Session Notes
Track progress and blockers between sessions
Session Notes & Short-term Memory
Track blockers, progress, and context within your AI assistant's short-term memory.
What are Session Notes?
Continuity provides both long-term synthetic memory (decisions) and short-term session memory (session notes). While long-term memory preserves architectural history, short-term memory keeps your AI assistant aligned with your immediate goals during a single coding session.
Use short-term memory to:
- •Keep the AI focused on current goals
- •Track active blockers as you hit them
- •Record attempted approaches (what worked and what didn't)
- •Prepare a "handoff" for your next session
How to Use Them
Set session goals
You: "Note that today I'm working on fixing the login bug and adding rate limiting."
AI: "Added to session goals: Fix login bug, add rate limiting."
Track blockers
You: "I'm stuck. The OAuth callback keeps returning 401. Add this to blockers."
AI: "Added blocker: OAuth callback returning 401."
Record what you tried
You: "I tried changing the redirect URI but that didn't help. Note that in the attempted approaches."
AI: "Noted: Changed redirect URI — didn't resolve 401 issue."
Save progress
You: "Found it! The redirect URI was wrong in the production config. Note that as the fix."
AI: "Noted: Fix found — redirect URI incorrect in production config."
Get a summary
You: "Summarize what we did today."
AI: "Session summary:
- •Goal: Fix login bug
- •Blocker: OAuth 401 errors
- •Tried: Changing redirect URI (didn't help)
- •Fix: Production config had wrong redirect URI"
Session Notes Sections
Ask your AI to add notes to specific sections:
| Section | What to track |
|---|---|
| Goals | What you're trying to accomplish |
| Blockers | Problems you're stuck on |
| Approaches | What you tried (worked or not) |
| Decisions | Quick notes (promote to real decisions if important) |
| Next steps | What to do next |
| Questions | Open items to figure out |
Example phrases
- •"Add to session goals: Implement caching"
- •"Note this blocker: Tests failing intermittently"
- •"Log that we tried X but it didn't work"
- •"Add to next steps: Review PR tomorrow"
Short-term vs. Long-term Memory
Both types of memory are part of the Continuity system, but they serve different purposes:
| Short-term (Session Notes) | Long-term (Decisions) |
|---|---|
| Temporary, for current work | Permanent, for future reference |
| Quick notes and progress | Documented architectural reasoning |
| "I'm currently stuck on X" | "We chose X over Y because of Z" |
Promoting to Long-term Memory
If a temporary choice becomes a lasting project direction, "promote" it:
You: "The Redis approach worked well. Let's make that a permanent decision in our synthetic memory."
AI: "I'll record decision-23: Redis for caching — fast TTL support, needed for session storage."
Starting a New Day
Begin sessions by checking notes when native tools are mounted. If not, open the repo-local session notes directly:
You: "What were we working on? Check the session notes."
AI: "From your last session:
- •Goal: Rate limiting
- •Blocker: None open
- •Next steps: Implement middleware, test with Redis"
Workflow Example
Morning
You: "Check session notes and tell me where we left off."
AI: "Last session you were debugging auth issues. Blocker was OAuth 401 errors."
During work
You: "I fixed the auth issue. Remove that blocker and note the fix."
AI: "Removed blocker. Noted: Auth fixed by correcting production redirect URI."
End of day
You: "I'm stopping for today. Save where we are and what's next."
AI: "Session notes updated:
- •Completed: Auth fix
- •Next: Start rate limiting implementation
- •Question: Should we use Redis or in-memory for rate limits?"
Key Phrases
| What you want | What to say |
|---|---|
| Add a goal | "Add to goals: X" |
| Add a blocker | "I'm stuck on X" or "Add blocker: X" |
| Remove a blocker | "Fixed it" or "Remove blocker" |
| Note an approach | "I tried X" or "Note that X didn't work" |
| Get summary | "Summarize the session" |
| Check notes | "What's in the session notes?" |
Key Takeaways
- •Ask explicitly — Tell your AI what to add to notes
- •Use sections — Goals, blockers, approaches, next steps
- •Check at session start — "What were we working on?"
- •Save at session end — "Save where we are"
- •Promote important items — Turn lasting choices into decisions
- •Expect degraded mode — If native tools are unavailable, use the repo-local notes and handoff files