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Claude Code edited this page Jan 15, 2026 · 1 revision

/checkout Command

Record session learnings and complete the learning cycle.

The /checkout command captures learnings before ending your session, complementing /checkin to implement Golden Rule #6: "Record Learnings Before Ending Session".

Quick Start

/checkout

Type /checkout before closing your session to capture session learnings.

What It Does

The /checkout command orchestrates an 8-step workflow:

  1. Display Banner - Signal session-end learning recording
  2. Detect Active Plans - Find any plans you started this session
  3. Postmortem Prompt - Complete plans with outcome analysis
  4. Heuristic Discovery - Capture reusable patterns learned
  5. Failure Documentation - Record unexpected failures
  6. Quick Notes - Save continuity notes for next session
  7. Session Summary - Display learning statistics
  8. Complete - Confirm session learnings recorded

The Learning Cycle

/checkout closes the learning loop:

Session Start
    ↓
/checkin (load context & golden rules)
    ↓
[Do work]
    ↓
/checkout (record learnings & notes)
    ↓
Session End

Interactive Flow

Step 1: Banner

Shows the checkout banner to signal session-end learning recording.

Step 2: Active Plans Check

If you created plans during this session:

[*] 2 active plan(s) found:
   [5] Refactor authentication (domain: backend)
   [6] Add analytics feature (domain: frontend)

Step 3: Postmortem Completion

For each plan, you can complete it with analysis:

Complete postmortem for plan 5 (Refactor authentication)? [Y/n]: y
   Actual outcome: Completed 80% of original scope
   What diverged from plan? Discovery took longer
   What went well? Clean module structure
   What went wrong? Underestimated test complexity
   Key lessons? Always spike complex integrations first

The postmortem is recorded and linked to the plan for later analysis.

Step 4: Heuristic Discovery

Capture reusable patterns you discovered:

[*] Heuristic Discovery
   Did you discover any reusable patterns or rules? [Y/n]: y
   Domain: backend
   Rule: Always validate auth before database queries
   Explanation: Prevents unauthorized data access
   Confidence (0.0-1.0) [0.7]: 0.8

Stored in database + markdown for future reference.

Step 5: Failure Documentation

Document any unexpected failures:

[*] Failure Documentation
   Did anything break or fail unexpectedly? [Y/n]: y
   [+] Guidance: Create a failure analysis file at:
       ~/.claude/emergent-learning/failure-analysis/YYYY-MM-DD-brief.md

Step 6: Quick Notes

Save continuity notes for next session:

[*] Quick Notes for Next Session
   > Remember: Add rate limiting to login endpoint
   [OK] Notes saved

Retrieved and displayed in next /checkin.

Step 7: Session Summary

Displays what was recorded:

[=] Session Summary
   Postmortems recorded: 1
   Heuristics recorded: 2
   Failures documented: 0
   Notes saved: Yes

Step 8: Complete

Final confirmation:

[OK] Checkout complete. Session learnings recorded!

Examples

Example 1: Complete a Plan

$ /checkout
[...banner...]
[*] 1 active plan(s) found:
   [3] Implement dark mode (domain: frontend)

Complete postmortem for plan 3 (Implement dark mode)? [Y/n]: y
   Actual outcome: Completed successfully
   What diverged from plan? Required CSS refactoring
   What went well? Component API is clean
   What went wrong? Color palette took iteration
   Key lessons? Design validation early with domain experts
   [OK] Postmortem recorded

[*] Heuristic Discovery
   Did you discover any reusable patterns? [Y/n]: y
   Domain: frontend
   Rule: Use CSS variables for consistent theming
   Explanation: Simplifies dark mode toggling
   Confidence [0.7]: 0.85
   [OK] Heuristic recorded

[*] Failure Documentation
   Did anything break? [Y/n]: n

[*] Quick Notes for Next Session
   > Move avatar colors to theme variables
   [OK] Notes saved

[=] Session Summary
   Postmortems recorded: 1
   Heuristics recorded: 1
   Failures documented: 0
   Notes saved: Yes

[OK] Checkout complete. Session learnings recorded!

Example 2: No Plans, Just Learnings

$ /checkout
[...banner...]
[*] 0 active plan(s) found

[*] Heuristic Discovery
   Did you discover any reusable patterns? [Y/n]: y
   Domain: security
   Rule: Validate input at system boundaries
   Explanation: Prevents injection attacks
   Confidence [0.7]: 0.9
   [OK] Heuristic recorded

[*] Failure Documentation
   Did anything break? [Y/n]: y
   [+] Guidance: Create failure-analysis/2026-01-15-cache-invalidation.md

[*] Quick Notes for Next Session
   > Research: Redis cluster failover strategies
   [OK] Notes saved

[=] Session Summary
   Postmortems recorded: 0
   Heuristics recorded: 1
   Failures documented: 1
   Notes saved: Yes

[OK] Checkout complete. Session learnings recorded!

How It Integrates

With Plans & Postmortems

  • Detects active plans from database
  • Completes postmortems and marks plans as done
  • Links postmortems to plans for divergence analysis

With Heuristics

  • Records patterns to database + markdown
  • Confidence tracking (0.0-1.0)
  • Domain categorization
  • Discoverable by /search and future sessions

With Failure Analysis

  • Guides creation of failure-analysis/*.md files
  • Provides template structure
  • Captures root causes and lessons

With Session Notes

  • Stores in ~/.checkout_notes
  • Displayed in next /checkin
  • Provides continuity across sessions

How to Use /checkout

When to Use

  • Every session end - Record what you learned before closing
  • After complex tasks - Capture patterns while they're fresh
  • After failures - Document what broke and why
  • When starting work - Review notes from your last /checkout

Best Practices

  1. Be honest - Record actual outcomes, not ideal ones
  2. Capture divergences - These teach the most
  3. Document patterns - Reusable lessons are gold
  4. Quick notes - Help future you pick up context

Troubleshooting

No active plans shown

Normal if you didn't create plans at session start. You can still record heuristics, failures, and notes.

Database errors

If you see "[!] Warning: Could not detect active plans", the database may be unavailable. Continue with heuristics/failures/notes - they'll still be recorded.

Postmortem didn't save

Check console output for errors. Ensure record-postmortem.py is accessible in scripts/ directory.

Notes file error

If notes don't save, check file permissions on ~/.checkout_notes. The file will be created automatically on first write.

Golden Rule #6: Record Learnings Before Ending Session

This command implements the framework's 6th golden rule:

  • /checkin loads context (read)
  • /checkout saves learnings (write)
  • Together they close the learning cycle

The learning cycle is fundamental to ELF's effectiveness. Recording learnings is not optional—it's how the framework compounds knowledge over time.

Related Commands

  • /checkin - Load context before starting work
  • /search - Find heuristics and learnings
  • /swarm - Multi-agent coordination

See CLI Reference for all commands.

See Also

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