Metis Session Start

---
name: metis-session-start
description: Rehydrate a fresh session from on-disk state.
---

# $metis-session-start

Read the minimum set of files that orients the agent to the project's current state.

## Preconditions

`.metis/` must exist. If it does not, stop and point at `$metis-init`.

Partial state inside `.metis/` (missing or incomplete files) surfaces as an Anomaly in the Return rather than a hard error.

## Load

In this order:

1. **`.metis/CURRENT.md`** — the previous session's handoff, including the active-task pointer. The primary rehydration source.
2. **`.metis/SYNTHESIS.md`** — what's being built, when it exists. Loaded once at session start so the rest of the session's work can lean on it without re-reading.
3. **`.metis/INDEX.md`** — the concept → source-doc map, when it exists.
4. **`.metis/BUILD.md`** — the build backlog, when it exists. Confirms the active item and shows what remains.

## Do not load

- `.metis/CONTRADICTIONS.md`, `.metis/QUESTIONS.md`, `.metis/RESOLVED.md` — reconcile/walk artifacts. Loaded on demand by the skills that need them, not at session start.
- `docs/` — source corpus. Loaded on demand by skills that turn on specific passages.

## Write scope

**None.**

## Return

- **Active task** — the active item: the one named by `CURRENT.md` *Active task* when it points at a live `BUILD.md` entry, otherwise the first *To build* item as next-up (the pointer lags until `$metis-session-end` first sets it — e.g. right after `$metis-build-spec`). Include backlog progress from `BUILD.md` (e.g. "2 built, 9 to build"). If the backlog isn't built yet, say so.
- **What happened last session** — one paragraph from `CURRENT.md` *What happened*. If `CURRENT.md` is missing or empty, say so directly.
- **In flight** — what's being worked on right now, from `CURRENT.md` *Current state* — including, when the active item spans multiple tasks, where the item stands and what its next task is. If nothing is in flight, say so.
- **Open questions** — the list from `CURRENT.md` *Open questions*. Surfaced as items the user may want to address.
- **Where to start** — directly from `CURRENT.md` *Where to start*. Do not rewrite — pass it through.
- **Anomalies** — anything unexpected: missing `CURRENT.md` (suggest `$metis-init`), an *Active task* pointer that names an entry absent from `BUILD.md`, `CURRENT.md` referencing files that don't exist on disk, `.metis/BUILD.md` or `SYNTHESIS.md` mentioned by the handoff but absent. Surface rather than absorb.

## Invocation prompt

Silently accept and ignore any trailing free-text prompt.