Metis Session Start

---

name: metis-session-start description: Rehydrate a fresh session from on-disk state.

$metis-session-start

Read the minimum set of files that orients the agent to the project's current state.

Preconditions

.metis/ must exist. If it does not, stop and point at $metis-init.

Partial state inside .metis/ (missing or incomplete files) surfaces as an Anomaly in the Return rather than a hard error.

Load

In this order:

1. .metis/CURRENT.md — the previous session's handoff, including the active-task pointer. The primary rehydration source.
2. .metis/SYNTHESIS.md — what's being built, when it exists. Loaded once at session start so the rest of the session's work can lean on it without re-reading.
3. .metis/INDEX.md — the concept → source-doc map, when it exists.
4. .metis/BUILD.md — the build backlog, when it exists. Confirms the active item and shows what remains.

Do not load

• .metis/CONTRADICTIONS.md, .metis/QUESTIONS.md, .metis/RESOLVED.md — reconcile/walk artifacts. Loaded on demand by the skills that need them, not at session start.
• docs/ — source corpus. Loaded on demand by skills that turn on specific passages.

Write scope

None.

Return

• Active task — the active item: the one named by CURRENT.md Active task when it points at a live BUILD.md entry, otherwise the first To build item as next-up (the pointer lags until $metis-session-end first sets it — e.g. right after $metis-build-spec). Include backlog progress from BUILD.md (e.g. "2 built, 9 to build"). If the backlog isn't built yet, say so.
• What happened last session — one paragraph from CURRENT.md What happened. If CURRENT.md is missing or empty, say so directly.
• In flight — what's being worked on right now, from CURRENT.md Current state — including, when the active item spans multiple tasks, where the item stands and what its next task is. If nothing is in flight, say so.
• Open questions — the list from CURRENT.md Open questions. Surfaced as items the user may want to address.
• Where to start — directly from CURRENT.md Where to start. Do not rewrite — pass it through.
• Anomalies — anything unexpected: missing CURRENT.md (suggest $metis-init), an Active task pointer that names an entry absent from BUILD.md, CURRENT.md referencing files that don't exist on disk, .metis/BUILD.md or SYNTHESIS.md mentioned by the handoff but absent. Surface rather than absorb.

Invocation prompt

Silently accept and ignore any trailing free-text prompt.