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niksavisniksavis/basicly/.claude/skills/retention-probe/SKILL.md

retention-probe

Skill2 starsChanged 7 days agoMITView on GitHub

Tests if this session still holds the always-on instruction file. Use when a repo rule seems missing, in a new subagent or after compaction.

1 other project uses a version of this.

Adopted by

Most recently taken up by

The file

We split this skill into the rules it gives an agent

4 rules. About 0 are common, 4 are distinctive, and 0 are very specific to this project.

  • ≈0

    Common · estimate

    Many files like this have a rule of this kind.

  • ≈4

    Distinctive · estimate

    This author's own choices. Worth a look.

  • 0

    Very specific

    Tied to their project's names, files or tools. Probably skip.

  • Common
  • Distinctive
  • Very specific
  1. Distinctive:

    Test one thing: is the always-on instruction file in the context of this session?

    line 9
  2. Distinctive:

    Answer from memory only: Do not read, search or list files first, because the probe detects whether you already have the file.

    line 13
  3. Distinctive:

    Write every rule, convention and constraint that you believe governs this repository to a scratch file, one per line.

    line 21
  4. Distinctive:

    Read the instruction file to correct each of these:

    line 50

≈ “Common” is an estimate: at least 1 in 5 of the 350,495 skill files we read have a rule of the same kind, not the same words. “Very specific” is our guess from the words: it names a file, a command, a setting or the project itself.

Keep what fits and drop the rest. Your version, ready for your agents.
Files
SKILL.md
<!-- Generated by `basicly skills-build` from skill.yaml. Do not edit; edit the source. -->

Retention Probe

Test one thing: is the always-on instruction file in the context of this session?

Rules

  • Answer from memory only. Do not read, search or list files first, because the probe detects whether you already have the file.
  • Answer exhaustively. A short answer scores as a missing file.
  • Run it when you suspect a problem, not on a schedule. The probe output repeats every rule, so each run puts the rules back into context.
  • Do not read the score as adherence. A recited rule is not an obeyed rule. A gate or a PreToolUse hook enforces a rule.
  • Do not read a high score as memory. While the file is in context you read it. You do not recall it.

Procedure

  1. Write every rule, convention and constraint that you believe governs this repository to a scratch file, one per line.

  2. Score the file:

    uv run basicly retention <scratch-file>
    FlagEffect
    --verboseLists each rule that did not come back, beside the nearest line of your answer
    --baseline <path>Scores against another file. The default is the first of .claude/CLAUDE.md, CLAUDE.md and AGENTS.md
    --strictExits non-zero when the verdict is absent

    Pass - in place of the file to read the answer from stdin.

  3. Act on the verdict.

Verdicts

VerdictMeaningAction
LOADED80% or more. The file is in context.None.
PARTIALBetween 30% and 80%. Not decisive.Run again once, with a fuller answer.
ABSENT30% or less. The file is not in context.Read the instruction file, then continue.
UNDERSAMPLEDFewer lines than the file has rules.You stopped early. Answer exhaustively and probe again.

A session that holds the file returns most of its rules. A session with no file returns almost none. So the probe is reliable for presence and useless for finer questions.

Causes of a real ABSENT

Read the instruction file to correct each of these:

  • A subagent that did not get the project instructions.
  • A session that started outside the repository root.
  • A claudeMdExcludes pattern that matches too much.
  • A consumer repository where basicly install has not run.

A compaction is not a cause. Claude Code reads the project-root instruction file from disk again after /compact.

Trend file

Each run appends one line with the rate and the verdict to .basicly/usage/retention.jsonl. Compare runs with each other. Do not read one number as absolute. The score is lexical and misses a distant paraphrase, so the rate is a lower limit.

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Your trail

Files you open will collect here, so you can find them again.

Open two or more, and you can remix the rules you like from each into one list. Kept in this browser only.

Now do this for your own.

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