Two-Tier Learning

Psi's self-improvement mechanism. Two speeds of learning, both injected into prompts.

Tier 1: LEARNINGS.md (Fast, Unvalidated)

Managed by src/psi/learning_tracker.py.

Format: --- delimited blocks in a markdown file.

# Learned Patterns

Rules extracted from experience. Apply relevant rules to avoid repeating mistakes.

---
Always use `type: "module"` in package.json when using ESM imports.
---
Filter all database queries by userId to prevent data leaks.
---

How it works:

• •Claude appends rules during work (it writes directly to LEARNINGS.md)
• •Orchestrator reads last 20 rules and injects them into the next iteration prompt
• •Parser skips the header block (everything before first ---) and blocks < 10 chars

Key implementation detail: get_all() splits on ---, skips blocks[0] (header), normalizes whitespace.

Tier 2: expertise.yaml (Validated, Promoted)

Managed by src/psi/skill_sync.py. Runs between phases, not during.

Flow:

1. •Read all LEARNINGS.md entries
2. •Extract search terms from each (backtick code, quoted strings, significant words)
3. •Search codebase with ripgrep (excludes yaml, md, node_modules, .git, .psi)
4. •3+ occurrences → promote to .claude/skills/learned/resources/expertise.yaml
5. •Remove promoted entries from LEARNINGS.md

Confidence thresholds:

• •High: 5+ file matches
• •Medium: 3-4 file matches
• •Low: <3 (stays in LEARNINGS.md only)

expertise.yaml schema (written via yaml.safe_dump()):

version: "0.2.0"
patterns:
  - pattern: "Always extend tsconfig from @tsconfig/node20"
    confidence: high
    occurrences: 7
    evidence: "tsconfig.json, packages/*/tsconfig.json"
    learned_from: skill_sync
    promoted_at: "2026-01-31T14:23:00"
evolution_log:
  - date: "2026-01-31"
    change: "Promoted 3 patterns from Tier 1"
    patterns_added: 3

All YAML operations use yaml.safe_load()/yaml.safe_dump() per PyYAML best practices — prevents arbitrary object construction on load and restricts serialization to safe Python types on dump.

Prompt Injection Order

In prompt_generator.py:augment_with_learnings():

1. •Tier 2 patterns first (validated, higher priority), capped at 20
2. •Tier 1 learnings second (unvalidated, lower priority), capped at 20
3. •Separated by --- from base prompt

Troubleshooting

No patterns promoted after skill sync

• •Search terms may be too generic. Check _extract_search_terms() output.
• •ripgrep excludes yaml/md files — patterns about config won't match code files.

LEARNINGS.md entries duplicating

• •Claude may write duplicate rules. No dedup currently — accepted limitation.
• •Promoted entries are removed, which helps keep the file clean.

Related Files

• •src/psi/learning_tracker.py — Tier 1 read/write
• •src/psi/skill_sync.py — Tier 2 validation + promotion
• •src/psi/prompt_generator.py — Injection into prompts