Save working state to STATE.md

VerifiedSafe

Update .claude/STATE.md — the working memory that survives compaction and restarts. Use when the goal/next steps/open questions change, before a long task, or when context is getting full.

Sby Skills Guide Bot
ProductivityBeginner
007/24/2026
Claude Code
#state-management#working-memory#context-preservation#claude-code#session-persistence

Recommended for

Our review

Updates a working memory file (.claude/STATE.md) to preserve context across sessions and after compaction.

Strengths

  • Enables resuming exactly where you left off after /compact
  • Clear structure with Now, Done, Next, Questions, Gotchas sections
  • Reduces cognitive load by externalizing current state

Limitations

  • Requires manual updates to stay relevant
  • Limited to ~40 lines, may be too short for complex projects
  • Does not replace more detailed documentation
When to use it

Before a long task, at the end of a session, or when context is getting full.

When not to use it

For trivial changes or when the context is already perfectly clear in the conversation.

Security analysis

Safe
Quality score85/100

The skill only uses Read, Edit, Write, and restricted Bash commands (git status, git log). It updates a local markdown file and does not perform any destructive, exfiltrating, or obfuscated actions. No external network calls or arbitrary code execution.

No concerns found

Examples

Save current progress
Update STATE.md with what we just accomplished: we refactored the auth module and wrote tests. Next step is to add rate limiting. Also note the gotcha about token expiry.
Start a new task
Before I start implementing the payment feature, save the current state so I can come back to it later.
Compact-friendly save
I'm about to run /compact. Please update STATE.md with our current goal, recent completions, and next steps.

description: Update .claude/STATE.md — the working memory that survives compaction and restarts. Use when the goal/next-step/open-questions change, before a long task, or when context is getting full. allowed-tools: Read, Edit, Write, Bash(git status:), Bash(git log:)

/save-state — write down where we are

Update .claude/STATE.md (create it if missing) so the thread survives /compact and a fresh session. Keep it SHORT — it loads every session and after every compaction.

Current context: !git -C "$PWD" log --oneline -5 2>/dev/null; echo '---'; git -C "$PWD" status --short 2>/dev/null

Rewrite STATE.md with these sections, a few bullets each:

  • Now — the one thing we're doing right now.
  • Done — finished this session (trim stale items).
  • Next — the next concrete step(s).
  • Open questions / decisions — anything unresolved, and any decision made + why.
  • Gotchas — non-obvious durable facts discovered.

Keep the whole file under ~40 lines. Then confirm in one line what you saved.

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