Planning & Decision Graph Logging

Track every goal, decision, and outcome in the decision graph. This creates persistent memory that survives context loss.

• ALWAYS LOG BEFORE YOU CODE, NOT AFTER.
• Log at the granularity of TODOs or task items.
• When drafting a plan create the GOAL node.
• User Decisions should be tracked

When to Log (Automatic Triggers)

| Situation | Node Type | Example | |-----------|-----------|---------| | In plan mode | goal | "Add user authentication" | | TODO / Task Item | action | "Implementing JWT auth middleware" | | User requests new feature | goal | "Add user authentication" | | Choosing between approaches | decision | "Choose between JWT vs sessions" | | Considering an option | option | "Use JWT with refresh tokens" | | About to write/edit code | action | "Implementing JWT auth middleware" | | Work completed or failed | outcome | "JWT auth working" or "JWT approach failed" | | Important observation | observation | "Existing code uses cookie-based sessions" |

Commands

# Create nodes (always include confidence -c)
deciduous add goal "Title" -c 90 -p "User's exact request"
deciduous add decision "Title" -c 75
deciduous add action "Title" -c 85
deciduous add outcome "Title" -c 90
deciduous add observation "Title" -c 80

# CRITICAL: Link nodes immediately after creation
deciduous link <parent_id> <child_id> -r "Reason for connection"

# After git commits, link to the graph
deciduous add action "Committed feature X" -c 90 --commit HEAD

# View the graph
deciduous nodes
deciduous edges

Rules

1. Log BEFORE acting - Create the action node before writing code
2. Link IMMEDIATELY - Every node except root goals must have a parent
3. Capture verbatim prompts - Use -p with the user's exact words for goals
4. Include confidence - Always use -c flag (0-100)
5. Log outcomes - Both successes AND failures get logged

Confidence Guidelines

• 90-100: Certain, verified, tested
• 75-89: High confidence, likely correct
• 50-74: Moderate confidence, some uncertainty
• Below 50: Experimental, speculative

The Memory Loop

User Request → Log goal with -p
    ↓
Choose Approach → Log decision + options
    ↓
Start Coding → Log action FIRST
    ↓
Complete Work → Log outcome, link to parent
    ↓
Git Commit → Log with --commit HEAD

Remember: The decision graph is your persistent memory. Log as you work, not after.