/continuous-learning-v2

name: continuous-learning-v2
description: Instinct-based learning system that observes sessions via hooks, creates atomic instincts with confidence scoring, and evolves them into skills/commands/agents. v2.1 adds project-scoped instincts to prevent cross-project contamination. Use when capturing lessons from a session, managing instincts, or promoting them into skills, commands, or agents.
metadata:
  version: 2.1.0
  origin: ECC

Continuous Learning v2.1 - Instinct

-Based Architecture

An advanced learning system that turns your Claude Code sessions into reusable knowledge through atomic "instincts" - small learned behaviors with confidence scoring.

**v2.1** adds **project-scoped instincts** — React patterns stay in your React project, Python conventions stay in your Python project, and universal patterns (like "always validate input") are shared globally.

When to Activate

• Setting up automatic learning from Claude Code sessions
• Configuring instinct-based behavior extraction via hooks
• Tuning confidence thresholds for learned behaviors
• Reviewing, exporting, or importing instinct libraries
• Evolving instincts into full skills, commands, or agents
• Managing project-scoped vs global instincts
• Promoting instincts from project to global scope

What's New in v2.1

| Feature | v2.0 | v2.1 | |---------|------|------| | Storage | Global (`~/.claude/homunculus/`) | Project-scoped (`${XDG_DATA_HOME:-~/.local/share}/ecc-homunculus/projects/<hash>/`) | | Scope | All instincts apply everywhere | Project-scoped + global | | Detection | None | git remote URL / repo path | | Promotion | N/A | Project → global when seen in 2+ projects | | Commands | 4 (status/evolve/export/import) | 6 (+promote/projects) | | Cross-project | Contamination risk | Isolated by default |

What's New in v2 (vs v1)

| Feature | v1 | v2 | |---------|----|----| | Observation | Stop hook (session end) | PreToolUse/PostToolUse (100% reliable) | | Analysis | Main context | Background agent (Haiku) | | Granularity | Full skills | Atomic "instincts" | | Confidence | None | 0.3-0.9 weighted | | Evolution | Direct to skill | Instincts -> cluster -> skill/command/agent | | Sharing | None | Export/import instincts |

The Instinct Model

An instinct is a small learned behavior:

---
id: prefer-functional-style
trigger: "when writing new functions"
confidence: 0.7
domain: "code-style"
source: "session-observation"
scope: project
project_id: "a1b2c3d4e5f6"
project_name: "my-react-app"
---

# Prefer Functional Style

## Action
Use functional patterns over classes when appropriate.

## Evidence
- Observed 5 instances of functional pattern preference
- User corrected class-based approach to functional on 2025-01-15

**Properties:**

• **Atomic** -- one trigger, one action
• **Confidence-weighted** -- 0.3 = tentative, 0.9 = near certain
• **Domain-tagged** -- code-style, testing, git, debugging, workflow, etc.
• **Evidence-backed** -- tracks what observations created it
• **Scope-aware** -- `project` (default) or `global`

How It Works

Session Activity (in a git repo)
      |
      | Hooks capture prompts + tool use (100% reliable)
      | + detect project context (git remote / repo path)
      v
+---------------------------------------------+
|  projects/<project-hash>/observations.jsonl  |
|   (prompts, tool calls, outcomes, project)   |
+---------------------------------------------+
      |
      | Observer agent reads (background, Haiku)
      v
+---------------------------------------------+
|          PATTERN DETECTION                   |
|   * User corrections -> instinct             |
|   * Error resolutions -> instinct            |
|   * Repeated workflows -> instinct           |
|   * Scope decision: project or global?       |
+---------------------------------------------+
      |
      | Creates/updates
      v
+---------------------------------------------+
|  projects/<project-hash>/instincts/personal/ |
|   * prefer-functional.yaml (0.7) [project]   |
|   * use-react-hooks.yaml (0.9) [project]     |
+---------------------------------------------+
|  instincts/personal/  (GLOBAL)               |
|   * always-validate-input.yaml (0.85) [global]|
|   * grep-before-edit.yaml (0.6) [global]     |
+---------------------------------------------+
      |
      | /evolve clusters + /promote
      v
+---------------------------------------------+
|  projects/<hash>/evolved/ (project-scoped)   |
|  evolved/ (global)                           |
|   * commands/new-feature.md                  |
|   * skills/testing-workflow.md               |
|   * agents/refactor-specialist.md            |
+---------------------------------------------+

Project Detection

The system automatically detects your current project:

1. **`CLAUDE_PROJECT_DIR` env var** (highest priority) -- honored as an explicit override even when the directory is not a git repo (hashed by its absolute path) 2. **`git remote get-url origin`** -- hashed to create a portable project ID (same repo on different machines gets the same ID) 3. **`git rev-parse --show-toplevel`** -- fallback using repo path (machine-specific) 4. **Global fallback** -- if no project is detected, instincts go to global scope

Each project gets a 12-character hash ID (e.g., `a1b2c3d4e5f6`). A registry file at `${XDG_DATA_HOME:-~/.local/share}/ecc-homunculus/projects.json` maps IDs to human-readable names.

Data Directory

Continuous-learning-v2 stores observer data outside `~/.claude` so Claude Code's sensitive-path guard does not block background instinct writes:

1. `CLV2_HOMUNCULUS_DIR` when set to an absolute path 2. `$XDG_DATA_HOME/ecc-homunculus` 3. `$HOME/.local/share/ecc-homunculus`

Existing users with data at `~/.claude/homunculus` can migrate once:

bash skills/continuous-learning-v2/scripts/migrate-homunculus.sh

Quick Start

1. Enable Observation Hooks

**If installed as a plugin** (recommended):

No extra `setti