Activity Log - 2025-09-25

• Daily command architecture overhaul:

  • /daily called multiple bash scripts and intermediate files for no good reason
  • The initial effort did not rely on the newly-gained understanding that bash commands are executed first, the output incorporated in the command prompt, and the whole thing is passed to Claude
  • Also mutliple bash scripts in the command cannot share information (hence the original need of external files)
  • New approach:
    • Generate the list of commits using a bash script, pass it all to Claude so that it can create the summary
    • No more caching of the results or complex decision rules about when to generate a file or not

• GitHub API limitation to access the history of commits:

  • GitHub Search API only indexes default branches.
  • Alternative strategies were identified as brittle or complex: https://chatgpt.com/share/68d593f0-a81c-8010-833a-d1a7eaccebd7
  • Decision to retrieve only default branches commits. This will be a forcing-function for short-lived branches. Maybe a good thing.

• Tested new planning methodology:

  • Recent setbacks trying to organize issues led to testing a new approach even for seemingly simple features :
    • Start with spec document. Iterate.
    • Generate detailed plan. Iterate.
    • When approach changes, update the plan and the specs, explain why in the commit
  • PROs:
    • Decisions are not lost in past conversations. Context can be ported from one convo to the next.
    • Living documentation of the decisions
  • CONs:
    • The spec is out of date at the end: I failed to update it consistently
  • NEXT:
    • To be perfected for larger changes / codebases
    • Contrast with self-claimed “spec-driven” approaches such as kilo and Tessl