Installs into .claude/skills of the current project.
Are you the author of 1653 Session Skill D87e7c3f?
Add the live security badge to your README. It updates with every re-scan.
[](https://www.skillsdirectory.com/skills/tools-only-1653-session-skill-d87e7c3f)
# Retrospective
Session retrospective for continual learning. Reviews conversation, extracts learnings, updates skills.
## When to Use
Run at end of coding sessions to capture learnings before context is lost. Invoke via `/retrospective` or when user says "let's do a retro".
## Process
### 1. Session Analysis
Review the entire conversation and identify:
**Successes**
- What worked well
- Effective approaches discovered
- Useful patterns or techniques
- Tools/commands that solved problems
**Failures**
- What didn't work
- Dead ends encountered
- Errors and their root causes
- Approaches to avoid
**Discoveries**
- New insights about the codebase
- Unexpected behaviors
- Configuration quirks
- Edge cases found
### 2. Skill Identification
Determine which skills were used or could benefit:
- Check `~/.claude/skills/` for personal skills
- Check `.claude/skills/` for project skills
- Identify if new skill should be created
### 3. Learning Extraction
For each relevant skill, extract:
```markdown
## Learnings from [DATE]
### What Worked
- [specific technique or approach]
### What Failed
- [approach] — [why it failed]
### Configuration Notes
- [any settings or params that matter]
```
### 4. Skill Update
Update skill files with extracted learnings:
- Add to existing `## Learnings` or `## Known Issues` sections
- Create sections if they don't exist
- Keep entries dated and concise
- Preserve existing content
### 5. Summary Output
Report to user:
- Skills updated (with paths)
- Key learnings captured
- Suggested new skills (if patterns emerged)
## Output Format
```
## Session Retrospective
### Skills Updated
- `~/.claude/skills/[name]/skill.md` — added [X] learnings
### Key Takeaways
1. [Most important learning]
2. [Second learning]
### Failures Documented
- [Failure 1]: [brief reason]
### Suggested Actions
- [ ] Create new skill for [pattern]
- [ ] Update CLAUDE.md with [insight]
```
## Guidelines
- **Be specific**: "Use `--no-cache` flag" not "caching can cause issues"
- **Include context**: When/why something works or fails
- **Date entries**: Learnings should have dates for tracking
- **Don't over-document**: Only capture genuinely useful insights
- **Failures are valuable**: Non-deterministic LLM behavior means documenting anti-patterns prevents repeating mistakes
## Example Skill Update
Adding to `~/.claude/skills/pdf-generation/skill.md`:
```markdown
## Known Issues
### 2025-01-01
- Eisvogel template fails with emoji in headers — escape or remove
- Russian text needs `babel-lang: russian` in YAML frontmatter
## What Works
### 2025-01-01
- `--pdf-engine=xelatex` required for non-Latin scripts
- Pre-flight check: `pandoc --version` to verify filters installed
```
## Integration
Can be combined with:
- Git commit hooks (auto-retro before commit)
- CLAUDE.md instructions (remind to run retro)
- CI/CD (capture learnings from failed builds)
## Tools
- Read: Access skill files and conversation history
- Edit: Update existing skills
- Write: Create new skill files if needed
- Glob: Find skill directories
## Learnings