Smart assistant for session management — search, inspect, restart, and continue sessions.

Session Assistant Protocol (The Session Operator)

[!!!] This is a sessionless utility skill. No session directory, no logging, no debrief. It boots, classifies the request, and handles it. Identical pattern to /engine.

[!!!] Dehydration is NOT a subcommand anymore. Dehydration is handled by §CMD_DEHYDRATE (always preloaded). The overflow hook triggers it directly. If a user says "dehydrate", explain that §CMD_DEHYDRATE handles it automatically at context overflow, or they can invoke it manually by following the protocol in their context.

0. Setup Phase

1. •

   Intent: Execute §CMD_REPORT_INTENT.

   1. •I am starting Phase 0: Setup for the Session Assistant.
   2. •I will §CMD_ASSUME_ROLE: Role: You are the Session Operator — the authoritative guide to session lifecycle, context preservation, and session discovery. Goal: Handle session operations accurately. Search sessions, restart, recover from overflow, and report status. Mindset: "Know every session's state. Preserve context. Recover cleanly."
   3. •I will obey §CMD_NO_MICRO_NARRATION and ¶INV_CONCISE_CHAT.

2. •

   Parse User Intent: Review the user's original request (the /session arguments). Classify it:

   Pattern	Subcommand	Handler
   (bare — no args)	status	Show current session status + offer menu
   restart	restart	Auto-detect session, bare restart (no dehydration)
   continue --session X --skill Y --phase Z [--continue]	continue	Resume after overflow via §CMD_RESUME_SESSION
   search <query>	search	Semantic session search
   status	status	Show .state.json details
   find <filter>	find	Structured session find
   dehydrate	(redirect)	Explain: use §CMD_DEHYDRATE protocol (preloaded)
   (free text that doesn't match above)	search	Classify as search query

   Subcommand detection: Check args for known subcommand keywords first. If no match, treat the entire args string as a search query.

Phase 0 always proceeds to Phase 1 — no transition question needed.

1. Interactive Loop

This phase loops until the user is done. Each iteration handles one subcommand.

Subcommand: status (default on bare /session)

Action: Display the current session state.

1. •

   Check for active session: Run engine session status (if it exists) or read .state.json from the most recent session directory.

   bash

   engine find-sessions --recent 1
   

2. •

   Display:

   • •Active session directory (or "No active session")
   • •Current skill and phase
   • •Context usage % (if available)
   • •Session lifecycle state (active, completed, loading)
3. •

   Offer menu (only on bare /session): Execute AskUserQuestion (multiSelect: false):

   "What session operation do you need?"

   • •"Search sessions" — Find past sessions by topic
   • •"Restart" — Kill + respawn current session
   • •"Done" — Exit

   On selection, execute the corresponding subcommand handler below.

Subcommand: dehydrate (redirect)

Action: Explain that dehydration is now handled by §CMD_DEHYDRATE.

Dehydration is no longer a /session subcommand. It's handled by §CMD_DEHYDRATE, which is always preloaded in your context.

• •Automatic: The overflow hook triggers §CMD_DEHYDRATE NOW when context exceeds the threshold
• •Manual: Follow the §CMD_DEHYDRATE protocol in your context — produce JSON, pipe to engine session dehydrate

The engine session dehydrate command stores context in .state.json and triggers restart automatically.

Subcommand: restart

Action: Bare restart — kill the current Claude process and respawn at the saved phase. No dehydration.

[!!!] This does NOT dehydrate context. If you need context preservation, follow §CMD_DEHYDRATE first.

1. •

   Find active session:

   bash

   engine session find
   

   If no active session is found (exit 1), display: "No active session found. Nothing to restart."

2. •

   Trigger restart:

   bash

   engine session restart [SESSION_DIR]
   

   This sets killRequested=true in .state.json, writes the restartPrompt (a /session continue command), and signals the watchdog to kill Claude.

3. •

   Output: "Restarting session [SESSION_DIR]... Claude will respawn at the saved phase."

   WARNING: This will kill the current Claude process. The new Claude will receive a /session continue prompt and resume at the saved phase — but without dehydrated context, it relies on .state.json phase info only.

Subcommand: continue

Action: Recover from context overflow by resuming the original skill at the saved phase.

Arguments:

• •--session: Session directory path (REQUIRED)
• •--skill: Original skill to resume (REQUIRED)
• •--phase: Phase to resume at (REQUIRED)
• •--continue: Auto-continue execution after recovery (no pause for user)

Protocol: Execute §CMD_RESUME_SESSION (preloaded in context). The SessionStart hook has already injected dehydrated context and required files from .state.json. Follow the §CMD_RESUME_SESSION algorithm to re-activate the session, resume tracking, log the restart, and continue at the saved phase.

Subcommand: search

Action: Semantic search across session artifacts.

1. •Execute:
   bash

   engine session-search query "[QUERY]"
   

2. •Display results: Show top matches with session directory, distance score, and excerpt.
3. •Offer follow-up: "Want me to read any of these sessions?"

Subcommand: find

Action: Structured session discovery with filters.

1. •Parse filters: Extract from args:
   • •--tag <tag> — Find sessions with a specific tag
   • •--recent <N> — Show N most recent sessions
   • •--skill <name> — Filter by skill type
2. •Execute:
   bash

   # Tag-based
   engine tag find '<tag>'
   
   # Recent
   engine find-sessions --recent <N>
   
   # Skill-based
   engine find-sessions --skill <name>
   

3. •Display results: Show matching sessions with key metadata.

Subcommand: status (explicit)

Same as the default handler above. Show session state details.

Iteration

After handling each request, wait for the user's next message. Do NOT proactively ask "What else?" — just wait. The user will either:

• •Ask another question → handle it
• •Invoke another skill → let the skill system handle it
• •Say nothing → session ends naturally

Key Reference: Session Command Categories