Lessons Learned

Capture insights and learn from past experiences.

Capture Patterns

Quick Lesson Capture

When you learn something valuable during a session:

# Write to lessons file
cat >> ~/.claude/lessons.md << 'EOF'

## [Date] - [Topic]

**Context:** What were you doing?
**Lesson:** What did you learn?
**Application:** When to apply this?

EOF

Structured Lesson

## 2024-01-15 - TypeScript Generic Constraints

**Context:**
Building a type-safe form library, struggled with generic types.

**Problem:**
Generic function wasn't narrowing types correctly.

**Solution:**
Use `extends` constraints to narrow:

function getValue<T extends { value: unknown }>(obj: T): T['value'] { return obj.value; }

**Lesson:**
TypeScript generics need explicit constraints for type narrowing.

**Tags:** #typescript #generics #types

Lesson Categories

Bug Lessons

## Bug: [Brief description]

**Symptom:** What happened
**Root Cause:** Why it happened
**Fix:** How to fix
**Prevention:** How to avoid in future
**Time Cost:** How long to debug (motivation to remember!)

Pattern Lessons

## Pattern: [Name]

**When to use:** Situations where this applies
**How to implement:** Basic structure
**Gotchas:** Common mistakes
**Example:** Working code

Tool Lessons

## Tool: [Name]

**What it does:** Brief description
**Key commands:** Most useful commands
**Gotchas:** Things that trip people up
**Alternatives:** Other options

Review Practices

Daily Review

# Review recent lessons
tail -100 ~/.claude/lessons.md

# Search for topic
grep -A 10 "typescript" ~/.claude/lessons.md

Weekly Audit

gemini -m pro -o text -e "" "Review these lessons from the past week:

$(tail -500 ~/.claude/lessons.md)

1. What patterns emerge?
2. What mistakes keep recurring?
3. What should be turned into automation?
4. What needs deeper study?"

Before Starting Work

# Get relevant lessons
TOPIC="authentication"
grep -B 2 -A 10 -i "$TOPIC" ~/.claude/lessons.md

Automation from Lessons

When a lesson appears multiple times, automate it:

Create Git Hook

# Lesson: Always run tests before commit
# → Create pre-commit hook

cat > .git/hooks/pre-commit << 'EOF'
#!/bin/bash
npm test || exit 1
EOF
chmod +x .git/hooks/pre-commit

Create Snippet

# Lesson: This pattern is useful
# → Save as snippet

cat > ~/.claude/snippets/async-error-handling.ts << 'EOF'
async function safeAsync<T>(promise: Promise<T>): Promise<[T, null] | [null, Error]> {
  try {
    const result = await promise;
    return [result, null];
  } catch (error) {
    return [null, error as Error];
  }
}
EOF

Create Checklist

# Lesson: Keep forgetting these steps
# → Create checklist

cat > ~/.claude/checklists/pr-review.md << 'EOF'
# PR Review Checklist
- [ ] Tests pass
- [ ] No console.logs
- [ ] Types are explicit
- [ ] Error handling present
- [ ] Documentation updated
EOF

AI-Assisted Learning

Extract Lessons from Session

gemini -m pro -o text -e "" "Extract lessons learned from this coding session:

[Paste conversation or summary]

For each lesson:
1. What was learned
2. When it applies
3. How to remember it"

Connect Lessons

gemini -m pro -o text -e "" "Find connections between these lessons:

$(cat ~/.claude/lessons.md)

1. What themes emerge?
2. What knowledge gaps exist?
3. What should be studied next?"

Generate Quiz

gemini -m pro -o text -e "" "Create a quiz from these lessons:

$(tail -1000 ~/.claude/lessons.md)

Generate 5 questions that test understanding of key concepts."

Storage Options

File-based

# Single file
~/.claude/lessons.md

# By date
~/.claude/lessons/2024-01.md

# By topic
~/.claude/lessons/typescript.md
~/.claude/lessons/git.md

Memory Integration

# Save to basic-memory
basic-memory tool write-note \
  --title "Lesson: TypeScript Generics" \
  --folder "lessons" \
  --content "$(cat lesson.md)" \
  --tags "lesson,typescript"

Best Practices

1. Capture immediately - Don't wait, you'll forget
2. Be specific - Include code examples
3. Note the cost - Time spent motivates remembering
4. Review regularly - Lessons fade without review
5. Automate repeated - Turn lessons into tools
6. Tag consistently - Makes searching easier
7. Connect to context - When does this apply?