Skill to query and update a mistake notebook to memorize mistake. Use this skill when:
1. Encountered a severe problem, needs to recall for historical problem solving experience
2. After fixed a severe mistake with a clear solution valuable to be recorded
3. User requested 'Do not make this mistake again'
Installs into .claude/skills of the current project.
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---
name: mistake-notebook
description: |
Skill to query and update a mistake notebook to memorize mistake. Use this skill when:
1. Encountered a severe problem, needs to recall for historical problem solving experience
2. After fixed a severe mistake with a clear solution valuable to be recorded
3. User requested 'Do not make this mistake again'
---
# Mistake Notebook
## Location
Mistake Notebook appear in two locations:
- Project-local Mistake Notebook: `MISTAKE.md` in project root folder.
- Universal Mistake Notebook: `~/MISTAKE.md` in user home directory.
Mistake Notebook is used to record common mistakes made in previous conversation, memorizing problem solving experience for future use. Agents can:
1. Read Mistake Notebook for quick problem -> solution look up.
2. Append to Mistake Notebook when new problem being solved.
This prevents agents from making the same mistake again.
### Project-local vs Universal
Project-local Mistake Notebook `MISTAKE.md`:
- Record **project related** mistakes not applies universally.
- Tracked by git if in a git repository.
Universal Mistake Notebook `~/MISTAKE.md`:
- Record **generic**, **programmatic** mistakes that has no project-local context.
- Appears in user home directory.
## Triggers
### Trigger 1: Severe Problem Encountered
When encounter a severe problem:
- Look for solution in both `MISTAKE.md` and `~/MISTAKE.md`.
- If found:
- Try fix the problem using the solution found in Mistake Notebook.
- If problem fixed:
- Done.
- If problem persists:
- Figure out why the existing solution in Mistake Notebook didn't work.
- If the problem solved:
- Goto 'Trigger 2: Severe Problem Fixed'
- If not found:
- Work out the problem on ourselves.
- If the problem solved:
- Goto 'Trigger 2: Severe Problem Fixed'
### Trigger 2: Severe Problem Fixed
After you fixed a severe mistake:
- If the problem is solved with a **clear solution** that is **valuable to be recorded**:
- Goto 'Memorizing Problem Solutions'.
### Trigger 3: User Ask for Memorizing Mistake
When user requested 'Do not make this mistake again':
- If the problem not solved yet according to conversation context:
- Work on solve the problem first.
- If the problem is solved:
- Report user for your discovery.
- Goto 'Memorizing Problem Solutions'.
- If the problem is solved as user intented:
- Goto 'Memorizing Problem Solutions'.
## Memorizing Problem Solutions
- If a problem is solved with a clear solution:
- Check if this problem is already recorded in `MISTAKE.md` and `~/MISTAKE.md`:
- Already recorded:
- If the recorded solution is not working or out-of-date:
- Update the recorded solution according to 'Mistake Solution Format'.
- Not recorded yet:
- If the problem is related to this project:
- Choose `MISTAKE.md`.
- If the problem is generic and universal:
- Choose `~/MISTAKE.md`.
- Append soltuion to the choosen Mistake Notebook according to 'Mistake Solution Format'.
- Make a brief report in response for:
- The mistake you made.
- What you learnt from this mistake.
- What is the solution to the problem.
- Report that you have updated the Mistake Notebook.
## Mistake Solution Format
Mistake Notebook maintains a quick problem -> solution look up reference in the following format:
```markdown
# Mistake Notebook
This is the Mistake Notebook, use the mistake-notebook skill to retrive more details.
Below is a list of mistakes I previously made and solved:
## Mistake - [A short title]
- Creation Date: YYYY-MM-DD
- Last Update Date: YYYY-MM-DD
- Project: [project folder path when this mistake was found]
- Branch: [branch when this mistake was happening]
- Commit: [commit SHA when this mistake was happening]
### Problem:
[list situations when the problem occurred:]
- XXX fails.
- YYY reports ZZZ.
- ...
### Insights:
[list your insights and discoveries when solving this problem:]
- This is because XXX lacks AAA.
- I found that YYY depends on BBB for CCC.
- ...
### Solution:
[A brief explaination (<10 words) on how this problem was solved.]
[list steps how this problem was solved:]
- Try turn on AAA.
- Try add BBB for CCC.
- ...
- And XXX fixed.
```
## Edge Cases
- If Mistake Notebook not exist, create one.
- If Mistake Notebook exist, append to it.
- If writting into Mistake Notebook failed due to permission issues, report by outputing response in the 'Mistake' format.