reflect: check for an already-drafted-but-unlanded prior lesson

[EdbertChan]

Summary

• Found via /reflect on a CI-repair task in the Invoker repo: a prior reflect commit had already documented a "same root cause independently fixed N times on unmerged disposable branches" pattern, but that commit itself sat unmerged on its own PR branch — and the exact pattern it documented recurred and was independently rediscovered by a sibling workflow about an hour later. The lesson about unlanded fixes was itself an unlanded fix.
• Adds a check to SKILL.md step 6: before drafting a new skill edit, search the target repo's history for a prior reflect commit touching the same file/section and verify it actually landed (git merge-base --is-ancestor) before assuming the lesson is in effect, to avoid writing a third divergent copy of the same lesson.

Test plan

• Read the diff — single additive bullet in step 6, matches existing section's tone/format.
• Not independently testable (skill prose, not code); reviewed for consistency with surrounding guidance.

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

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Note

Low Risk
Procedural documentation only in skills/reflect/SKILL.md; no runtime code, auth, or data paths.

Overview
Step 6 of the reflect skill now requires checking for an earlier reflect commit that already drafted the same lesson on the target file/section but never merged, so agents don’t add another divergent copy of the same guidance.

The new bullet explains that unmerged skill edits aren’t in effect, and points to concrete git checks (git log --all --grep="reflect" -i -- <file>, git merge-base --is-ancestor <candidate> HEAD). When a matching draft exists, extend or adapt it and call out commit/branch in the summary for duplicate-PR cleanup.

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Landed check uses wrong ref

Medium Severity

The new unlanded-draft check treats git merge-base --is-ancestor <candidate> HEAD as proof a prior reflect lesson has landed and is in effect. HEAD is the working-branch tip, not the trunk sibling workflows start from. On a stacked PR, an earlier unmerged reflect commit is already an ancestor of HEAD, so the check can miss the exact disposable-branch failure mode this bullet exists to catch.

 

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