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Session Lifecycle —
The discipline of starting and stopping AI sessions. Most workflow docs assume you're already in a session — these three files cover what happens at the seams.
Why this folder exists
The /wb* commands are tools you run inside a session. But the session itself has a lifecycle — open, work, save-point, close — and that lifecycle has its own economics (context-window cost) and its own mistakes (mega-threads, mid-task closes, forgotten standups).
The three docs in this folder are about that meta-layer.
The four docs
1_the_golden_save_point— how to recognize the rare repository state where everything is clean and validated. The only safe moment to start a major new feature, or to stop guilt-free.2_closing_the_session— the 3-step SOP for ending a working session. Snapshot, finalize tracker, close the window. The third step is the one that actually does the work.3_opening_a_new_session— the protocol for starting fresh. Includes the same-day "Cumulative Append" rule for tracker/standup/plan files (calendar-day = unit of persistence).4_publishing_a_release— the publishing pipeline as a session-bracketing event:/wbAudit+/wbTest→/wbRelease→npm pack --dry-run→/wbPublish→/wbRelease --restore→ handoff. Includes the one cleanup step people skip and the failure modes that result.
Reading order
Linear: 1 → 2 → 3 → 4. Each one ends with a pointer to the next.
If you only read one, read 2_closing_the_session — closing is the step people skip most often, and the one with the highest cost-per-skip (context-window economics compound across sessions).
What this folder is NOT
- Not about specific commands. For per-command details, see
../commands/. - Not about daily flow. For "10am vs. 4pm," see
../daily_use/the_daily_playbook. - Not onboarding. For "I've never done this," see
../start_here/.
Why this matters more than it looks
The cost of a bad session-close compounds. One bloated session is annoying. Five sessions that each forgot to close is a thread of half-derived state where the AI starts every response by re-figuring out what's true. The fix is cheap (close the window). The damage from skipping it is not.
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