superpaper-checkin

name: superpaper-checkin description: Use at the start of every session in a dissertation project — restores context and suggests what to work on

Checkin

When to Use

• Beginning of any session in a dissertation project
• User says "what should I work on?" or "where did I leave off?"
• After a long break from the project

Procedure

1. Check project exists

Check if meta/memory.md exists — this is the canonical signal that superpaper has been initialized here. CLAUDE.md alone is not sufficient (many projects have CLAUDE.md without being superpaper projects).

If meta/memory.md does not exist, stop and tell the user:

"This doesn't look like a superpaper project yet. Run init to set one up."

Do not proceed further if no project is found.

### 2. Read context (in this order)

Read each of these files, noting what is present:

1. meta/memory.md — recent decisions, current focus, open questions, key insights, next session plan
2. meta/progress.md — overall chapter status overview
3. Scan writings/*/status.md — per-chapter section states, blockers, last updated dates
4. Check meta/tasks/ — any pending AI-generated task suggestions. Only surface tasks marked as [PENDING] or without a status header. Ignore files marked [DONE] or [ARCHIVED]. If meta/tasks/ is empty or has no pending tasks, skip this step silently — don't include it in the briefing.

3. Synthesize a Session Briefing

Present a concise status report:

## Session Briefing

**Current focus:** [from memory.md Current Focus]
**Last session:** [summary of what happened from Recent Decisions]

### Chapter Status
- Ch01 Introduction: [DRAFTING] — sections 1.1-1.3 done, 1.4 TODO
- Ch02 Literature Review: [OUTLINED] — outline ready, not yet drafted
- ...

### Open Questions
- [from memory.md]

### Blockers
- [from status.md files]

### Suggested Next Steps
1. [Most impactful task based on progress and blockers]
2. [Second priority]
3. [Third priority]

Keep the briefing concise — this is orientation, not a verbose dump of all files.

Omit sections from the briefing that have no content. Don't show empty headers like 'Open Questions:' when there are no open questions. For a freshly-initialized project, the briefing can be as short as 2-3 sentences.

4. Suggest next steps

Prioritise based on:

• What memory.md's "Next Session" section says
• Which chapters have blockers that can be resolved now
• Which chapters are closest to completion
• Any pending tasks in meta/tasks/
• General lifecycle progression: don't outline before brainstorming; don't draft before outlining

5. Ask what the user wants to focus on

After presenting the briefing and suggestions, ask:

"What would you like to work on this session?"

Based on their answer, suggest the appropriate superpaper skill to invoke.

Inputs

• meta/memory.md — cross-session brain
• meta/progress.md — chapter completion overview
• writings/*/status.md — per-chapter details
• meta/tasks/ — pending task suggestions

Outputs

• Concise status briefing (NOT a verbose dump of all files)
• Prioritized task suggestions
• Skill recommendation based on user's choice

Notes

• Never fabricate progress — only report what's actually in the files
• If files are empty or minimal, say so honestly
• If the last session was recent (within a day), keep it short: "Last session you were working on X. Ready to continue?"
• If the last session was long ago, provide more context to help the user re-orient
• If meta/memory.md doesn't exist, the project hasn't been initialized — suggest running init