v1.1.0 to v2.0.0

66 added, 90 removed. Audit A to A.

---

name: synthesis-project-resume

- description: "Start or resume any synthesis project in any harness on any machine with full verified context: classify the session (continuing, fresh, or wrong-project paste), load index plus CONTEXT plus REFERENCE plus recent sessions, respect live foreign claims, surface cross-machine changes, and upgrade stale project formats. Use when pasting a console resume prompt or (re)opening project work."

+ description: "Start or resume any synthesis project in any harness on any machine with verified context: classify the session (continuing, fresh, wrong project), load the records, respect live claims, surface other Macs' changes. Use when pasting a resume prompt or (re)opening project work."

license: "CC0-1.0"

depends_on: []

metadata:

author: "Rajiv Pant"

- version: "1.1.0"

+ version: "2.0.0"

source_repo: "github.com/synthesisengineering/synthesis-skills"

source_type: "public"

+ format: v5

---

# Project Resume

- **Version 1.1.0** (2026-09-21): name-addressed invocation — the R1

- prompt names the skill and the workspace, never a filesystem path.

+ One prompt resumes a synthesis project anywhere: any harness, any Mac, with or

+ without native skill loading. The skill decides whether this session is

+ continuing, fresh or pointed at the wrong project, loads the records it needs,

+ and hands the principal a one-screen brief. `synthesis resume` does the

+ mechanical part from local files and local git; this skill is the protocol

+ around it, and works by hand where the CLI is absent.

- **Version 1.0.0** (2026-09-20): first release — the R1–R10 resume

- contract, the three-way session classification, the one-screen

- resumption brief, and `scripts/resume_probe.py` for machine-readable

- project status.

+ ## Binding rules

- The normative contract is

- [references/requirements.md](references/requirements.md). This file

- is the operating protocol. It assumes nothing about the harness

- beyond a file system and git: no slash commands, no plugin loader,

- no MCP servers.

+ 1. **Classify before loading.** Continuing: confirm in one line and keep working. Fresh: load fully. Wrong project: stop, name both projects and what is at stake, and ask. Fragments of several projects count as wrong project.

+ 2. **An unknown id offers a new project.** Never resolve it to a similar existing name.

+ 3. **Never claim context you did not read.** State what was loaded and the newest item's date.

+ 4. **Never write through a live foreign claim.** Say who, on what, since when, and work read-only until the principal decides.

+ 5. **Another Mac's work is the normal case.** Surface what changed there; never pull over local uncommitted changes; report two diverged copies as a conflict, never pick one by date.

+ 6. **An unreachable remote is said once,** and the resume continues from local files.

+ 7. **The prompt names the skill, never a path,** so it is identical on every machine.

- ## 1. Invocation

+ ## Contents

- The console emits the resume prompt (R1):

+ - **Procedure** (below): invocation, classification, the fresh load, the brief.

+ - [references/requirements.md](references/requirements.md): the R1 to R10 resume contract and the console companion surface. Read when changing this skill or the console prompt.

+ - [references/coverage-map.md](references/coverage-map.md): where every part of 1.1.0 lives now.

+ - [references/preserved.md](references/preserved.md): what was cut and why, and the 1.1.0 text verbatim. Read only to review the cut.

+ ## Procedure

+ **1. Invocation.** The console emits:

```

Use the skill synthesis-project-resume to resume the synthesis

project with id <id> in the synthesis project management

workspace <name>.

```

- If your harness loads synthesis skills natively, this skill is

- already in your context under that name — invoke it if your

- harness needs an explicit call (Codex: `$synthesis-project-resume`)

- and continue at §2. Otherwise (skill-less harnesses such as

- Cursor), locate the skill file by searching your installed skills

- for `synthesis-project-resume/SKILL.md`: the Claude, Codex, and

- Muse plugin caches first, then `~/.claude/skills` and

- `~/.agents/skills`. Read it first and follow it. If no copy

- exists anywhere, stop and say to install synthesis-skills.

- Resolve the workspace name to its repo checkout: the knowledge

- repo is `ai-knowledge-{workspace}` — exact match first — else the

- unique `ai-knowledge-{workspace}-*` directory under the workspace

- roots (`~/workspaces/*`). If several match or none does, ask once

- and remember. Unknown project id means R6 (start): interview

- briefly (name, goal, workspace, repo family) and scaffold per the

- project-management contract, then continue as a fresh resume.

- ## 2. Classify the session (R2)

- Compare the requested project against the project your loaded

- context names — the index entry, CONTEXT, or working files already

- live in this session:

- 1. **Continuing** — same project already live. Say so in one line

- and keep working. Never reload-and-resummarize live context.

- 2. **Fresh** — no project loaded. Run the fresh-resume load (§3).

- 3. **Wrong-project paste** — a different project is live here. STOP.

- Name both projects and what is at stake in the live one, then ask

- whether to switch, and wait. Never strand live work silently.

- When the session's project is ambiguous (fragments of several

- projects in context), treat it as case 3 and name the candidates.

- False continuity corrupts; false caution costs one question.

- ## 3. Fresh-resume load (R3, R5, R8)

- 1. Resolve the project through the PM registry and causal resolver before

- reading project prose or choosing a checkout. Use its selected path and

- exact local attribution roots; do not pull over unresolved local work.

- 2. Read the index entry, `RESUME_STATE.json` (v2; verify the

- skeleton when present), `CURRENT_STATE.json` (operational

- handoff, when present), `CONTEXT.md`, `REFERENCE.md`, the two

- most recent session files, and any handoff queue entries — in

- that order.

- 3. Run `scripts/resume_probe.py` (sibling of this SKILL.md) for

- the machine-readable status (newest session, cross-machine

- changes, format version).

- 4. Check the coordination board for live foreign claims on the

- project paths (R4). Overlap means read-only until the principal

- decides — say who, what, since when.

- 5. Check the format version (R9). Older than installed means

- migrate-verify-resume through the versioned format contract

- before any other write.

- 6. Deliver the one-screen resumption brief: goal in one line, where

- it stands, the newest three facts, open loops with owners, the

- suggested next action. State what was loaded and the newest

- item's date.

+ Harnesses that load synthesis skills invoke it by name (Codex:

+ `$synthesis-project-resume`). Otherwise locate `synthesis-project-resume/SKILL.md`

+ in the Claude, Codex and Muse plugin caches, then `~/.claude/skills` and

+ `~/.agents/skills`, read it and follow it; if no copy exists, say to install

+ synthesis-skills. The workspace's knowledge repo is `ai-knowledge-{workspace}`

+ (exact match first), else the one `ai-knowledge-{workspace}-*` folder under

+ `~/workspaces/*`; if several or none match, ask once.

- For an interrupted autopilot run, apply the

- [capsule and cold-resume protocol](../synthesis-context-lifecycle/references/autopilot-recovery.md)

- after project selection and fresh ownership. Recover from the authoritative

- journal, reconcile effects and child output, and report unknown survival

- boundaries. A saved capsule cannot grant a claim or replay an external action.

+ **2. Classify** (rule 1). `synthesis resume <id>` applies the same test to the

+ project on this session's board file: it answers "Already working <id>" for a

+ continuing session, and for a session on another project it names both, asks,

+ and switches nothing. After the principal says yes:

+ `synthesis resume <id> --switch`. For an unknown id it offers to start the

+ project: interview briefly (name, goal, workspace, repo family) and scaffold it

+ per synthesis-project-management, then continue as a fresh resume.

- ## 4. Cross-machine surfacing (R5)

+ **3. Fresh load.**

- `git log` on the project path since this machine's last touch is

- part of every brief: "Mac B moved this yesterday — two session

- appends and a REFERENCE update." The principal should feel

- continuity, not a cold start. When the probe cannot reach the

- remotes, say so once (R10) and resume from local state.

+ 1. `git -C <knowledge repo> fetch --quiet` (offline: go on; resume says so once).

+ 2. `synthesis resume <id>`. It prints the directive, the current-state block,

+ phase, status, last session and the newest session entry, the next actions,

+ the plan, and a "Before working" list: the checkout behind its fetched

+ upstream (with the commits), uncommitted local changes not to pull over,

+ newer or diverged copies on other worktrees or branches, and other live

+ sessions on the project.

+ 3. Behind and clean: `git -C <knowledge repo> pull --ff-only`, then resume

+ again. Any CONFLICT line: stop and ask before writing.

+ 4. Read CONTEXT.md, the plan, REFERENCE.md, the two most recent session files,

+ and any brief left for you (a board message names it). For an interrupted

+ autopilot run, read its plan file first (synthesis-autopilot); a saved plan

+ never grants a claim or replays an outside action.

+ 5. Optional machine-readable status: `python3 <skill>/scripts/resume_probe.py

+ <knowledge repo> <id>` prints JSON with `id`, `name`, `goal`, `status`,

+ `updated`, `newest_session`, `session_mtime` and `recent_changes`; exit 2

+ for an unreadable index, 3 for an unknown id.

+ 6. Claims: `synthesis who`; overlap means read-only (rule 4). Then claim what

+ you will write.

- ## 5. What the skill refuses

+ Without the CLI, do steps 3 and 4 by hand with `git log` on the project path.

- - Switching projects on a wrong-project paste without confirmation.

- - Writing through a live foreign claim.

- - Claiming context it did not read.

- - Resuming a stale-format project without migrating it first.

- - Force-resolving repo divergence to make a resume "clean."

+ **4. The brief, one screen:** the goal in one line, where it stands, the newest

+ three facts, open loops with owners, the suggested next action, what was

+ loaded, and the newest item's date. Lead with what changed on another Mac

+ ("Mac B moved this yesterday: two session entries and a REFERENCE update") so

+ the principal feels continuity, not a cold start.