Provenance Skill

Trace knowledge artifact lineage to sources.

Execution Steps

Given /provenance <artifact>:

Step 1: Read the Artifact

code

Tool: Read
Parameters:
  file_path: <artifact-path>

Look for provenance metadata:

•Source references
•Session IDs
•Dates
•Related artifacts

Step 2: Trace Source Chain

bash

# Check for source metadata in the file
grep -i "source\|session\|from\|extracted" <artifact-path>

# Search for related transcripts using ao
ao forge search "<artifact-name>" 2>/dev/null

Step 3: Search Session Transcripts with CASS

Use CASS to find when this artifact was discussed:

bash

# Extract artifact name for search
artifact_name=$(basename "<artifact-path>" .md)

# Search session transcripts
cass search "$artifact_name" --json --limit 5

Parse CASS results to find:

•Sessions where artifact was created/discussed
•Timeline of references
•Related sessions by workspace

CASS JSON output fields:

json

{
  "hits": [{
    "title": "...",
    "source_path": "/path/to/session.jsonl",
    "created_at": 1766076237333,
    "score": 18.5,
    "agent": "claude_code"
  }]
}

Step 4: Build Lineage Chain

code

Transcript (source of truth)
    ↓
Forge extraction (candidate)
    ↓
Human review (promotion)
    ↓
Pattern recognition (tier-up)
    ↓
Skill creation (automation)

Step 5: Write Provenance Report

markdown

# Provenance: <artifact-name>

## Current State
- **Tier:** <0-3>
- **Created:** <date>
- **Citations:** <count>

## Source Chain
1. **Origin:** <transcript or session>
   - Line/context: <where extracted>
   - Extracted: <date>

2. **Promoted:** <tier change>
   - Reason: <why promoted>
   - Date: <when>

## Session References (from CASS)
| Date | Session | Agent | Score |
|------|---------|-------|-------|
| <date> | <session-id> | <agent> | <score> |

## Related Artifacts
- <related artifact 1>
- <related artifact 2>

Step 6: Report to User

Tell the user:

•Artifact lineage
•Original source
•Promotion history
•Session references (from CASS)
•Related artifacts

Finding Orphans

bash

/provenance --orphans

Find artifacts without source tracking:

bash

# Files without "Source:" or "Session:" metadata
for f in .agents/learnings/*.md; do
  grep -L "Source\|Session" "$f" 2>/dev/null
done

Finding Stale Artifacts

bash

/provenance --stale

Find artifacts where source may have changed:

bash

# Artifacts older than their sources
find .agents/ -name "*.md" -mtime +30 2>/dev/null

Key Rules

•Every insight has a source - trace it
•Track promotions - know why tier changed
•Find orphans - clean up untracked knowledge
•Maintain lineage - provenance enables trust
•Use CASS - find when artifacts were discussed