{"content": "todo 1 next", "meta": {"from": "journal"}}
{"content": "fact 25 \u2014 A designer's install packs the whole tree, half-done server edits\u2026 \u2014 2026-09-25: Eames and Saul run python3 src/journal.py --root .journal upgrade after their viewer builds; it packs every file in src, so a server handler I was halfway through writing went live and raised on every PostToolUse hook. While designers work in parallel, keep server edits whole between tool calls (write and test in the scratchpad first), and reinstall after reverting anything.; rule 48 \u2014 The viewer is built from its component library, and pages only\u2026 \u2014 Message 4258. Every visual piece the viewer shows more than once, or that a user would recognise as the same kind of thing (a dialog, a side panel or inspector, a dropdown, a list row, a switch, a button), is one component in web/src/kit, extracted aggressively, and every page composes those components instead of building its own copy. Before writing markup or styles in a page, look for the kit component that already does it and extend it with a prop; a second hand-built version is a bug. The side panel that animated in but not out, while a separate skill panel did both, is the example.", "meta": {"from": "journal"}}
{"content": "law L3 \u2014 Read narrowly - grep for the line, sed a range, head the file; never\u2026 \u2014 Everything a tool returns stays in the context for good and is paid for on every turn after it. Search before you read, read the range you need, and cap output with grep, head or tail. Read a whole file only when you need all of it.; rule 39 \u2014 Use only registered exclamation response tags \u2014 A tag like [!reply:12] runs a command, and only the tags in the tags.runs setting are registered. An invented tag does nothing and shows as raw text in the chat. Use the registered ones (reply, log, end, todo, fact, rule) and nothing else.; rule 46 \u2014 Only commit and push once the whole journal is proven to boot \u2014 Messages 2178 and 2179. A release that has not been started for real can crash every project that installs it, as 2.78.3 did for Codex and 2.84.0 did to project records. Before every commit and push: the full suite passes, including tests/test_it_boots.py, which installs a packed copy into a fresh project, launches Claude and Codex from it, writes a project record, upgrades again and checks the record survives. When a change touches launching, installing or upgrading, also start a real journal in a scratch project and close it properly afterwards, leaving no process behind.; rule 51 \u2014 Every finished feature is committed, pushed and released with a new\u2026 \u2014 Message 9207 (2026-09-24): when a new feature is ready, commit, push and publish a new tag. This is the user's standing word for releasing, so rule 44's only-when-the-user-says is met by it for finished features; fixes in between wait for the next feature or a patch the user asks for.", "meta": {"from": "journal"}}
{"content": "fact 13 \u2014 This live session runs the installed copy in .journal/journal.pyz \u2014 The running journal (server, hooks, CLI) runs from .journal/journal.pyz with its viewer and skills in .journal/src, never from the repo. A change in the repo reaches it only through python3 src/journal.py --root .journal upgrade, which packs the zip again. A commit alone changes nothing that is running.", "meta": {"from": "journal"}}
{"content": "rule 54 \u2014 Settings and feature switches are read at boot and on change, never\u2026 \u2014 The user, message 13349: the application boots, determines every feature and setting once, and re-evaluates only when something changes, such as a setting or a plugin. Never lazy-load settings.", "meta": {"from": "journal"}}
{"content": "rule 42 \u2014 Every user-facing text passes the formatters before it leaves the\u2026 \u2014 Not only a brief. A title, an abstract, an outcome and every section body are read by a person, so each goes through the same formatters on its way to the viewer \u2014 chat turns, activity items, to-do rows, inspector pages, docs alike. One field formatted out of five is not a rule, it is an accident, and it is how a raw tag ended up in the activity list after the tags feature had been stripping them for weeks. When a new field carries words a person reads, it joins the list in the same place.", "meta": {"from": "journal"}}
{"content": "the log tag does this in one step \u2014 [!log:N] makes the turn itself the log entry; it runs only when it opens the last text of your turn", "meta": {"from": "journal"}}
{"content": "fact 24 \u2014 An answer followed by tool calls can be missing from Claude's\u2026 \u2014 Seen 2026-09-24 for messages 9391-9404: text blocks opening with [!reply:n] that were followed by tool calls never appeared in the session's jsonl (only thinking and tool_use rows did), so the journal never saw them and the replies were lost. When a turn goes on after answering, send the answer with journal message reply <n> \"<text>\" instead of the tag.; rule 57 \u2014 Never merge the overnight refactor into main before its pull request\u2026 \u2014 Messages 15005, 15006, 15109, 15110 (2026-10-04): all refactor work goes on branch overnight-refactor and reaches the user as one pull request, which they read in the morning; nothing of it is merged into main until they say so. Hotfixes the user explicitly asks for go to main at once and are merged into the branch.", "meta": {"from": "journal"}}
{"content": "rule 61 \u2014 Features wait as pull requests until approved; only hotfixes merge\u2026 \u2014 Message 17118 (2026-10-06), after the overnight refactor merged as 2.252.0: start new work in a new branch, do not merge, write the pull request. Every pull request or new feature is parked until the user approves it. Hotfixes can be merged into main immediately (by a dispatched agent in a worktree of main, rule 60).; rule 64 \u2014 A finished feature is merged into main without waiting for approval \u2014 The user, message 17815 (2026-10-07): 'make sure that no pull requests are lingering on the repository. You may merge them into main... You are allowed to merge everything into main once the feature is completed.' This replaces rule 61's wait for approval: a feature still goes on its own branch, and once it is complete, tested and its whole suite passes, it is merged into main and released, and no pull request is left open.", "meta": {"from": "journal"}}
{"content": "your command ran 32s in the foreground and was moved to the background \u2014 carry on with other work; you are told when it ends. Start a command you expect to take long in the background yourself", "meta": {"from": "journal"}}
{"content": "law L5 \u2014 Every subagent dispatch names the agent - a human name, a little\u2026 \u2014 A name is how the user and the chat tell subagents apart and how they are messaged later; an id or a task line is not a name. Start the dispatch's description with the name, a colon, then the task, such as \"Dr. Einstein: profile the slow hooks\" or \"Coco Rams: draw the plan card\". A designer can borrow from famous designers, a researcher from famous scientists, mixed up for fun.; rule 56 \u2014 Helpers are for work that writes; subagents read, research and design \u2014 The user, message 13464: there must be a clear distinction. A subagent can be dispatched for anything read-only: research, review, design. A helper is for actual work that writes, best in its own worktree when the work is separate. Dieter designing in Claude Design should have been a subagent, not a helper.", "meta": {"from": "journal"}}
{"content": "rule 41 \u2014 Keep moving, run the whole suite before every commit, never wait \u2014 The full suite runs in about seven seconds: .venv/bin/python -m pytest -q --timeout=300 -n auto. Run it before every commit instead of picking tests by name. Group rows that sit in the same code into one sitting: write them all, test once, commit once. And never wait, not for a subagent, a build, or an answer you can carry on without. Dispatch it and keep working. If you truly are waiting on something, say so in the work log.; rule 65 \u2014 Run only new and affected tests while working; the whole suite only\u2026 \u2014 The user, messages 17914 to 17917 (2026-10-07): 'stop running the whole test suite and wasting my time... please only run the new or affected tests, and then, whenever you are merging to main or publishing to main, you can run the full test suite.' Replaces rule 41's whole suite before every commit: on a feature branch, run the tests beside what changed (journal check touched, or the feature's test.py and the browser scenarios it touches); the whole suite runs once, before a merge into main and its release.", "meta": {"from": "journal"}}
{"content": "your command ran 30s in the foreground and was moved to the background \u2014 carry on with other work; you are told when it ends. Start a command you expect to take long in the background yourself", "meta": {"from": "journal"}}
{"content": "fact 9 \u2014 Every public method on a controller becomes a journal command \u2014 The CLI is generated from the controllers: each public method of Controller, or of a typed controller, turns into journal <noun> <method>. A helper added to the base class therefore becomes a command on every type \u2014 which is how journal <type> handled and journal <type> refuse came to exist, from the CRUD funnel and the refusal funnel. An internal helper on a controller is named with a leading underscore, as _shaped and _status already are, or it ships as a command nobody meant.", "meta": {"from": "journal"}}
{"content": "your command ran 34s in the foreground and was moved to the background \u2014 carry on with other work; you are told when it ends. Start a command you expect to take long in the background yourself", "meta": {"from": "journal"}}
{"content": "work 1 in hand \u2014 An update is never refused over AGENTS.md \u2014 if this is not what you are doing, end it or park it and start the work you are in", "meta": {"from": "journal"}}
{"content": "feature.py names 67 files in the project \u2014 write the path so the chat can link it: src/features/acknowledgements/feature.py, src/features/agent_sessions/feature.py, src/features/ask_questions/feature.py, src/features/attachment_descriptions/feature.py, src/features/auto_archive/feature.py", "meta": {"from": "journal"}}
{"content": "your chat talked about the journal's workings - \"Still waiting\" \u2014 the user sees replies, reactions, pills and reads themselves; say what the work is instead", "meta": {"from": "journal"}}
{"content": "waiting: 1 unread todo 1", "meta": {"from": "journal"}}
{"content": "Code Commandments \u2014 before you wrap up \u2014 you've changed 13 judged files since t\u2026 \u2014 Code Commandments \u2014 before you wrap up: you've changed 13 judged files since the last commit. Consider running `commandments judge --changes` to confirm they conform, and fix any sin at its SOURCE (don't launder a finding with a default/cast/null-check). This is a one-time nudge for this batch \u2014 if you've already judged, or these changes aren't worth a scan, just say so and carry on.", "meta": {"from": "journal"}}
{"content": "waiting: 1 unread todo 1", "meta": {"from": "journal"}}
{"content": "your command ran 34s in the foreground and was moved to the background \u2014 carry on with other work; you are told when it ends. Start a command you expect to take long in the background yourself", "meta": {"from": "journal"}}
{"content": "waiting: 1 unread todo 1", "meta": {"from": "journal"}}
{"content": "Code Commandments \u2014 the files changed since the last check (`client.js`, `check\u2026 \u2014 Code Commandments \u2014 the files changed since the last check (`client.js`, `check.py`, `routes.py`, `parser.py`, `queries.py`) breaks a rule. Fix it now, at its SOURCE, while the code is still in front of you: \u00b7 \u2022 python-blank-string-default at /Users/jessegall/projects/agent-journal/.claude/worktrees/update-anyway/src/features/auto_update/check.py:70 \u00b7 LOAD the skill `commandments-python-absence` before fixing \u2014 load it even if you believe you already have. \u00b7 Run `commandments info <sin>` if a rule is not one you recognise. This check reads a file at a time, so it is not the whole picture \u2014 `judge` still is.", "meta": {"from": "journal"}}
{"content": "your command ran 34s in the foreground and was moved to the background \u2014 carry on with other work; you are told when it ends. Start a command you expect to take long in the background yourself", "meta": {"from": "journal"}}
{"content": "your wait for focused tests running is over, because you are working again \u2014 say journal work await \"<what you wait for>\" again if you are still only waiting", "meta": {"from": "journal"}}
{"content": "waiting: 1 unread todo 1", "meta": {"from": "journal"}}
{"content": "your command ran 34s in the foreground and was moved to the background \u2014 carry on with other work; you are told when it ends. Start a command you expect to take long in the background yourself", "meta": {"from": "journal"}}
{"content": "your wait for focused tests and the settings browser scenario is over, because\u2026 \u2014 say journal work await \"<what you wait for>\" again if you are still only waiting", "meta": {"from": "journal"}}
{"content": "rule 37 \u2014 Close every to-do explicitly with todo done or a Journal commit\u2026 \u2014 Ending work does not close its row. A to-do is closed by journal todo done <n> --how, or by a commit whose message carries Journal: todos done <n> at column 0, several numbers separated by commas. A row left open after its work landed misleads the next session and auto mode.; rule 38 \u2014 Never change the git branch until the user says so, by name \u2014 The work happens on the branch the user named. That was main until message 5929 and question 80 (2026-09-23), which moved the sins work to the branch sins. Do not create, switch to or merge any other branch unless the user names it in their own words.; rule 50 \u2014 Everything the user does is doable in the viewer \u2014 Message 6710 (2026-09-23): the user never uses the CLI, only the UI; everything should be doable from the viewer. The journal commands are for agents; any action meant for the user (making boards, confirming, accepting, hosting, watching an agent) needs its place in the viewer.", "meta": {"from": "journal"}}
{"content": "the end tag does this in one step \u2014 [!end:N] makes the turn itself what landed; it runs only when it opens the last text of your turn", "meta": {"from": "journal"}}
{"content": "work 2 is still open, with nothing logged \u2014 journal work log 2 \"<what was decided or done, and why>\" \u2014 then journal work end 2 --how \"<what landed>\", or journal work park 2 \"<why it waits>\"", "meta": {"from": "journal"}}