msd-core/get-shit-done/workflows/extract_learnings.md

Extract decisions, lessons learned, patterns discovered, and surprises encountered from completed phase artifacts into a structured LEARNINGS.md file. Captures institutional knowledge that would otherwise be lost between phases.

<required_reading> Read all files referenced by the invoking prompt's execution_context before starting. </required_reading>

Analyze completed phase artifacts (PLAN.md, SUMMARY.md, VERIFICATION.md, UAT.md, STATE.md) and extract structured learnings into 4 categories: decisions, lessons, patterns, and surprises. Each extracted item includes source attribution. The output is a LEARNINGS.md file with YAML frontmatter containing metadata about the extraction. Parse arguments and load project state:

INIT=$(node "$HOME/.claude/get-shit-done/bin/gsd-tools.cjs" init phase-op "${PHASE_ARG}")
if [[ "$INIT" == @file:* ]]; then INIT=$(cat "${INIT#@file:}"); fi

Parse from init JSON: phase_found, phase_dir, phase_number, phase_name, padded_phase.

If phase not found, exit with error: "Phase {PHASE_ARG} not found."

Read the phase artifacts. PLAN.md and SUMMARY.md are required; VERIFICATION.md, UAT.md, and STATE.md are optional.

Required artifacts:

• ${PHASE_DIR}/*-PLAN.md — all plan files for the phase
• ${PHASE_DIR}/*-SUMMARY.md — all summary files for the phase

If PLAN.md or SUMMARY.md files are not found or missing, exit with error: "Required artifacts missing. PLAN.md and SUMMARY.md are required for learning extraction."

Optional artifacts (read if available, skip if not found):

• ${PHASE_DIR}/*-VERIFICATION.md — verification results
• ${PHASE_DIR}/*-UAT.md — user acceptance test results
• .planning/STATE.md — project state with decisions and blockers

Track which optional artifacts are missing for the missing_artifacts frontmatter field.

Analyze all collected artifacts and extract learnings into 4 categories:

1. Decisions

Technical and architectural decisions made during the phase. Look for:

• Explicit decisions documented in PLAN.md or SUMMARY.md
• Technology choices and their rationale
• Trade-offs that were evaluated
• Design decisions recorded in STATE.md

Each decision entry must include:

• What was decided
• Why it was decided (rationale)
• Source: attribution to the artifact where the decision was found (e.g., "Source: 03-01-PLAN.md")

2. Lessons

Things learned during execution that were not known beforehand. Look for:

• Unexpected complexity in SUMMARY.md
• Issues discovered during verification in VERIFICATION.md
• Failed approaches documented in SUMMARY.md
• UAT feedback that revealed gaps

Each lesson entry must include:

• What was learned
• Context for the lesson
• Source: attribution to the originating artifact

3. Patterns

Reusable patterns, approaches, or techniques discovered. Look for:

• Successful implementation patterns in SUMMARY.md
• Testing patterns from VERIFICATION.md or UAT.md
• Workflow patterns that worked well
• Code organization patterns from PLAN.md

Each pattern entry must include:

• Pattern name/description
• When to use it
• Source: attribution to the originating artifact

4. Surprises

Unexpected findings, behaviors, or outcomes. Look for:

• Things that took longer or shorter than estimated
• Unexpected dependencies or interactions
• Edge cases not anticipated in planning
• Performance or behavior that differed from expectations

Each surprise entry must include:

• What was surprising
• Impact of the surprise
• Source: attribution to the originating artifact

If the `capture_thought` tool is available in the current session, capture each extracted learning as a thought with metadata:

capture_thought({
  category: "decision" | "lesson" | "pattern" | "surprise",
  phase: PHASE_NUMBER,
  content: LEARNING_TEXT,
  source: ARTIFACT_NAME
})

If capture_thought is not available (e.g., runtime does not support it), gracefully skip this step and continue. The LEARNINGS.md file is the primary output — capture_thought is a supplementary integration that provides a fallback for runtimes with thought capture support. The workflow must not fail or warn if capture_thought is unavailable.

Write the LEARNINGS.md file to the phase directory. If a previous LEARNINGS.md exists, overwrite it (replace the file entirely).

Output path: ${PHASE_DIR}/${PADDED_PHASE}-LEARNINGS.md

The file must have YAML frontmatter with these fields:

---
phase: {PHASE_NUMBER}
phase_name: "{PHASE_NAME}"
project: "{PROJECT_NAME}"
generated: "{ISO_DATE}"
counts:
  decisions: {N}
  lessons: {N}
  patterns: {N}
  surprises: {N}
missing_artifacts:
  - "{ARTIFACT_NAME}"
---

The body follows this structure:

# Phase {PHASE_NUMBER} Learnings: {PHASE_NAME}

## Decisions

### {Decision Title}
{What was decided}

**Rationale:** {Why}
**Source:** {artifact file}

---

## Lessons

### {Lesson Title}
{What was learned}

**Context:** {context}
**Source:** {artifact file}

---

## Patterns

### {Pattern Name}
{Description}

**When to use:** {applicability}
**Source:** {artifact file}

---

## Surprises

### {Surprise Title}
{What was surprising}

**Impact:** {impact description}
**Source:** {artifact file}

Update STATE.md to reflect the learning extraction:

node "$HOME/.claude/get-shit-done/bin/gsd-tools.cjs" state update "Last Activity" "$(date +%Y-%m-%d)"

``` ---------------------------------------------------------------

Learnings Extracted: Phase {X} — {Name}

Decisions: {N} Lessons: {N} Patterns: {N} Surprises: {N} Total: {N}

Output: {PHASE_DIR}/{PADDED_PHASE}-LEARNINGS.md

Missing artifacts: {list or "none"}

Next steps:

• Review extracted learnings for accuracy
• /gsd-progress — see overall project state
• /gsd-execute-phase {next} — continue to next phase

---

</step>

</process>

<success_criteria>
- [ ] Phase artifacts located and read successfully
- [ ] All 4 categories extracted: decisions, lessons, patterns, surprises
- [ ] Each extracted item has source attribution
- [ ] LEARNINGS.md written with correct YAML frontmatter
- [ ] Missing optional artifacts tracked in frontmatter
- [ ] capture_thought integration attempted if tool available
- [ ] STATE.md updated with extraction activity
- [ ] User receives summary report
</success_criteria>

<critical_rules>
- PLAN.md and SUMMARY.md are required — exit with clear error if missing
- VERIFICATION.md, UAT.md, and STATE.md are optional — extract from them if present, skip gracefully if not found
- Every extracted learning must have source attribution back to the originating artifact
- Running extract-learnings twice on the same phase must overwrite (replace) the previous LEARNINGS.md, not append
- Do not fabricate learnings — only extract what is explicitly documented in artifacts
- If capture_thought is unavailable, the workflow must not fail — graceful degradation to file-only output
- LEARNINGS.md frontmatter must include counts for all 4 categories and list any missing_artifacts
</critical_rules>