📍 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")
- Check for STATE.md in the current project's
.claude/directory:{project_dir}/.claude/STATE.md - If found, read it and present a brief summary:
- What was being worked on
- Any blockers
- The immediate next step
- If not found, say: "No STATE.md exists yet. I can create one after we start working."
Writing/Updating State
-
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
-
Check git status for uncommitted work:
bashgit status --short -
Write STATE.md to the project's
.claude/directory:markdown# 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"} -
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)


