---
name: recall
description: >-
  Reconstruct and narrate the current development context from contextual
  commits. Run at session start, when resuming work, or when switching
  branches. Produces a brief, conversational summary of where things stand.
license: MIT
---

# Context Recall

Reconstruct the development story from contextual commit history and present it as a natural briefing.

## Argument Detection

Check how `recall` was invoked:

- **No arguments** — run the default mode (full branch/session briefing below).
- **Bare word** (e.g. `recall auth`) — treat as a scope query. Jump to **Scope Query**.
- **`word(word)` pattern** (e.g. `recall rejected(auth)`) — treat as an action+scope query. Jump to **Action+Scope Query**.

---

## Default Mode (no arguments)

### Step 1: Detect Branch State

Determine the working state:

```bash
CURRENT_BRANCH=$(git branch --show-current)
DEFAULT_BRANCH=$(git symbolic-ref refs/remotes/origin/HEAD 2>/dev/null | sed 's@^refs/remotes/origin/@@' || echo "main")

# Find the actual parent branch, not just the repo default.
# Try upstream tracking branch first (fast path).
BASE_BRANCH=$(git rev-parse --abbrev-ref @{upstream} 2>/dev/null | sed 's|^origin/||')

# If no upstream, find the nearest local branch by commit distance.
if [ -z "$BASE_BRANCH" ]; then
    BASE_BRANCH=$(git for-each-ref --format='%(refname:short)' refs/heads/ | while read branch; do
        [ "$branch" = "$CURRENT_BRANCH" ] && continue
        echo "$(git log --oneline "$branch..$CURRENT_BRANCH" 2>/dev/null | wc -l | tr -d ' ') $branch"
    done | sort -n | head -1 | awk '{print $2}')
fi

# Final fallback to default branch.
BASE_BRANCH=${BASE_BRANCH:-$DEFAULT_BRANCH}

UNSTAGED=$(git diff --stat)
STAGED=$(git diff --cached --stat)
BRANCH_COMMITS=$(git log ${BASE_BRANCH}..HEAD --oneline 2>/dev/null | wc -l | tr -d ' ')
```

`DEFAULT_BRANCH` identifies the repository's primary branch (for scenario C/D detection). `BASE_BRANCH` identifies the closest ancestor branch — which may differ when feature branches are created from non-default branches (e.g., a feature branched from `develop`). All branch-relative queries use `BASE_BRANCH`.

### Step 2: Gather Raw Material

#### Scenario A — On a feature branch with commits

This is the richest scenario. Gather:

```bash
# Contextual action lines from all branch commits
git log ${BASE_BRANCH}..HEAD --format="%H%n%s%n%b%n---COMMIT_END---"

# Unstaged changes (what's in progress right now)
git diff --stat
git diff  # read the actual diff for key changes

# Staged changes
git diff --cached --stat
```

#### Scenario B — On a feature branch with no commits yet

```bash
# Unstaged and staged changes only
git diff --stat
git diff --cached --stat

# Last few commits on the parent branch for project context
git log ${BASE_BRANCH} -10 --format="%H%n%s%n%b%n---COMMIT_END---"
```

#### Scenario C — On the default branch

```bash
# Recent commit history with contextual action lines
git log -20 --format="%H%n%s%n%b%n---COMMIT_END---"
```

#### Scenario D — On the default branch with uncommitted changes

```bash
# Same as C plus uncommitted changes
git log -20 --format="%H%n%s%n%b%n---COMMIT_END---"
git diff --stat
git diff --cached --stat
```

### Step 3: Extract Action Lines

From the gathered commit bodies, extract lines matching:
```
^(intent|decision|rejected|constraint|learned)\(
```

Group them by commit (preserve chronological order) and by type (for synthesis).

### Step 4: Synthesize Output

**Signal density over narrative flow.** The output should be compact, scannable, and grounded entirely in what the commits and diffs show. Every line should be actionable information. No fluff, no conversational padding.

#### For Scenario A (branch with commits):

Output the branch state, then synthesize the contextual action lines into a dense briefing organized by what matters most for continuing work.

Example output:
```
Branch: feat/google-oauth (4 commits ahead of main, unstaged changes in tests/)

Active intent: Add Google as first social login provider. GitHub and Apple to follow.
Approach: passport.js with /api/auth/callback/:provider convention.
Rejected: auth0-sdk — session model incompatible with redis store.
Constraints:
  - Redis session TTL 24h, tokens must refresh within window
  - Callback routes must follow existing :provider pattern
Learned: passport-google needs explicit offline_access scope for refresh tokens.
In progress: Integration tests for callback handler (unstaged).
```

When branched from a non-default branch:

```
Branch: feat/oauth-refresh (2 commits ahead of develop, no uncommitted changes)

Active intent: Implement token refresh for OAuth providers.
Constraint: Must stay compatible with the session store changes on develop.
```

Priority order:
1. Active intent (what we're building and why)
2. Current approach (decisions made)
3. Rejected approaches (what NOT to re-explore — critical)
4. Constraints (hard boundaries)
5. Learnings (things that save time)
6. In-progress work (unstaged/staged changes)

If intent evolved during the branch (a pivot), show both the original and current intent to make the pivot visible.

#### For Scenario B (branch with no commits):

```
Branch: feat/new-feature (0 commits ahead of develop)

No contextual history on this branch yet.
Staged: 2 files (src/auth/provider.ts, src/auth/types.ts)
Unstaged: none

Recent project activity (from develop):
  - Auth: OAuth provider framework merged, Google working
  - Payments: Multi-currency support shipped (EUR, GBP alongside USD)
```

#### For Scenario C (default branch, no changes):

Synthesize recent merged work from the last 20 commits. Group by area of activity. Surface any active constraints or learnings that apply broadly.

```
Recent project activity:

Auth: OAuth provider framework merged. Google working, GitHub and Apple planned.
  - Rejected auth0-sdk (session model incompatible with redis store)
  - Constraint: redis session TTL 24h, tokens must refresh within window

Payments: Multi-currency support shipped (USD, EUR, GBP).
  - Per-transaction currency, not account-level
  - Constraint: Stripe locks currency at PaymentIntent creation
  - Learned: presentment ≠ settlement currency in Stripe

What do you want to work on?
```

#### For Scenario D (default branch with uncommitted changes):

Same as Scenario C, with uncommitted changes noted at the top.

#### When there are no contextual commits at all

If the history contains conventional commits but no contextual action lines, **still produce useful output** from what exists:

```
Branch: main (no contextual commits found in recent history)

Recent activity (from commit subjects):
  - auth: 6 commits (OAuth implementation, middleware updates) — 2 days ago
  - payments: 4 commits (currency handling, Stripe integration) — last week
  - tests: 3 commits — last week
  - config: 2 commits

Most recent: feat(auth): implement Google OAuth provider

No explicit intent, decisions, or constraints are captured in commit history.
Using the contextual-commit skill on future commits will surface
the reasoning behind changes that commit subjects alone cannot show.
```

This is honest about the signal quality while still providing useful orientation. The suggestion to adopt the skill is a natural next step, not a sales pitch.

### Guidelines

- **Dense over conversational.** Every line should carry information. No "Here's what's been happening" or "Let me tell you about."
- **Grounded in data.** Only report what the action lines, commit subjects, and diffs actually show. Do not infer, speculate, or fill gaps.
- **Surface rejections prominently.** Rejected approaches are the highest-value signal — they prevent wasted exploration.
- **Group by scope when multiple scopes exist.** On the default branch with broad history, organize by domain area rather than chronologically.
- **End with a prompt.** Close with "What do you want to work on?" or similar. Keep it short.
- **Scale to the data.** If there are 2 contextual commits, the output is 3-4 lines. If there are 20, it's a few grouped paragraphs. Never pad thin data into a long output.

---

## Scope Query (`recall <scope>`)

Targeted query across full repo history for a given scope. Prefix matching: `auth` matches `auth`, `auth-tokens`, `auth-library`, etc.

### Step 1: Query

```bash
git log --all --grep="(${SCOPE}" --format="%H%n%s%n%b%n---COMMIT_END---"
```

### Step 2: Extract

From the gathered commit bodies, extract lines matching:
```bash
grep -E "^(intent|decision|rejected|constraint|learned)\(${SCOPE}"
```

This captures all action lines whose scope starts with the query term.

### Step 3: Output

Group by action type, chronological within each group. Show which sub-scopes were found.

Example (`recall auth`):
```
Scope: auth (also found: auth-tokens, auth-library)

intent:
  - social login starting with Google, then GitHub and Apple
  - original session approach incompatible with redis cluster setup

decision:
  - passport.js over auth0-sdk for multi-provider flexibility
  - JWT with short expiry + refresh token pattern

rejected:
  - auth0-sdk — locks into their session model, incompatible with redis store
  - auth-sessions — redis cluster doesn't support session stickiness needed by passport sessions

constraint:
  - callback routes must follow /api/auth/callback/:provider pattern per existing convention
  - redis 24h TTL means tokens must refresh within that window

learned:
  - passport-google needs explicit offline_access scope for refresh tokens
  - redis-cluster session affinity requires sticky sessions at load balancer level — too invasive
```

If no matches are found, say so plainly and suggest checking the scope name.

---

## Action+Scope Query (`recall <action>(<scope>)`)

Query a specific action type for a scope across full repo history.

### Step 1: Query

```bash
git log --all --grep="${ACTION}(${SCOPE}" --format="%H%n%s%n%b%n---COMMIT_END---"
```

### Step 2: Extract

```bash
grep "^${ACTION}(${SCOPE}"
```

### Step 3: Output

Flat chronological list with commit subject for provenance.

Example (`recall rejected(auth)`):
```
rejected(auth) across history:

  - auth0-sdk — locks into their session model, incompatible with redis store
    from: feat(auth): implement Google OAuth provider

  - auth-sessions — redis cluster doesn't support session stickiness needed by passport sessions
    from: refactor(auth): switch from session-based to JWT tokens
```

If no matches are found, say so plainly.

---

## Proactive Usage

Before making a significant decision in any scope area, check `rejected` and `constraint` lines for that scope first:

```bash
git log --all --grep="rejected(${SCOPE}" --format="%b" | grep "^rejected(${SCOPE}"
git log --all --grep="constraint(${SCOPE}" --format="%b" | grep "^constraint(${SCOPE}"
```

If a previous commit recorded a `rejected` line for the approach you're about to propose, surface the rejection reason to the user **before** re-proposing it. The rejection may still stand, or circumstances may have changed — but the user should make that call with full context, not rediscover the same dead end.

Similarly, check `constraint` lines before proposing an approach that might violate a known boundary.

This check is lightweight and should become habitual for any scope you're actively working in.