From f1b3702be836607f345d067a9a17a3226719cca4 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Tibsfox <tibsfox@tibsfox.com>
Date: Fri, 10 Apr 2026 12:00:09 -0700
Subject: [PATCH] feat(state): add state prune command for unbounded section
 growth (#1970)

Add `gsd-tools state prune --keep-recent N` that moves old decisions
and recently-completed entries to STATE-ARCHIVE.md. Entries from phases
older than (current - N) are archived; the N most recent are kept.

STATE.md sections grow unboundedly in long-lived projects. A 20+ phase
project accumulates hundreds of historical decisions that every agent
loads into context. Pruning removes stale entries from the hot path
while preserving them in a recoverable archive.

Usage: gsd-tools state prune --keep-recent 3
Default: keeps 3 most recent phases

Closes #1970

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
---
 get-shit-done/bin/gsd-tools.cjs |  3 ++
 get-shit-done/bin/lib/state.cjs | 96 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 2 files changed, 99 insertions(+)

diff --git a/get-shit-done/bin/gsd-tools.cjs b/get-shit-done/bin/gsd-tools.cjs
index 540905ff0..22543761d 100755
--- a/get-shit-done/bin/gsd-tools.cjs
+++ b/get-shit-done/bin/gsd-tools.cjs
@@ -470,6 +470,9 @@ async function runCommand(command, args, cwd, raw, defaultValue) {
       } else if (subcommand === 'sync') {
         const { verify } = parseNamedArgs(args, [], ['verify']);
         state.cmdStateSync(cwd, { verify }, raw);
+      } else if (subcommand === 'prune') {
+        const { 'keep-recent': keepRecent } = parseNamedArgs(args, ['keep-recent']);
+        state.cmdStatePrune(cwd, { keepRecent: keepRecent || '3' }, raw);
       } else {
         state.cmdStateLoad(cwd, raw);
       }
diff --git a/get-shit-done/bin/lib/state.cjs b/get-shit-done/bin/lib/state.cjs
index 06da9d13c..34d3f3c54 100644
--- a/get-shit-done/bin/lib/state.cjs
+++ b/get-shit-done/bin/lib/state.cjs
@@ -1386,6 +1386,101 @@ function cmdStateSync(cwd, options, raw) {
   output({ synced: true, changes, dry_run: false }, raw);
 }
 
+/**
+ * Prune old entries from STATE.md sections that grow unboundedly (#1970).
+ * Moves decisions, performance metrics rows, and recently-completed summaries
+ * older than keepRecent phases to STATE-ARCHIVE.md.
+ */
+function cmdStatePrune(cwd, options, raw) {
+  const statePath = planningPaths(cwd).state;
+  if (!fs.existsSync(statePath)) { output({ error: 'STATE.md not found' }, raw); return; }
+
+  const keepRecent = parseInt(options.keepRecent, 10) || 3;
+  const currentPhaseRaw = stateExtractField(fs.readFileSync(statePath, 'utf-8'), 'Current Phase');
+  const currentPhase = parseInt(currentPhaseRaw, 10) || 0;
+  const cutoff = currentPhase - keepRecent;
+
+  if (cutoff <= 0) {
+    output({ pruned: false, reason: `Only ${currentPhase} phases — nothing to prune with --keep-recent ${keepRecent}` }, raw, 'false');
+    return;
+  }
+
+  const archivePath = path.join(path.dirname(statePath), 'STATE-ARCHIVE.md');
+  const archived = [];
+
+  readModifyWriteStateMd(statePath, (content) => {
+    // Prune Decisions section: entries like "- [Phase N]: ..."
+    const decisionPattern = /(###?\s*(?:Decisions|Decisions Made|Accumulated.*Decisions)\s*\n)([\s\S]*?)(?=\n###?|\n##[^#]|$)/i;
+    const decMatch = content.match(decisionPattern);
+    if (decMatch) {
+      const lines = decMatch[2].split('\n');
+      const keep = [];
+      const archive = [];
+      for (const line of lines) {
+        const phaseMatch = line.match(/^\s*-\s*\[Phase\s+(\d+)/i);
+        if (phaseMatch && parseInt(phaseMatch[1], 10) <= cutoff) {
+          archive.push(line);
+        } else {
+          keep.push(line);
+        }
+      }
+      if (archive.length > 0) {
+        archived.push({ section: 'Decisions', count: archive.length, lines: archive });
+        content = content.replace(decisionPattern, (_m, header) => `${header}${keep.join('\n')}`);
+      }
+    }
+
+    // Prune Recently Completed section: entries mentioning phase numbers
+    const recentPattern = /(###?\s*Recently Completed\s*\n)([\s\S]*?)(?=\n###?|\n##[^#]|$)/i;
+    const recMatch = content.match(recentPattern);
+    if (recMatch) {
+      const lines = recMatch[2].split('\n');
+      const keep = [];
+      const archive = [];
+      for (const line of lines) {
+        const phaseMatch = line.match(/Phase\s+(\d+)/i);
+        if (phaseMatch && parseInt(phaseMatch[1], 10) <= cutoff) {
+          archive.push(line);
+        } else {
+          keep.push(line);
+        }
+      }
+      if (archive.length > 0) {
+        archived.push({ section: 'Recently Completed', count: archive.length, lines: archive });
+        content = content.replace(recentPattern, (_m, header) => `${header}${keep.join('\n')}`);
+      }
+    }
+
+    return content;
+  }, cwd);
+
+  // Write archived entries to STATE-ARCHIVE.md
+  if (archived.length > 0) {
+    const timestamp = new Date().toISOString().split('T')[0];
+    let archiveContent = '';
+    if (fs.existsSync(archivePath)) {
+      archiveContent = fs.readFileSync(archivePath, 'utf-8');
+    } else {
+      archiveContent = '# STATE Archive\n\nPruned entries from STATE.md. Recoverable but no longer loaded into agent context.\n\n';
+    }
+    archiveContent += `## Pruned ${timestamp} (phases 1-${cutoff}, kept recent ${keepRecent})\n\n`;
+    for (const section of archived) {
+      archiveContent += `### ${section.section}\n\n${section.lines.join('\n')}\n\n`;
+    }
+    atomicWriteFileSync(archivePath, archiveContent);
+  }
+
+  const totalPruned = archived.reduce((sum, s) => sum + s.count, 0);
+  output({
+    pruned: totalPruned > 0,
+    cutoff_phase: cutoff,
+    keep_recent: keepRecent,
+    sections: archived.map(s => ({ section: s.section, entries_archived: s.count })),
+    total_archived: totalPruned,
+    archive_file: totalPruned > 0 ? 'STATE-ARCHIVE.md' : null,
+  }, raw, totalPruned > 0 ? 'true' : 'false');
+}
+
 module.exports = {
   stateExtractField,
   stateReplaceField,
@@ -1410,6 +1505,7 @@ module.exports = {
   cmdStatePlannedPhase,
   cmdStateValidate,
   cmdStateSync,
+  cmdStatePrune,
   cmdSignalWaiting,
   cmdSignalResume,
 };