📍 State: Updating Project State...

Maintain a living document of where you are right now in a project.

Activation

When this skill activates, output:

📍 State: Updating project state...

Then execute the protocol below.

Context Guard

Context	Status	Priority
User says "update state", "save state", "project state"	ACTIVE: update STATE.md	P1
User says "where was I", "where did I leave off"	ACTIVE, read and present STATE.md	P1
User starts a session and STATE.md exists	ACTIVE, read silently, use as context	P2
User says "save diary" or "log session"	DORMANT, Diary handles full session logs	none
User says "save project" or "handoff"	DORMANT, Project skill handles lifecycle	none
User asks to recall past sessions	DORMANT, Echo handles historical recall	none

Protocol

Reading State (session start or "where was I")

1. Check for STATE.md in the current project's .claude/ directory:

   {project_dir}/.claude/STATE.md
   

2. If found, read it and present a brief summary:
   • What was being worked on
   • Any blockers
   • The immediate next step
3. If not found, say: "No STATE.md exists yet. I can create one after we start working."

Writing/Updating State

1. Gather current state:

   • What task/phase is actively being worked on right now
   • Decisions made during this session (with rationale)
   • Open blockers or unanswered questions
   • Explicit next steps (not vague, specific enough to resume cold)
   • Key files modified recently

2. Check git status for uncommitted work:

   git status --short
   

3. Write STATE.md to the project's .claude/ directory:

   # Project State
   *Last updated: {YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM}*
   
   ## Currently Working On
   {Active task or phase: be specific}
   
   ## Decisions Made
   - {Decision}: {Rationale}
   
   ## Blockers
   - [ ] {Blocker description}
   
   ## Next Steps
   1. {Immediate next action, specific enough to start cold}
   2. {Following action}
   
   ## Recently Modified Files
   - {file path}: {what changed}
   
   ## Uncommitted Changes
   {List any unstaged/uncommitted work, or "None: clean working tree"}
   

4. Confirm with a brief summary of what was saved.

Deconfliction

Skill	What it tracks	When
State	Current snapshot, where you are right now	During session, living document
Diary	Historical log, what you did in a session	End of session, append-only
Project	Project lifecycle, handoff between sessions	Session boundaries
Work	Task list, what needs to be done	When planning/tracking todos

State is the present tense complement to Diary's past tense. State tells you where to resume; Diary tells you what happened.

Inputs

• Current working context (project, files, git status)
• User's description of current state (or auto-detected from session)

Outputs

• {project_dir}/.claude/STATE.md: updated living document
• Brief confirmation summary

Example Usage

User: "update state"

📍 State: Updating project state...

Saved: C:\Projects\AdminStack\.claude\STATE.md

Currently: Building CC Monitor notification system
Blockers: None
Next: Wire up WebSocket events to notification dropdown

This will auto-load next session for seamless pickup.

Level History

• Lv.1: Base: Living STATE.md creation and update protocol. Read via Work Step 0 or manual invocation. Deconfliction with Diary/Project/Work. (Origin: MemStack v3.1, Feb 2026)