claude-continual-learning/README.md

Continual Learning System for Claude Code

A self-improving coding agent that learns from every session. Patterns, failures, edge cases, and insights are automatically extracted and stored, making the agent smarter over time.

How It Works

Session 1: You code with Claude
    |
    v
SessionEnd Hook fires
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/retrospective extracts learnings
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learnings.md is updated
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Session 2: Agent applies learnings from Session 1
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(repeat - agent gets smarter each session)

Quick Start

1. Install

# Clone this repo
git clone https://github.com/YOUR_ORG/continual-learning.git
cd continual-learning

# Install to your project
./install.sh /path/to/your/project

2. Set Up the Agent

cd /path/to/your/project
claude

# In Claude Code, run:
> /setup-agent

This analyzes your codebase and configures the agent with project-specific context.

3. Start Coding

Just work normally with Claude Code. After each session:

• The SessionEnd hook automatically runs
• /retrospective analyzes what happened
• New learnings are added to learnings.md
• Next session benefits from accumulated knowledge

What Gets Installed

your-project/
+-- .claude/
    +-- skills/
    |   +-- codebase-agent/
    |       +-- SKILL.md        # Main agent skill
    |       +-- learnings.md    # Accumulated learnings (grows over time)
    |
    +-- commands/
    |   +-- setup-agent.md      # /setup-agent - Initial setup
    |   +-- retrospective.md    # /retrospective - Extract learnings
    |
    +-- hooks/
    |   +-- session-end.sh      # Auto-triggers after sessions
    |
    +-- settings.json           # Hook configuration

Manual Commands

While learning happens automatically, you can also trigger it manually:

• /setup-agent - Re-analyze codebase and update skill context
• /retrospective - Manually run learning extraction

Customization

Adjust the Skill

Edit .claude/skills/codebase-agent/SKILL.md to:

• Add project-specific instructions
• Modify the agent's behavior
• Include additional context

Adjust Learning Extraction

Edit .claude/commands/retrospective.md to:

• Change what categories of learnings to extract
• Modify the format of learnings
• Adjust selectivity (what gets saved vs skipped)

Disable Automatic Learning

Remove the hook from .claude/settings.json to disable automatic learning. You can still run /retrospective manually when you want.

Requirements

• Claude Code (latest version)
• jq command-line tool (for parsing JSON in hooks)

Install jq if needed:

# macOS
brew install jq

# Ubuntu/Debian
apt-get install jq

How Learnings Are Structured

Learnings in learnings.md are organized into categories:

• Patterns: Successful approaches to reuse
• Failures: Mistakes to avoid
• Edge Cases: Tricky scenarios to remember
• Technology Insights: Framework/library-specific knowledge
• Conventions: Project coding conventions

Each learning follows this format:

### [Short Title]
- **Context**: When this applies
- **Learning**: The insight
- **Example**: Code snippet (optional)

Philosophy

This system is based on the idea that:

1. Agents should learn - Not just follow static instructions
2. Every session has insights - Patterns, failures, edge cases
3. Compounding knowledge - Each session builds on previous ones
4. Human-readable memory - Learnings are plain markdown, easy to review/edit
5. Shareable knowledge - Commit learnings.md to git for team benefit

Contributing

1. Fork the repo
2. Make changes
3. Test by installing to a real project
4. Submit a PR

License

MIT