mistake-notebook

Mistake Notebook

Location

Mistake Notebook appear in two locations:

• Project-local Mistake Notebook: MISTAKE.md in project root folder.
• Universal Mistake Notebook: ~/MISTAKE.md in user home directory.

Mistake Notebook is used to record common mistakes made in previous conversation, memorizing problem solving experience for future use. Agents can:

1. Read Mistake Notebook for quick problem -> solution look up.
2. Append to Mistake Notebook when new problem being solved.

This prevents agents from making the same mistake again.

Project-local vs Universal

Project-local Mistake Notebook MISTAKE.md:

• Record project related mistakes not applies universally.
• Tracked by git if in a git repository.

Universal Mistake Notebook ~/MISTAKE.md:

• Record generic, programmatic mistakes that has no project-local context.
• Appears in user home directory.

Triggers

Trigger 1: Severe Problem Encountered

When encounter a severe problem:

• Look for solution in both MISTAKE.md and ~/MISTAKE.md.
• If found:
  • Try fix the problem using the solution found in Mistake Notebook.
  • If problem fixed:
    • Done.
  • If problem persists:
    • Figure out why the existing solution in Mistake Notebook didn't work.
    • If the problem solved:
      • Goto 'Trigger 2: Severe Problem Fixed'
• If not found:
  • Work out the problem on ourselves.
  • If the problem solved:
    • Goto 'Trigger 2: Severe Problem Fixed'

Trigger 2: Severe Problem Fixed

After you fixed a severe mistake:

• If the problem is solved with a clear solution that is valuable to be recorded:
  • Goto 'Memorizing Problem Solutions'.

Trigger 3: User Ask for Memorizing Mistake

When user requested 'Do not make this mistake again':

• If the problem not solved yet according to conversation context:
  • Work on solve the problem first.
  • If the problem is solved:
    • Report user for your discovery.
    • Goto 'Memorizing Problem Solutions'.
• If the problem is solved as user intented:
  • Goto 'Memorizing Problem Solutions'.

Memorizing Problem Solutions

• If a problem is solved with a clear solution:
  • Check if this problem is already recorded in MISTAKE.md and ~/MISTAKE.md:
    • Already recorded:
      • If the recorded solution is not working or out-of-date:
        • Update the recorded solution according to 'Mistake Solution Format'.
    • Not recorded yet:
      • If the problem is related to this project:
        • Choose MISTAKE.md.
      • If the problem is generic and universal:
        • Choose ~/MISTAKE.md.
      • Append soltuion to the choosen Mistake Notebook according to 'Mistake Solution Format'.
      • Make a brief report in response for:
        • The mistake you made.
        • What you learnt from this mistake.
        • What is the solution to the problem.
        • Report that you have updated the Mistake Notebook.

Mistake Solution Format

Mistake Notebook maintains a quick problem -> solution look up reference in the following format:

# Mistake Notebook

This is the Mistake Notebook, use the mistake-notebook skill to retrive more details.

Below is a list of mistakes I previously made and solved:

## Mistake - [A short title]

- Creation Date: YYYY-MM-DD
- Last Update Date: YYYY-MM-DD
- Project: [project folder path when this mistake was found]
- Branch: [branch when this mistake was happening]
- Commit: [commit SHA when this mistake was happening]

### Problem:

[list situations when the problem occurred:]
- XXX fails.
- YYY reports ZZZ.
- ...

### Insights:

[list your insights and discoveries when solving this problem:]
- This is because XXX lacks AAA.
- I found that YYY depends on BBB for CCC.
- ...

### Solution:

[A brief explaination (<10 words) on how this problem was solved.]

[list steps how this problem was solved:]
- Try turn on AAA.
- Try add BBB for CCC.
- ...
- And XXX fixed.

Edge Cases

• If Mistake Notebook not exist, create one.
• If Mistake Notebook exist, append to it.
• If writting into Mistake Notebook failed due to permission issues, report by outputing response in the 'Mistake' format.