Provide the user with an ELI5, first-principles recap of the recent conversation turns. Assume they are returning after a while to resume work on this task.

Help them clearly understand:

Where things currently stand.
Which decisions have been locked.
Which decisions remain open, along with the available options for each.
What remains in the planning stage (if planning is still ongoing).

Go back as many turns as necessary to provide a complete picture of the conversation context. Do not waste time going too far back unnecessarily—use locked decisions and implementation milestones to short-circuit the context and highlight what needs the user’s attention right now.

Assume the user may not remember past decisions made, but will recall checkpoints for implementation work that has already been completed and shipped. Do not make the assumption that even a message that exists in the prior conversational turn was read by the user either.

where-were-we