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Agent skill

Progress Reading Protocol

by Archive228 in Archive228/loopkit

Run the fixed 6-step session-opening sequence — pwd, read progress, git log, count remaining features, init.sh, smoke-test last feature — before touching any new work.

MITAuto-check passedTesting & QA

Install Progress Reading Protocol

skills CLI
$ npx skills add Archive228/loopkit --skill progress-reading-protocol -a claude-code

Project install by default; add -g for ~/.claude/skills/.

GitHub CLI
$ gh skill install Archive228/loopkit progress-reading-protocol --agent claude-code

Project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).

Manual copy
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/Archive228/loopkit.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/progress-reading-protocol .claude/skills/progress-reading-protocol && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.claude/skills/ instead of .claude/skills for a personal install. The folder must contain SKILL.md.

Claude Code skills documentation · loads skills from .claude/skills/

Facts

Skill name
progress-reading-protocol
GitHub stars
755
Token cost
~1.2k tokens
SKILL.md length
616 words
Files
1
Skills in repo
52
Repo updated
First seen
Licence
MIT

At a glance

Run the fixed 6-step session-opening sequence — pwd, read progress, git log, count remaining features, init.sh, smoke-test last feature — before touching any new work.

  • Works in 2 steps: pwd — confirm you are in the project… → Read claude-progress.txt (or whatever…
  • Tasks that involve QA and bug reports
  • SKILL.md covers When to apply, Procedure — run in order, no…, Anti-patterns and Cost/benefit, plus 1 more section
  • Calls git and jq

What it does

Progress Reading Protocol is an agent skill from Archive228/loopkit. Run the fixed 6-step session-opening sequence — pwd, read progress, git log, count remaining features, init.sh, smoke-test last feature — before touching any new work. The orientation ritual that lets fresh-context sessions reconstruct project state in under a minute.

Its SKILL.md is about 1.2k tokens, which your agent loads only when the skill is triggered. It is a single SKILL.md file with no bundled scripts.

It sits in Testing & QA, covering QA and bug reports. It works with Git. The repository describes itself as: 33 battle-tested skills + minimal .claude harness for any coding agent (Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, Gemini CLI). The licence is MIT.

When your agent uses it

  • Tasks that involve QA and bug reports

Example prompts

  • “/progress-reading-protocol”

Workflow steps

2 steps, taken from the first numbered list in SKILL.md.

  1. pwd — confirm you are in the project directory. You may only edit files below this path.
  2. Read claude-progress.txt (or whatever the project's shift-notes file is called). This is the previous session's prose handoff.

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 5ae033e. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.

  • Tool permissions

    Pre-approves nothing: there is no allowed-tools line, so your agent's usual permission prompts apply.

    From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

  • Runs code

    Shell commands in SKILL.md call:

    • git
    • jq

    From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.

  • Network

    No URLs in SKILL.md. Its commands use git, which can reach the network depending on how they are called.

    From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.

  • Credentials

    Names no API keys, tokens, secrets or passwords.

    From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.

Context cost

Progress Reading Protocol loads about 1.2k tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 74 tokens; SKILL.md has 616 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it
~74
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches
~1.2k

Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.

Safety

Auto-check passed

The automated check found no risky patterns in SKILL.md.

Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); files beside SKILL.md are not scanned.

SKILL.md

The full file from Archive228/loopkit at commit 5ae033e, republished under its MIT licence (© Archive228). 616 words, ~1,152 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/progress-reading-protocol/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder).
name
progress-reading-protocol
description
Run the fixed 6-step session-opening sequence — pwd, read progress, git log, count remaining features, init.sh, smoke-test last feature — before touching any new work. The orientation ritual that lets fresh-context sessions reconstruct project state in under a minute.
when_to_use
very first tool calls of any fresh coding-agent session, rehydrating after a context reset or crash mid-project, verifying a claimed-shipped feature before…

Progress-Reading Protocol

You have no memory of the previous session. The repo does. Every fresh session burns 5-10 minutes reconstructing state unless you follow a fixed opening sequence — with the sequence, it drops to 30-60 seconds. The cost is 2-4k tokens at the top of every session; the payoff crosses over past four sessions on the same project.

Skipping steps is the failure mode. Sessions that skip the smoke-test step (6) reliably build new features on top of silently broken ones. See the "looks shipped, isn't shipped" bug (originally documented in the shift-work harness pattern).

When to apply

  • First tool calls of any coding-agent session in a multi-session project.
  • After a context reset, compaction, or crash mid-project — treat the resumed context as a fresh session.
  • Before you write a single line of new code. No exceptions for "quick fixes."

Procedure — run in order, no skipping

  1. pwd — confirm you are in the project directory. You may only edit files below this path.
  2. Read claude-progress.txt (or whatever the project's shift-notes file is called). This is the previous session's prose handoff. 2b. Read claude-decisions.json — the machine-readable ledger of decisions the loopkit pre-compact hook extracts before each compaction. Prose in claude-progress.txt tells you what the last session did; JSON in claude-decisions.json tells you what was chosen and rejected. If the two disagree on a specific choice, the JSON is the durable record. See [[active-memory-reminder]].
  3. git log --oneline -20 — see what was actually committed. If the progress file and the git log disagree, trust the git log. The progress file can be truncated by a crashed write; the log is append-only.
  4. Count remaining features — cat feature_list.json | jq '[.[] | select(.passes==false)] | length'. Adjust the field name to the project's schema. This anchors you to the source of truth for completion state.
  5. ./init.sh — bring up the dev server. If this fails, fixing it is your only job this session. Do not skip to feature work with a broken environment.
  6. Smoke-test the most recently "completed" feature — drive it end-to-end via the browser-automation tool, curl, or the actual CLI. Not unit tests. If it fails, invoke [[broken-window-check]]: revert the offending commit, flip the feature back to passes: false, and fix it before touching new work.

Only after all six steps pass do you pick new work (see [[shift-notes]] for selection heuristics).

Show full SKILL.md (230 more words)Show less

Anti-patterns

  • "I already know this repo, I'll skip the read." You do not. The context you have is the context in front of you.
  • Reading the progress file but not the git log. The prose lies; the log does not.
  • Running init.sh and assuming success without smoke-testing a feature. The dev server can start clean while every route is broken.
  • Smoke-testing with unit tests. Unit tests can pass while the feature is end-to-end broken — wrong route, missing header, config mismatch. Drive the runtime path.
  • Batching the 6 steps into "let me just get oriented." The steps are cheap because they are fixed. Improvising the orientation is where tokens leak.

Cost/benefit

Roughly 2-4k tokens and 30-60 seconds of wall-clock at the top of every session. Payoff crosses over past ~4 sessions on the same project; below that, the ritual is overhead. If your project is one-shot, use [[verification-before-completion]] instead.

  • [[shift-notes]] — the prose ledger this protocol reads and writes.
  • [[active-memory-reminder]] — the paired JSON decisions ledger read in step 2b.
  • [[broken-window-check]] — the sub-protocol for step 6 when the smoke test fails.
  • [[single-feature-per-session]] — what to do once orientation is complete.
  • [[clean-state-contract]] — the mirror discipline at session-end that makes this protocol cheap for the next session.

When NOT to apply: single-shot sessions with no prior state, or the very first session of a project (there is nothing to read yet — run the initializer instead).

© Archive228, MIT. Rendered from Markdown: HTML in the file is shown as text, images as links, and headings moved down two levels. Raw file

Files

Just SKILL.md in skills/progress-reading-protocol of Archive228/loopkit.

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 5ae033e

Compare with similar skills

Progress Reading Protocol next to the 5 skills that share the most tags, products or categories with it. Stars are the repository's; “used in” counts other GitHub owners with a copy.

Progress Reading Protocol compared with similar skills
SkillStarsUsed inTokensAuto-checkLicenceRepo updated
Progress Reading Protocol this skillArchive228/loopkit755—~1.2kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Diff-Driven Smoke TestsSkyvern-AI/skyvern23k—~5.2kAutomated safety check: PassAGPL-3.0
Diff-Driven QASkyvern-AI/skyvern23k—~4.7kAutomated safety check: WarnAGPL-3.0
Cloud UI Change Verificationwarpdotdev/warp65k—~1.2kAutomated safety check: PassAGPL-3.0
Smokenightly-labs/openbot422—~1.6kAutomated safety check: NotesCustom licence
Playwright Regression Testingfugazi/test-automation-skills-agents247—~1.4kAutomated safety check: PassMIT

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Works with

Categories

Questions about Progress Reading Protocol

What does Progress Reading Protocol do?

Run the fixed 6-step session-opening sequence — pwd, read progress, git log, count remaining features, init.sh, smoke-test last feature — before touching any new work. Progress Reading Protocol is an agent skill from Archive228/loopkit.sh, smoke-test last feature — before touching any new work.

When should I use Progress Reading Protocol?

Progress Reading Protocol fits situations like: tasks that involve QA and bug reports.

How do I install Progress Reading Protocol in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add Archive228/loopkit --skill progress-reading-protocol -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/progress-reading-protocol in Archive228/loopkit) into .claude/skills/progress-reading-protocol in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install Progress Reading Protocol in Codex?

Run `npx skills add Archive228/loopkit --skill progress-reading-protocol -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/progress-reading-protocol in Archive228/loopkit) into .agents/skills/progress-reading-protocol in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use Progress Reading Protocol in Cursor, Gemini CLI or GitHub Copilot?

Cursor, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot and OpenCode also load SKILL.md folders. With the skills CLI, run `npx skills add Archive228/loopkit --skill progress-reading-protocol -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/progress-reading-protocol, .gemini/skills/progress-reading-protocol, .github/skills/progress-reading-protocol and .opencode/skills/progress-reading-protocol in your project.

What does Progress Reading Protocol need to run?

Going by SKILL.md and its folder, Progress Reading Protocol needs the command-line tools its instructions call (git and jq).

Does Progress Reading Protocol access the network?

SKILL.md contains no URLs. Its commands use git, which can reach the network depending on how they are called. This is read from the text; nothing was executed.

Is Progress Reading Protocol safe to install?

Our automated static check of SKILL.md found no risky patterns, such as piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files or hidden Unicode. It is not a guarantee. Review the folder before installing.

What licence does Progress Reading Protocol use?

Progress Reading Protocol is published under the MIT licence (the repository's licence). It allows redistribution, so the full SKILL.md is shown on this page.

How many tokens does Progress Reading Protocol use?

About 1.2k tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 4.6k characters). Agents keep only the skill's name and description in context until a task matches; then they load SKILL.md in full.

What are the alternatives to Progress Reading Protocol?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Progress Reading Protocol: Diff-Driven Smoke Tests (Skyvern-AI/skyvern, 23k stars), Diff-Driven QA (Skyvern-AI/skyvern, 23k stars), Cloud UI Change Verification (warpdotdev/warp, 65k stars) and Smoke (nightly-labs/openbot, 422 stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Progress Reading Protocol?

Archive228 (a GitHub user) maintains it in Archive228/loopkit, which has 755 GitHub stars. The repository holds 52 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on July 14, 2026.

Source: Archive228/loopkit on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.