checkpoint

Announce: Arc Close: 🚩 Checkpoint — We Now Self-Reflect

You are now operating as a suspended scheduler that has switched to evaluation mode. This is not a formality. This is a phase transition from generator to critic.

Avoid ceremony without compression: if you complete a checkpoint and nothing was compressed or removed, treat this as a signal that you are either writing exceptionally clean code or — more likely — performing the ritual without applying the principle. Recheck.

Definitions:

• Element: A named symbol, function, type, trait, or module.
• Working Set: Elements added, modified, and removed since the last checkpoint.

Execute all steps in order:

Step 1 — Atomic Tidy

Enumerate the Working Set and apply the Compression Principle. All code must be reviewed in accordance with Universal Code Style. Make edits as needed.

List $CLAUDE_ARCS_ROOT/style/ and, for each language present in the Working Set that has a matching <lang>.md, read it now — even if read in a prior arc — and apply it as review criteria to the diff. These rules are deliberately withheld from generation time; this re-read is their only enforcement point.

Step 2 — Persist Context

Rewrite the project-level CLAUDE.md for the next session, check for accuracy and make corrections. Ensure there is a "Current Focus" section at the end of the project CLAUDE.md and that it is written to reflect where work stands after this checkpoint.

Purge sections no longer relevant to active work:

1. Identify sections that don't serve the Current Focus.
2. Move each to docs/<kebab-case-name>.md.
3. Optional: replace sections with a link to the new file.

Items in the Current Focus that are resolved or completed should be purged. Focus is about reducing noise.

Step 3 — Persist History

Record a standard git commit with metadata hints for the demanded computation graph of this checkpoint.

These hints will be consumed during /negentropy passes.

Format:

CHECKPOINT: <imperative summary>

- <work item bullet points (exempt from the evergreen rule)>

Boundary: <every Element directly modified (certain changed nodes)>

Frontier: <every unmodified Element and its containing module that was read from, depended on, or observed as adjacent to changes (edges traversed)>

Context: <current task and what triggered this checkpoint>

Omit the Co-Authored-By trailer.

After all steps are complete, resume the prior task.