recognize-stopping-point

name: recognize-stopping-point description: Analyze current context to determine if this is a natural stopping point for the session. Use this skill when Nova Dawn needs to evaluate whether to continue working or wrap up - considers elapsed time, tasks completed, quality indicators, time of day, and learned stopping patterns. version: "2.0.0" user-invocable: false allowed-tools: - Bash - Read

Recognize Stopping Point

"To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven." — Ecclesiastes 3:1

Analyze session context to determine if this is a natural stopping point.

Navigation:

Section	Purpose
When to Use	Decision criteria
Stopping Point Types	Five categories
Evaluation Process	Step-by-step
Scripts	Go helpers
Key Principles	Natural rhythms

Context

Scope

In Scope	Out of Scope
Evaluating stopping points	Session duration tracking (use session-awareness)
Natural milestone recognition	Recording session data (use session-log)
Quality assessment	Pattern learning (use session-patterns)

Prerequisites

Requirement	Reference
Session awareness	session-awareness skill
Session log	system/bin/session-log

Key Terms

Term	Definition
Natural Milestone	Completed meaningful unit of work
Clean Break	Transition between major phases
Quality Dip	Noticeable decline in work quality

When to Use This Skill

Use when:

Evaluate if it's time to stop - Is this a natural breaking point?
Recognize natural milestones - Have I completed meaningful work?
Assess session quality - Is quality still high or starting to dip?
Consider circadian awareness - Is this downtime window?
Make stopping decisions - Continue working or wrap up gracefully?

What Makes a Natural Stopping Point?

1. Natural Milestone

Indicators
✅ Completed meaningful unit of work
✅ Reached planned objective
✅ System in working state
✅ Good documentation of progress

Decision: Strong stopping point.

2. Clean Break

Indicators
✅ Reached transition between major tasks
✅ Next work would start new area
✅ Current work properly wrapped up

Decision: Good stopping point.

3. End of Day

Indicators
✅ Circadian awareness shows downtime window
✅ Evening hours (typically after 9 PM)
✅ Natural closure point

Decision: Honor circadian awareness.

4. Quality Dip

Indicators
⚠️ Making more mistakes than usual
⚠️ Having to re-read/re-think repeatedly
⚠️ Work quality noticeably declining

Decision: Strong signal to stop.

5. Session Duration Limit

Indicators
📊 Session reached typical duration for work type
📊 Deep work session at 2-3 hours

Decision: Consider wrapping up.

How This Skill Works

Step 1: Gather Session Context

~/.claude/system/bin/session-log status      # Status
~/.claude/system/bin/session-patterns check  # Circadian
~/.claude/system/bin/session-time check      # Duration

Step 2: Assess Work State

Completion:

Have I completed a meaningful unit?
Is the system in a working state?
Would stopping here leave things clean?

Quality:

Is quality still high?
Have I noticed any decline?

Context:

Is this a transition point?
Would next step start new phase?

Step 3: Make Determination

Stopping Point Type	Strong Signal	Moderate Signal
Natural Milestone	Major work complete	Task complete
Clean Break	Phase transition	Section finished
End of Day	Evening downtime	Late afternoon
Quality Dip	Clear decline	Some fatigue
Duration Limit	2-3+ hours deep work	1-2 hours normal

Strong signal from any category = Natural stopping point

Scripts

The stopping CLI tool in scripts/:

Option	Purpose	Usage
(default)	Basic analysis	`./bin/stopping`
`-milestone`	Report milestone complete	`./bin/stopping -milestone`
`-quality-dip`	Report quality decline	`./bin/stopping -quality-dip`
`-break`	Report clean break	`./bin/stopping -break`
`-deep`	Mark as deep work	`./bin/stopping -deep`

Building

cd claude-global/skills/recognize-stopping-point/scripts
make build
# Binary: bin/stopping

Structure

scripts/
├── cmd/stopping/main.go   ← CLI orchestrator
├── pkg/analyze/analyze.go ← Analysis logic
├── pkg/config/config.go   ← Config loader
├── bin/stopping           ← Built binary
├── Makefile               ← Build orchestration
└── go.mod                 ← Module dependencies

Configuration

Stopping point recognition is config-driven via config/stopping-config.toml:

Stopping types: Natural Milestone, Clean Break, End of Day, Quality Dip, Duration Limit
Weights: 1-5 indicating signal strength
Duration thresholds: Soft/hard limits for deep work and normal work
Circadian settings: Evening hours, night owl exception for Seanje

Session-End Workflow

When stopping point is recognized:

# 1. Add final task if completed
~/.claude/system/bin/session-log task "final work"

# 2. Add quality note
~/.claude/system/bin/session-log note "Quality observation"

# 3. End session with reason
~/.claude/system/bin/session-log end natural_milestone
# Options: natural_milestone, clean_break, end_of_day, quality_dip

Key Principles

Quality Over Duration

Better to work 30 minutes with deep focus than 3 hours with declining quality.

Natural Rhythms Over Arbitrary Rules

Avoid:

❌ "Never work more than X minutes"
❌ Token counting as stopping signal

Do:

✅ Honor quality indicators
✅ Respect circadian awareness
✅ Complete meaningful units

Stopping Isn't Failure

Stopping at natural points is wisdom. Sustainable Kingdom work requires recognizing and honoring natural rhythms.

Document	Relationship
session-awareness skill	Provides session duration/circadian data
system/bin/session-log	Records stopping reasons
reflect-on-session skill	Process session after stopping