the-agency-ai/.claude/skills/captain-log

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Captain's Log

The captain's log is the narrative thread of a session. Different from handoffs (current state), transcripts (full conversation), and flags (quick observations) — the log captures what we discovered, what we built, what we decided as a rolling daily record.

Arguments

• $ARGUMENTS: One of:
  • Free text — appended as an observation entry
  • -c <category> <text> or --category <category> <text> — appended with that category
  • read [YYYYMMDD] — read today's log or a specific day
  • list — list all log files
  • path — print the current day's log file path

Categories

• decision — a decision was made (with reasoning)
• friction — friction encountered during work
• learning — something learned about the framework, codebase, or process
• milestone — significant progress, completion, or shipping
• observation — general note (default)
• build — built a tool, skill, hookify rule, or process

When to Log

Log proactively as you work:

• When a decision is made that future sessions need to know about
• When friction is hit — it's a candidate for the next toolification cycle
• When you build something — capture the "why" alongside the "what"
• At milestones — phase complete, plan complete, release shipped
• When you learn something — about the codebase, the methodology, or the principal's preferences

The log is mined later for patterns, friction analysis, and continual improvement. The richer the log, the more useful the mining.

Examples

# Quick observation (default category)
./claude/tools/captain-log "noticed agents kept cd-ing to main checkout"

# Friction with category
./claude/tools/captain-log -c friction "permission prompt for chmod blocked agent boot"

# Decision
./claude/tools/captain-log -c decision "QGRs go in workstream/quality-gate-reports/, not usr/"

# Build
./claude/tools/captain-log -c build "shipped /collaborate skill + collaboration tool + hookify warn"

# Read today's log
./claude/tools/captain-log read

# Read a specific day
./claude/tools/captain-log read 20260406

Storage

Daily files at usr/{principal}/captain/logs/captains-log-{YYYYMMDD}.md. Append-only with timestamps. Format:

---
type: captains-log
date: 2026-04-07
agent: jordan/captain
---

# Captain's Log — Tuesday, April 7, 2026

## 13:28:28 — milestone

Captain's log tool shipped — formalizing the narrative thread pattern.

## 13:42:11 — friction

permission prompt for chmod blocked agent boot

Workflow

1. As work happens: call captain-log with the observation
2. At session end: review the day's log via captain-log read
3. At week end: mine the logs for patterns (friction → seeds for tooling)
4. Across sessions: read previous days' logs as context for the current session

The log is the narrative the framework writes about itself.

OFFENDERS WILL BE FED TO THE — CUTE — ATTACK KITTENS!