capture in the moment

During work, use /journal to record:

  • Decisions you made and why
  • Problems you encountered and how you solved them
  • Things you learned about the codebase
  • Assumptions you're making

Entries go to docs/journal/ with timestamps.

/consolidate — structure the knowledge

After a session or milestone, use /consolidate to turn journal entries into durable artifacts:

  • Update the spec with new architectural decisions
  • Create or update ADRs (Architecture Decision Records)
  • Refine the PRD based on what you learned

/compound — build the solutions library

When you solve a significant problem, use /compound to add it to docs/solutions/. This builds a searchable library of solved problems.

Automatic pattern recognition

The toolkit watches for patterns across solutions:

  • Recurring bugs get documented in docs/solutions/patterns/critical-patterns.md
  • Common approaches get elevated to best practices
  • Anti-patterns get flagged for future avoidance

Step 0: Load Institutional Knowledge

Every orchestrator starts with Step 0: before doing any work, it checks:

  • docs/solutions/ — have we solved something similar before?
  • docs/solutions/patterns/critical-patterns.md — are there known pitfalls?
  • docs/adr/ — what architectural decisions constrain us?

This means the ninth time you investigate a similar bug, the orchestrator already knows about the first eight.

Why this matters

Without the learning loop, each project starts from zero. With it:

  • New team members inherit institutional knowledge immediately
  • Recurring problems get solved faster each time
  • Architectural decisions are documented and discoverable
  • The toolkit literally gets better the more you use it