Project Memory — refactor-chain · improve/understand

Bundle: refactor-chain (self-diagnosing, self-healing fix-it pipeline). Phase: improve (capture, at session end) and understand (recall, at session start) · Prerequisite: none — the hooks are dormant until the project has chain state or history · Next: whatever phase the recalled context feeds. Adaptivity / conditional: conditional on the project having .refactor-chain/ state, history, or memory; on a repo the chain has never touched, both hooks stay silent.

Purpose

The pipeline keeps a small, durable memory per project so the next session does not start blind: which run was in flight, how the last run ended, what got parked. This skill defines the memory discipline — what deserves persisting, what never does, how notes get written and recalled, and the one safety rule that makes recall trustworthy: a remembered fact is a hint until the live repo confirms it.

When to use

• A session opens with the boot banner ("refactor-chain memory: last run…") and you must decide what to do with it.
• Someone asks what the chain remembers here, or why it remembered (or forgot) something.
• Deciding mid-run whether a decision or parked item is memory-worthy.
• Auditing or pruning .refactor-chain/memory/sessions.jsonl.