/retrospective

name: retrospective
description: "Structured retrospective after completing a delivery increment or diamond. Captures learning for continuous improvement."
metadata:
  instruction_budget: "58"
  framework_dependency: "mycelium"
  framework_dependency_note: "This skill is designed to run within the Mycelium framework (https://github.com/haabe/mycelium). Standalone use will skip the canvas state, theory gates, and harness behavior the skill assumes. Install: /plugin install mycelium@haabe-mycelium."

Retrospective

Run after every completed **cycle**: a solution leaf reaching a terminal state (launched, archived, killed), or a framework-development arc that shipped. Not only after a diamond completes — a diamond at L0 to L2 can stay open for months while cycles close under it weekly. Measured on the dogfood repo (2026-08-30): 17 cycles in 116 days, median 3.5 days apart, while every diamond stayed open the whole time; the earlier wording ("after every completed delivery diamond or significant milestone") named two units forty times apart and the load-bearing one was the vague one. Source: Forsgren (learning culture).

Preflight: Read target canvas file(s) before any Write/Edit

**Hard rule.** Before issuing `Write` or `Edit` against any `.claude/canvas/*.yml`, use the **Read tool** on that file in this session. Claude Code's Read-before-Write check requires the `Read` tool specifically — `cat`/`head`/`grep` via Bash do NOT satisfy it.

**Edit vs Write — different cost profiles** (verified 2026-05-14):

• **`Edit`** (exact-string replacement): `Read` with `limit: 1` satisfies the check at ~50 tokens. State-tracking is per-file, not per-byte — subsequent `Edit` calls work anywhere in the file. Use this for partial updates against large canvas files (e.g., `purpose.yml` at 800+ lines).
• **`Write`** (full replacement): do a **full Read** first. Write obliterates the file; you should see what you're about to replace. The `limit:1` shortcut is *not* appropriate here.

**ID-bearing entries — scan the ID space before assigning** (added 2026-05-15, v0.23.19): When adding a new component, opportunity, solution, or any other ID-bearing entry to a canvas file, run a Bash grep first to confirm the next ID in your prefix sequence is actually free:

grep -o "<prefix>-[0-9][0-9]*" .claude/canvas/<file>.yml | sort -u -t- -k2 -n | tail -3

Replace `<prefix>` with the canvas's ID prefix (`comp` for landscape, `opp` for opportunities, `sol` for solutions, `ht` for human-tasks, etc.). Then pick the next free integer, **matching the zero-padding already used in that file**. The sort is NUMERIC (`-t- -k2 -n`) rather than lexical, and that is not pedantry: a plain `sort -u` orders `ht-1` after `ht-080`, so on a canvas with inconsistent padding it reports the wrong maximum and the next ID collides. Verified on the dogfood repo 2026-08-13, where lexical sort returned `ht-1` as the highest human-task ID against an actual `ht-080`. `grep -o` is also deliberate: it matches IDs wherever they appear, including cross-references and prose, so an ID that was promised somewhere but not yet defined is not handed out twice. `validate_canvas.py` has a per-file duplicate-ID check (it reports `duplicate id '<id>'`) that catches the failure on CI, but a duplicate can persist in the working tree for days if CI isn't run between edit and discovery; that happened on 2026-05-15, when a duplicate ID was created in `landscape.yml`.

Original failure mode: anti-pattern #7 instance #5, 2026-05-09 — agent conflated Bash `head` with the Read tool, lost ~14k tokens to a Write-fail → remedial-full-Read → re-Write loop. The `limit:1` discipline (graduated 2026-05-14, v0.23.18) prevents the second-order cost where the agent *correctly* follows the rule but full-Reads every time. The ID-scan discipline (graduated 2026-05-15, v0.23.19) prevents the related class where the agent reads enough of the file to satisfy the Edit check but not enough to see existing ID assignments — kin to anti-pattern #8 (Stale State Read).

If this skill writes to multiple canvas files, register each one first (limit:1 for Edit-only paths; full Read for Write paths) AND ID-scan any prefix you intend to assign.

See `${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/engine/agent-operating-contract.md` *Canvas writes — Read before Write* for the canonical rule.

Workflow

Run these steps IN ORDER. Do not skip any step. **Step 1 (cycle recording) MUST be completed FIRST — before any reflective analysis.**

Step 1. Record Cycle in `.claude/canvas/cycle-history.yml` AND Decision Log (MANDATORY — DO THIS FIRST)

**This step is critical.** Without it, the learning metabolism has no data. You MUST do BOTH parts (5a and 5b).

Step 5a. Write cycle record to `.claude/canvas/cycle-history.yml`

Find the leaf_id and opportunity_id for the delivered solution (from `.claude/canvas/opportunities.yml` or `.claude/canvas/gist.yml`). Then write a cycle record:

- cycle_id: cycle-NNN
  leaf_id: "opp-XXX-sol-X"         # From opportunities.yml
  opportunity_id: "opp-XXX"         # Parent opportunity
  diamond_id: "d-XXX"               # From .claude/diamonds/active.yml
  completed_at: "YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZ"
  outcome: shipped | partial | failed | discarded
  cycle_class: product-leaf | meta-dogfood | observation  # REQUIRED — see engine/cycle-learning.md#cycle-class
  predicted:
    ice_score: {i: X, c: X.XX, e: X, total: X}  # total = i x c x e (Gilad's ICE; c from his Confidence Meter). REQUIRED recorded when cycle_class=product-leaf; permitted all-zero for meta-dogfood/observation (state why in notes)
    feasibility_risk: low | medium | high        # From four_risks
    effort_estimate: "X days/weeks"              # Original estimate
  actual:
    effort: "X days/weeks"                       # How long it actually took
    dora:                                        # From /mycelium:dora-check or known metrics
      deploy_frequency: "..."
      lead_time: "..."
      ch