Chronicle Assistant Guide

Purpose: Universal directives for AI assistants using Chronicle Scope: Works across ALL projects (with MCP server OR CLI-only) Priority: Load this FIRST when Chronicle is available

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Auto-Activation

This skill auto-activates! (Milestone #13)

Prompts like "how do I use chronicle?" automatically trigger this skill. Lower priority than other skills.

Trigger patterns: how to use chronicle, chronicle help, chronicle guide See: docs/HOOKS.md for full details

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⚡ CRITICAL: Pre-Flight Checklist

Before starting ANY Chronicle-related task, run through this checklist:

1. ✅ SEARCH FIRST: Search Chronicle's history

   • With MCP: mcp__chronicle__search_sessions(query="relevant keywords", limit=5)
   • Without MCP: chronicle search "relevant keywords" --limit 5
   • Has this been done before?
   • What context exists about this feature/issue?
   • What approaches failed or succeeded?

2. ✅ Check Skills: Is there a Chronicle skill for this task?

   • chronicle-workflow - Session workflow guidance
   • chronicle-session-documenter - Document to Obsidian
   • chronicle-context-retriever - Search past work
   • chronicle-project-tracker - Roadmap and milestones

3. ✅ Prefer MCP over CLI: Use best available tool

   • MCP available? → Fast (<10ms), structured JSON, no subprocess overhead
   • CLI only? → Still works, slightly slower (~100ms), parse formatted output
   • Both provide the same data, choose based on environment

4. ✅ Check roadmap: View current milestones and next steps

   • With MCP: mcp__chronicle__get_roadmap(days=7)
   • Without MCP: chronicle roadmap --days 7
   • Is this already tracked as a milestone?
   • Are there related next steps?

Why this matters: Chronicle dogfoods itself. Every mistake we make is recorded. Learn from history!

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🎯 Core Directives

1. ALWAYS Search Chronicle Before Implementing

The Rule (use whichever is available):

Option 1: MCP (if available)

# Before implementing ANY feature:
mcp__chronicle__search_sessions(query="feature name", limit=5)

# Before debugging:
mcp__chronicle__search_sessions(query="error or symptom", limit=5)

# When user questions something:
mcp__chronicle__search_sessions(query="topic keywords", limit=5)

Option 2: CLI (always works)

# Before implementing ANY feature:
chronicle search "feature name" --limit 5

# Before debugging:
chronicle search "error or symptom" --limit 5

# When user questions something:
chronicle search "topic keywords" --limit 5

Real examples from Chronicle's own history:

Example 1: Session 21 transcript cleaning confusion

User: "I can't believe there's no cleaning to be done on session 21"
❌ Without search: Spent time debugging, confused why 0% reduction
✅ With search: Would have found Session 13 implemented transcript cleaning
→ Result: Immediately understood cleaning happens at storage time
→ Time saved: 15+ minutes of debugging

Example 2: Sessions 30 & 31 - Duplicate MCP optimization

Session 30 (Oct 24): Fixed MCP response size by excluding summaries from get_sessions()
Session 31 (Oct 24): SAME issue - MCP responses too large, same fix needed

❌ What happened: Session 31 didn't search for "MCP response size"
✅ What should have happened: Search finds Session 30's solution immediately
→ Result: Could have referenced Session 30's approach instead of rediscovering
→ Time saved: 10+ minutes of diagnosis and implementation

Example 3: Skill documentation update (Session 32)

Task: Update chronicle-session-documenter skill with MCP tool instructions
❌ What I did: Jumped straight to editing SKILL.md without searching
✅ What I should have done: Search "skill documentation update" first
→ Result: Might have found context about skill format standards
→ Lesson: Even when search finds nothing, the habit prevents future mistakes

Cost Calculator:

Time to search:        <1 second
Time saved (average):  10-20 minutes per incident
Incidents so far:      3+ documented cases
Total time wasted:     ~45+ minutes that could have been saved
Cost of skipping:      45 minutes / 1 second = 2,700x ROI on searching!

Make it a reflex: The 1-second search is ALWAYS worth it. No exceptions.

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2. Prefer MCP Tools, Fall Back to CLI

Priority Order:

1. ✅ Chronicle Skills (best - handles complex workflows)
2. ✅ MCP tools (fastest - if MCP server available)
3. ✅ CLI commands (portable - works everywhere Chronicle is installed)

Why MCP is preferred when available:

• Speed: MCP queries database directly (<10ms), CLI spawns subprocess (~100ms)
• Programmatic: Returns structured JSON, not formatted text
• Reliable: No parsing of human-readable output
• Efficient: No terminal formatting overhead

When to use CLI:

• MCP server not configured (e.g., minimal installations, FreeBSD, remote systems)
• User explicitly requests CLI output
• Testing CLI functionality

Examples:

With MCP Available:

# Fast, structured responses
roadmap = mcp__chronicle__get_roadmap(days=7)
sessions = mcp__chronicle__search_sessions(query="storage", limit=5)
summary = mcp__chronicle__get_session_summary(session_id=16)

Without MCP (CLI Fallback):

# Portable, works everywhere
chronicle roadmap --days 7
chronicle search "storage" --limit 5
chronicle session 16

Decision Pattern:

Need Chronicle data
├─ MCP available? → Use mcp__chronicle__<tool>()
└─ MCP not available? → Use chronicle <command>

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📚 Available Tools (MCP + CLI)

Note: All operations below work with BOTH MCP tools and CLI commands. Use MCP for speed when available, CLI for portability.

Session & Commit Tracking:

MCP Approach:

# List sessions (summaries excluded by default for performance)
mcp__chronicle__get_sessions(limit=10, tool="claude-code", repo_path="/path", days=7)
mcp__chronicle__get_sessions(limit=10, include_summaries=True)  # Optional: include summaries

# Get single session details with full summary
mcp__chronicle__get_session_summary(session_id=16)

# Batch retrieve summaries for multiple sessions
mcp__chronicle__get_sessions_summaries(session_ids=[15, 16, 17])

# Search and other queries
mcp__chronicle__search_sessions(query="MCP server", limit=10)
mcp__chronicle__get_commits(limit=20, repo_path="/path", days=7)
mcp__chronicle__search_commits(query="retry logic", limit=20)
mcp__chronicle__get_timeline(days=1, repo_path="/path")
mcp__chronicle__get_stats(days=7)

CLI Equivalents:

# List and view sessions
chronicle sessions --limit 10 --tool claude-code
chronicle session 16  # Get details with summary

# Search
chronicle search "MCP server" --limit 10

# Commits and timeline
chronicle show today --limit 20
chronicle timeline today

# Statistics
chronicle stats --days 7

Project Tracking:

MCP Approach:

mcp__chronicle__get_milestones(status="in_progress", milestone_type="feature", limit=20)
mcp__chronicle__get_milestone(milestone_id=1)
mcp__chronicle__get_next_steps(completed=False, milestone_id=1, limit=20)
mcp__chronicle__get_roadmap(days=7)
mcp__chronicle__update_milestone_status(milestone_id=1, new_status="completed")
mcp__chronicle__complete_next_step(step_id=1)

CLI Equivalents:

# Milestones
chronicle milestones --status in_progress
chronicle milestone 1

# Roadmap and next steps
chronicle roadmap --days 7
chronicle next-steps --pending

# Updates
chronicle milestone-status 1 completed
chronicle complete-step 1

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🔄 Typical Workflows

Starting a New Task

With MCP:

# 1. Search for related past work
results = mcp__chronicle__search_sessions(query="authentication", limit=5)

# 2. Check roadmap
roadmap = mcp__chronicle__get_roadmap(days=7)

# 3. If needed, check specific session
if results:
    session = mcp__chronicle__get_session_summary(session_id=results[0]["id"])

# 4. Now implement with full context

With CLI:

# 1. Search for related past work
chronicle search "authentication" --limit 5

# 2. Check roadmap
chronicle roadmap --days 7

# 3. View specific session details
chronicle session <id>

# 4. Now implement with full context

Debugging an Issue

With MCP:

# 1. Search for error message or symptom
results = mcp__chronicle__search_sessions(query="hang freeze stuck", limit=5)

# 2. Get full context from relevant session
if results:
    session = mcp__chronicle__get_session_summary(session_id=results[0]["id"])
    # Read how it was solved before

With CLI:

# 1. Search for error message or symptom
chronicle search "hang freeze stuck" --limit 5

# 2. View relevant session
chronicle session <id>
# Read how it was solved before

Understanding Project History

With MCP:

# Get overview
stats = mcp__chronicle__get_stats(days=30)
timeline = mcp__chronicle__get_timeline(days=7)

# Find specific work
sessions = mcp__chronicle__search_sessions(query="optimization", limit=10)

With CLI:

# Get overview
chronicle stats --days 30
chronicle timeline week

# Find specific work
chronicle search "optimization" --limit 10

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🚫 Common Mistakes to Avoid

❌ DON'T:

• Jump straight to implementing without searching
• Ignore the CLI when MCP isn't available
• Forget to check the roadmap
• Ignore related sessions in search results

✅ DO:

• Search first, implement second (MCP or CLI)
• Use best available tool (MCP preferred, CLI fallback)
• Check roadmap before creating new milestones
• Read summaries of related sessions for context

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🎓 Chronicle Quick Reference

Session Organization (Phase 6):

# Organize sessions (use CLI for these)
chronicle rename-session 32 "Feature Implementation"
chronicle tag-session 32 optimization,phase-6
chronicle link-session 32 --related-to 30,31
chronicle auto-title 31  # AI-generated title
chronicle graph --sessions 28-32  # Visualize relationships

Current State:

• Database: ~/.ai-session/sessions.db (SQLite)
• Transcripts: ~/.ai-session/sessions/*.cleaned (file-based)
• Configuration: ~/.ai-session/config.yaml
• MCP Server: Provides 15+ tools for querying Chronicle

Storage:

• Summaries: Generated automatically in background after session ends
• Titles: Can be set manually or AI-generated
• Tags: JSON array for categorization
• Relationships: parent_session_id, related_session_ids

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💡 Pro Tips

1. Always search before implementing - Chronicle has 100+ hours of documented work
2. Use batch operations - get_sessions_summaries() for multiple sessions at once
3. Filter aggressively - Use repo_path, days, tool filters to narrow results
4. Check session organization - Look for titles/tags to understand session purpose
5. Follow the graph - Use chronicle graph to see session relationships
6. Trust the summaries - They're generated by AI and usually accurate
7. Update roadmap - Complete next steps and milestones as you work

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🔗 Related Resources

• Project CLAUDE.md: May have project-specific directives
• Chronicle Skills: Use chronicle-workflow, chronicle-context-retriever, etc.
• MCP Documentation: See MCP_SERVER.md in Chronicle repo

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Remember: This skill applies to ALL projects using Chronicle. The directives here are universal best practices for AI assistants.