progress-summary_skill

Overview

This skill generates conversational, PR-style progress summaries when you ask for the current state of work or what happened. It opens with the motivation, explains key decisions and outcomes, and includes optional ASCII diagrams to clarify architecture or flow. The tone is direct, collaborative, and focused on why the change matters.

How this skill works

When invoked, the skill gathers context about recent activity (branch diffs, recent commits, changed files or provided notes) and produces a concise narrative: problem → investigation → decision → status. For larger changes it automatically formats simple ASCII diagrams (flow, layer, or journey) to visualize evolution or control/data flow. Summaries emphasize trade-offs and reasoning rather than listing file names.

When to use it

• Ask for a quick verbal check-in: "what are you working on?"
• End-of-session recap: "summarize what we did" or "what's left to do?"
• Explain a complex change: "what's happening in this PR?"
• Get a readable status for stakeholders: "what's the situation?"
• Turn diffs/commit messages into a clear narrative for review

Best practices

• Start with WHY: state the problem or user impact before technical details
• Reveal thinking: note alternatives considered and why one was chosen
• Match depth to complexity: keep simple changes short, expand for architecture
• Use ASCII diagrams for multi-layer or iterative changes
• Avoid file lists and marketing language; be factual and conversational

Example use cases

• Transform recent branch diffs into a 3-sentence quick status for standup
• Create an end-of-day session recap listing decisions, working parts, and next steps
• Explain a refactor with a layer diagram showing high/medium/low-level modules
• Compare two approaches and recommend one with a small trade-off table
• Summarize a bug fix by describing root cause, troubleshooting steps, and final fix