Self Improving Agent 1.0.0

Self-Improvement Skill

Log learnings and errors to markdown files for continuous improvement. Coding agents can later process these into fixes, and important learnings get promoted to project memory.

Quick Reference

| Situation | Action | |-----------|--------| | Command/operation fails | Log to .learnings/ERRORS.md | | User corrects you | Log to .learnings/LEARNINGS.md with category correction | | User wants missing feature | Log to .learnings/FEATURE_REQUESTS.md | | API/external tool fails | Log to .learnings/ERRORS.md with integration details | | Knowledge was outdated | Log to .learnings/LEARNINGS.md with category knowledge_gap | | Found better approach | Log to .learnings/LEARNINGS.md with category best_practice | | Similar to existing entry | Link with See Also, consider priority bump | | Broadly applicable learning | Promote to CLAUDE.md and/or AGENTS.md |

Setup

Create .learnings/ directory in project root if it doesn't exist:

mkdir -p .learnings

Copy templates from assets/ or create files with headers.

Logging Format

Learning Entry

Append to .learnings/LEARNINGS.md:

## [LRN-YYYYMMDD-XXX] category
Logged: ISO-8601 timestamp
Priority: low | medium | high | critical
Status: pending
Area: frontend | backend | infra | tests | docs | config
Summary
One-line description of what was learned
Details
Full context: what happened, what was wrong, what's correct
Suggested Action
Specific fix or improvement to make
Metadata
Source: conversation | error | user_feedback
Related Files: path/to/file.ext
Tags: tag1, tag2
See Also: LRN-20250110-001 (if related to existing entry)

Error Entry

Append to .learnings/ERRORS.md:

## [ERR-YYYYMMDD-XXX] skill_or_command_name
Logged: ISO-8601 timestamp
Priority: high
Status: pending
Area: frontend | backend | infra | tests | docs | config
Summary
Brief description of what failed
Error

Context
Command/operation attempted
Input or parameters used
Environment details if relevant
Suggested Fix
If identifiable, what might resolve this
Metadata
Reproducible: yes | no | unknown
Related Files: path/to/file.ext
See Also: ERR-20250110-001 (if recurring)

Feature Request Entry

Append to .learnings/FEATURE_REQUESTS.md:

## [FEAT-YYYYMMDD-XXX] capability_name
Logged: ISO-8601 timestamp
Priority: medium
Status: pending
Area: frontend | backend | infra | tests | docs | config
Requested Capability
What the user wanted to do
User Context
Why they needed it, what problem they're solving
Complexity Estimate
simple | medium | complex
Suggested Implementation
How this could be built, what it might extend
Metadata
Frequency: first_time | recurring
Related Features: existing_feature_name

ID Generation

Format: TYPE-YYYYMMDD-XXX

Examples: LRN-20250115-001, ERR-20250115-A3F, FEAT-20250115-002

Resolving Entries

When an issue is fixed, update the entry:

1. Change Status: pending → Status: resolved 2. Add resolution block after Metadata:

### Resolution
Resolved: 2025-01-16T09:00:00Z
Commit/PR: abc123 or #42
Notes: Brief description of what was done

Other status values:

Promoting to Project Memory

When a learning is broadly applicable (not a one-off fix), promote it to permanent project memory.

When to Promote

Promotion Targets

| Target | What Belongs There | |--------|-------------------| | CLAUDE.md | Project facts, conventions, gotchas for all Claude interactions | | AGENTS.md | Agent-specific workflows, tool usage patterns, automation rules |

How to Promote

1. Distill the learning into a concise rule or fact 2. Add to appropriate section in target file 3. Update original entry: - Change Status: pending → Status: promoted - Add Promoted: CLAUDE.md or Promoted: AGENTS.md

Promotion Examples

Learning (verbose): > Project uses pnpm workspaces. Attempted npm install but failed. > Lock file is pnpm-lock.yaml. Must use pnpm install.

In CLAUDE.md (concise):

## Build & Dependencies
Package manager: pnpm (not npm) - use pnpm install

Learning (verbose): > When modifying API endpoints, must regenerate TypeScript client. > Forgetting this causes type mismatches at runtime.

In AGENTS.md (actionable):

## After API Changes
1. Regenerate client: pnpm run generate:api
2. Check for type errors: pnpm tsc --noEmit

Recurring Pattern Detection

If logging something similar to an existing entry:

1. Search first: grep -r "keyword" .learnings/ 2. Link entries: Add See Also: ERR-20250110-001 in Metadata 3. Bump priority if issue keeps recurring 4. Consider systemic fix: Recurring issues often indicate: - Missing documentation (→ promote to CLAUDE.md) - Missing automation (→ add to AGENTS.md) - Architectural problem (→ create tech debt ticket)

Periodic Review

Review .learnings/ at natural breakpoints:

When to Review

Quick Status Check

# Count pending items
grep -h "Status\*\*: pending" .learnings/*.md | wc -l
List pending high-priority items
grep -B5 "Priority\*\*: high" .learnings/*.md | grep "^## \["
Find learnings for a specific area
grep -l "Area\*\*: backend" .learnings/*.md

Review Actions

Detection Triggers

Automatically log when you notice:

Corrections (→ learning with correction category):

Feature Requests (→ feature request):

Knowledge Gaps (→ learning with knowledge_gap category):

Errors (→ error entry):

Priority Guidelines

| Priority | When to Use | |----------|-------------| | critical | Blocks core functionality, data loss risk, security issue | | high | Significant impact, affects common workflows, recurring issue | | medium | Moderate impact, workaround exists | | low | Minor inconvenience, edge case, nice-to-have |

Area Tags

Use to filter learnings by codebase region:

| Area | Scope | |------|-------| | frontend | UI, components, client-side code | | backend | API, services, server-side code | | infra | CI/CD, deployment, Docker, cloud | | tests | Test files, testing utilities, coverage | | docs | Documentation, comments, READMEs | | config | Configuration files, environment, settings |

Best Practices

1. Log immediately - context is freshest right after the issue 2. Be specific - future agents need to understand quickly 3. Include reproduction steps - especially for errors 4. Link related files - makes fixes easier 5. Suggest concrete fixes - not just "investigate" 6. Use consistent categories - enables filtering 7. Promote aggressively - if in doubt, add to CLAUDE.md 8. Review regularly - stale learnings lose value

Gitignore Options

Keep learnings local (per-developer):

.learnings/

Track learnings in repo (team-wide): Don't add to .gitignore - learnings become shared knowledge.

Hybrid (track templates, ignore entries):

.learnings/*.md
!.learnings/.gitkeep

Create .learnings/ directory in project root if it doesn't exist:

mkdir -p .learnings

Copy templates from assets/ or create files with headers.

1. Log immediately - context is freshest right after the issue 2. Be specific - future agents need to understand quickly 3. Include reproduction steps - especially for errors 4. Link related files - makes fixes easier 5. Suggest concrete fixes - not just "investigate" 6. Use consistent categories - enables filtering 7. Promote aggressively - if in doubt, add to CLAUDE.md 8. Review regularly - stale learnings lose value