Capture Learning

The OS gets smarter only when real outcomes are banked. A skill that ran once and taught you nothing was a waste of the run; the same mistake made twice is the OS failing at its one job. This skill takes a thing that actually happened, an eval score, a customer reply, a number that moved, a launch that died, and writes it down as a dated, sourced lesson the next founder inherits. Append, never overwrite. Memory you can edit away is not memory.

The method

Full append protocol, what is worth capturing, the file-routing table, a worked KB entry, anti-patterns, and a copyable template: references/learning-loop-method.md.

Step 1 - Capture the real outcome

Write what happened, not what you hoped. The eval scored 0.71, not "the agent works well". The customer asked for a refund, not "mixed signal". A guess dressed as a result poisons the file for everyone downstream, so if you cannot point to the run, the reply, or the metric, you are not done capturing.

Step 2 - Write the dated lesson

Use the PLAYBOOK-LESSONS format: a one-line lesson as the heading, then Context, What happened, Lesson, Source. State the lesson so the next founder avoids the mistake, not so you feel resolved about it.

Step 3 - Append to the right file

Pick the home by shape of the learning:

Step 4 - Append, never overwrite

Add below the existing entries. Past lessons stay even when later ones sharpen them; the record of being wrong is itself the lesson.

Output

• One logged lesson, dated and sourced, appended to the correct knowledge-base file.

Constraints

• Append, never overwrite. The history is the asset.
• A real outcome, not a guess. No run, reply, or metric means nothing to bank yet.
• Stay theme-agnostic; the lesson must read true for a founder in any sector.

Dictionary

the learning loop · a demo is not evidence

Copy-paste version

For non-coders: paste into any chatbot (Claude.ai, ChatGPT, Gemini).

Act as my AI-native learning archivist. Here is a real outcome I just had: [WHAT HAPPENED - the
actual eval score, customer reply, metric move, or failure]. Stage it came from: [DOMAIN / stage].
1. Restate the outcome in plain fact, stripped of hope. If I gave you a hope, not a result, say so.
2. Write it as a dated lesson in this exact shape:
   ### [today's date] - [one-line lesson]
   Context: what I was attempting.
   What happened: the real outcome.
   Lesson: the durable takeaway, written so the next founder avoids my mistake.
   Source: where this came from.
3. Tell me which file to append it to: a durable rule (PRINCIPLES), a tactic (DOS-AND-DONTS), a dated
   outcome (PLAYBOOK-LESSONS), or moat evidence (MOATS-LEDGER).
Append it below what's already there. Never overwrite an older lesson.