Record Agent Operating Lessons
record-agent-operating-lessons
Summary
Agent work produces useful operational knowledge that is easy to lose after the task succeeds or fails. Record reusable lessons in the right durable place so future runs inherit the improved workflow instead of rediscovering it.
Problem
Agent failures often disappear into the conversation transcript. Missing tools, missing context, environment surprises, and repeated mistakes then recur because no durable artifact captures the operating lesson.
Preferred Move
When a lesson will help future sessions, record it in the repo's chosen durable place: an agent guide, pattern, snippet, template, or backlog. Separate mistakes, missing context or tools, and environment discoveries when that distinction helps action.
Tradeoff
Do not create noisy logs of every transient issue. Capture lessons that are likely to recur, affect handoff quality, or point to an improvement in docs, checks, tools, or workflow.
Agent Instruction
If you discover a repeated mistake, missing tool, missing context, or environment fact that future
agents need, add it to the appropriate durable guidance or backlog. Do not hide the lesson in the
final message only.Examples
Bad: the lesson is left as a one-time apology.
Sorry, I forgot to run markdownlint.
Good: the lesson updates the operating system.
Added markdownlint to the validation checklist and ran it for this change.