checkpointing
Save full session context: git history, CLI consultations, Agent Teams activity, and discover reusable skill patterns — all in one run. No flags needed. Run at session end, after major milestones, or when you want to capture learnings.
Best use case
checkpointing is best used when you need a repeatable AI agent workflow instead of a one-off prompt.
Save full session context: git history, CLI consultations, Agent Teams activity, and discover reusable skill patterns — all in one run. No flags needed. Run at session end, after major milestones, or when you want to capture learnings.
Teams using checkpointing should expect a more consistent output, faster repeated execution, less prompt rewriting.
When to use this skill
- You want a reusable workflow that can be run more than once with consistent structure.
When not to use this skill
- You only need a quick one-off answer and do not need a reusable workflow.
- You cannot install or maintain the underlying files, dependencies, or repository context.
Installation
Claude Code / Cursor / Codex
Manual Installation
- Download SKILL.md from GitHub
- Place it in
.claude/skills/checkpointing/SKILL.mdinside your project - Restart your AI agent — it will auto-discover the skill
How checkpointing Compares
| Feature / Agent | checkpointing | Standard Approach |
|---|---|---|
| Platform Support | Not specified | Limited / Varies |
| Context Awareness | High | Baseline |
| Installation Complexity | Unknown | N/A |
Frequently Asked Questions
What does this skill do?
Save full session context: git history, CLI consultations, Agent Teams activity, and discover reusable skill patterns — all in one run. No flags needed. Run at session end, after major milestones, or when you want to capture learnings.
Where can I find the source code?
You can find the source code on GitHub using the link provided at the top of the page.
Related Guides
SKILL.md Source
# Checkpointing — Full Session Recording and Pattern Discovery
**Record all session activity and discover reusable patterns. Run everything, every time.**
## What It Does (Every Time)
```
/checkpointing
↓
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ 1. Collect Everything │
│ ├── git log (commits, file changes, line stats) │
│ ├── CLI logs (Codex/Gemini consultations) │
│ ├── Agent Teams activity (tasks, teammates, messages) │
│ └── Design decisions (.claude/docs/DESIGN.md changes) │
│ │
│ 2. Generate Checkpoint │
│ → .claude/checkpoints/YYYY-MM-DD-HHMMSS.md │
│ │
│ 3. Update Session History │
│ → CLAUDE.md (cross-session persistence) │
│ │
│ 4. Discover Skill Patterns │
│ → Subagent analyzes checkpoint │
│ → Suggests reusable skills │
│ → User reviews and approves │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
```
## Usage
```bash
# Everything. No flags needed.
/checkpointing
# Optional: only look at recent work
/checkpointing --since "2026-02-08"
```
## What Gets Captured
### Git Activity
- Commits (hash, message, date)
- File changes (created, modified, deleted + line counts)
- Branch information
### CLI Consultations
- Codex consultations (prompt, success/failure)
- Gemini multimodal tasks (prompt, success/failure)
### Agent Teams Activity
- Team composition (Lead + Teammates, roles)
- Shared task list state (completed, in-progress, pending)
- File ownership per teammate
- Communication patterns (who messaged whom, about what)
- Team effectiveness signals (tasks completed vs stuck, file conflicts)
### Teammate Work Logs
- Each Teammate's work log from `.claude/logs/agent-teams/{team-name}/{teammate}.md`
- Contains: Summary, Tasks Completed, Files Modified, Key Decisions, Communication with Teammates, Issues Encountered
- Written by each Teammate upon completing all assigned tasks
- Only present when Agent Teams were used (`/start-feature`, `/team-implement`, `/team-review`)
### Design Decisions
- Changes to `.claude/docs/DESIGN.md` since last checkpoint
- New entries in Key Decisions table
## Checkpoint Format
```markdown
# Checkpoint: 2026-02-08 15:30:00 UTC
## Summary
- **Commits**: 12
- **Files changed**: 15 (10 modified, 4 created, 1 deleted)
- **Codex consultations**: 3
- **Gemini multimodal**: 2
- **Agent Teams sessions**: 1 (3 teammates)
- **Tasks completed**: 8/10
## Git History
### Commits
- `abc1234` feat: redesign start-feature for Opus 4.6
- `def5678` feat: add team-implement skill
...
### File Changes
**Created:**
- `.claude/skills/team-implement/SKILL.md` (+180)
...
**Modified:**
- `CLAUDE.md` (+40, -25)
...
## CLI Consultations
### Codex (3 consultations)
- ✓ Design: Architecture for Agent Teams integration
- ✓ Debug: Task dependency resolution
- ✗ Review: (timeout)
### Gemini (2 multimodal tasks)
- ✓ Extract: API spec from design document PDF
- ✓ Analyze: Architecture diagram from whiteboard photo
## Agent Teams Activity
### Team: project-planning
**Composition:**
- Lead: Claude (orchestration)
- Researcher: Opus-powered (external research)
- Architect: Codex-powered (design decisions)
**Task List:**
- [x] Research library options (Researcher)
- [x] Design module architecture (Architect)
- [x] Validate API constraints (Researcher)
- [x] Finalize implementation plan (Architect)
**Communication Patterns:**
- Researcher → Architect: 3 messages (library constraints)
- Architect → Researcher: 2 messages (additional research requests)
**Effectiveness:**
- All tasks completed
- No file conflicts
- 2 design iterations triggered by research findings
## Teammate Work Logs
### Team: project-planning
#### researcher
*Source: `.claude/logs/agent-teams/project-planning/researcher.md`*
# Work Log: Researcher
## Summary
Researched httpx library constraints and API patterns for the new API client module.
## Tasks Completed
- [x] Research libraries: httpx supports HTTP/2 via h2 dependency
- [x] Find documentation: httpx connection pool defaults to 100
## Communication with Teammates
- → Architect: httpx connection pool limit of 100, HTTP/2 requires h2
- ← Architect: Requested HTTP/2 multiplexing research
#### architect
*Source: `.claude/logs/agent-teams/project-planning/architect.md`*
# Work Log: Architect
## Summary
Designed API client module architecture with HTTP/2 support.
## Design Decisions
- Use httpx[http2] for multiplexed connections: reduces latency for parallel requests
## Codex Consultations
- Connection pool sizing strategy: Codex recommended dynamic pool based on load
## Communication with Teammates
- → Researcher: Request HTTP/2 multiplexing research
- ← Researcher: httpx supports HTTP/2 via h2
## Design Decisions (New)
- Agent Teams for Research ↔ Design (bidirectional)
- Gemini specialized for multimodal processing only
## Skill Pattern Suggestions
### Pattern 1: Research-Design Iteration (Confidence: 0.85)
**Evidence:** Researcher and Architect exchanged findings 5 times, each
exchange refined the design. This back-and-forth is a repeatable pattern.
**Suggested skill:** Already captured as /start-feature Phase 2.
### Pattern 2: Parallel File-Isolated Implementation (Confidence: 0.75)
**Evidence:** 3 implementers worked on separate modules with zero conflicts.
Module boundaries were defined by directory ownership.
**Suggested skill:** Already captured as /team-implement.
---
*Generated by checkpointing skill*
```
## Session History Update
Each checkpoint also appends a concise summary to CLAUDE.md:
```markdown
## Session History
### 2026-02-08
- 12 commits, 15 files changed
- Codex: 3 consultations (design, debug, review)
- Gemini: 2 multimodal tasks (PDF extraction, diagram analysis)
- Agent Teams: 1 session (3 teammates, 8/10 tasks completed)
- New skills: /team-implement, /team-review
- Key decisions: Agent Teams for parallel work, Gemini role narrowed
```
This persists across sessions — new sessions load CLAUDE.md and see what happened before.
## Skill Pattern Discovery
The checkpoint is automatically analyzed to find reusable patterns:
**What it looks for:**
- Sequences of commits forming logical workflows
- File change patterns (e.g., test + implementation together)
- CLI consultation sequences (research → design → implement)
- Agent Teams coordination patterns (team composition, task sizing)
- Multi-step operations that could be templated
**Output:** Skill suggestions with confidence scores. High-confidence patterns (>= 0.8) that don't match existing skills are presented to the user for approval.
## Execution Flow
```
/checkpointing
│
├─ 1. Run checkpoint.py (collects git + CLI + teams data)
│ → Generates .claude/checkpoints/YYYY-MM-DD-HHMMSS.md
│
├─ 2. Update CLAUDE.md with session summary
│
└─ 3. Spawn subagent for skill pattern analysis
→ Reads checkpoint file
→ Identifies reusable patterns
→ Reports suggestions to user
→ User approves → new skills created in .claude/skills/
```
## When to Run
| Timing | Why |
|--------|-----|
| Before session ends | Record all activity, hand off to next session |
| After `/team-implement` completes | Capture team activity patterns |
| After `/team-review` completes | Capture review patterns |
| After major design decisions | Persist the decision context |
| When you notice recurring patterns | Opportunity to discover new skills |
## Notes
- Checkpoints accumulate in `.claude/checkpoints/` (already in `.gitignore`)
- Log files themselves are not modified (read-only)
- Skill suggestions must always be reviewed by the user before adoption
- Agent Teams data is collected from `~/.claude/teams/` and `~/.claude/tasks/`Related Skills
context-loader
ALWAYS activate this skill at the start of every task. Load project context from .claude/ directory including coding rules, design decisions, and documentation before executing any task.
update-lib-docs
Update library documentation in .claude/docs/libraries/ with latest information from web search.
update-design
Explicitly update DESIGN.md with decisions from the current conversation. Use when you want to force a design document update.
troubleshoot
Diagnose and plan fixes for errors/bugs with Codex-first multi-agent collaboration (Codex + Opus 4.6 + Agent Teams). Codex CLI is consulted in EVERY phase for deep code reasoning, hypothesis evaluation, and fix validation. Phase 1: Error reproduction & context gathering (Opus subagent 1M context + Codex initial analysis + Claude user interaction). Phase 2: Parallel diagnosis (Agent Teams: Root Cause Analyst [Codex-driven] + Impact Investigator [Opus + Codex risk analysis]). Phase 3: Fix plan synthesis, Codex validation & user approval. Fix implementation is handled separately by /team-implement.
team-review
Parallel code review using Agent Teams. Spawns specialized reviewers (security, quality, test coverage) to review implementation from different perspectives simultaneously. Run after implementation.
team-implement
Parallel implementation using Agent Teams. Spawns teammates per module/layer, each owning separate files to avoid conflicts. Uses shared task list with dependencies for autonomous coordination. Run after /start-feature plan approval.
tdd
Implement features using Test-Driven Development (TDD) with Red-Green-Refactor cycle.
start-feature
Start a new feature with multi-agent collaboration (Opus 4.6 + Agent Teams). Phase 1: Codebase understanding (Opus subagent 1M context + Claude user interaction). Phase 2: Parallel research & design (Agent Teams: Researcher + Architect). Phase 3: Plan synthesis & user approval. Implementation is handled separately by /team-implement.
spike
Time-boxed technical investigation/feasibility study with Codex-first multi-agent collaboration (Codex + Opus 4.6 + Agent Teams). Codex CLI is consulted in EVERY phase for question framing, feasibility analysis, and final evaluation. Phase 1: Frame the investigation question & constraints (Claude user interaction + Codex question decomposition). Phase 2: Parallel investigation (Agent Teams: Researcher [Opus external research] + Feasibility Analyst [Codex deep analysis] + optional prototype). Phase 3: Codex synthesis into go/no-go recommendation & research report. Produces a DECISION DOCUMENT, NOT an implementation plan. Use /add-feature or /start-feature after a GO decision.
simplify
Simplify and refactor code while preserving functionality and library constraints.
research-lib
Research a library and create comprehensive documentation in .claude/docs/libraries/.
plan
Create a detailed implementation plan for a feature or task. Use when user wants to plan before coding.