devkanro/intellij-protobuf-plugin/reflect

Reflect

Captures lessons learned after each ship and feeds them back into the workflow.

The reflect skill closes the feedback loop. After shipping code, it asks: what went well, what was harder than expected, what patterns emerged? These observations accumulate in .github/knowledge.md — a living knowledge base that makes every future task a little smoother.

When to Use

• After every successful ship (triggered by the ship skill)
• User says "reflect", "what did we learn", "retrospective"
• User asks to review or search the knowledge base
• User wants to improve the workflow or skills

Reflection Process

1. Gather Context

Read the following to understand what just happened:

• git log — recent commits on this branch
• git diff — what changed (compare with main/master)
• .github/brainstorm.md — the design discussion (if exists)
• Changed files — scope and nature of the work

2. Generate Reflection

Produce a structured reflection covering:

## [date] — [brief title of what was shipped]
 
**What was done**: [1-2 sentence summary of the change]
 
**What went well**:
-[Things that worked smoothly]
 
**What was harder than expected**:
-[Unexpected challenges, detours, or mistakes]
 
**Patterns noticed**:
-[Recurring themes, common pitfalls, useful techniques]
 
**Workflow observations**:
-[How the brainstorm→implement→ship flow worked for this change]
-[Any friction points in the process]

Present the reflection to the user for review before saving.

3. Update Knowledge Base

Append the reflection to .github/knowledge.md. The file structure:

---
updated: 2024-01-15
---
 
# Knowledge Base
 
Accumulated learnings from this project. Read this before starting new work.
 
## Project Patterns
[Recurring patterns specific to this codebase]
 
## Common Pitfalls
[Things that have gone wrong before — avoid repeating]
 
## Workflow Learnings
[What works well, what doesn't in our development process]
 
## Reflections
 
### [date] — [title]
[Full reflection entry]
 
### [date] — [title]
[Full reflection entry]

The top sections (Project Patterns, Common Pitfalls, Workflow Learnings) are curated summaries distilled from individual reflections. Update them when a pattern appears across multiple reflections.

4. Propose Workflow Improvements

Based on the reflection, consider whether any skills should be updated:

• New skill needed? — If a recurring task pattern emerged that isn't covered
• Skill update needed? — If a current skill's workflow was friction-heavy
• Instruction update needed? — If the overall workflow needs adjustment

Important: Never modify skills without user approval. Present proposals like:

Based on this reflection, I notice [pattern]. Would you like me to update the [skill name] skill to [proposed change]?

Wait for explicit confirmation before making any skill changes.

Knowledge Base Operations

Searching Knowledge

When user asks "have we seen this before?" or "what do we know about X?":

1. Read .github/knowledge.md
2. Search for relevant entries in both curated sections and individual reflections
3. Report findings with context

Curating Knowledge

Periodically (or when asked), review the reflections and:

1. Extract recurring patterns into the Project Patterns section
2. Extract repeated mistakes into Common Pitfalls
3. Extract workflow insights into Workflow Learnings
4. Keep individual reflections as the detailed record

Bootstrap

If .github/knowledge.md doesn't exist, create it with the template structure and the first reflection entry.

Integration with Other Skills

• Ship skill triggers reflect after successful push
• Brainstorm skill can reference knowledge for past decisions on similar problems
• Document skill may be triggered if reflection reveals documentation gaps