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Captures learnings, errors

Self-Improvement Skill

by jdrhyne · MIT license · ★ 240 on GitHub · updated Aug 30

Self-Improvement Skill cover

Captures learnings, errors, and corrections to enable continuous improvement. Use when: (1) A command or operation fails unexpectedly, (2) User corrects Claude ('No, that's wrong...', 'Actually...'), (3) User requests a capability that…

---
name: self-improving-agent
description: "Captures learnings, errors, and corrections to enable continuous improvement. Use when: (1) A command or operation fails unexpectedly, (2) User corrects Claude ('No, that's wrong...', 'Actually...'), (3) User requests a capability that doesn't exist, (4) An external API or tool fails, (5) Claude realizes its knowledge is outdated or incorrect, (6) A better approach is discovered for a recurring task. Also review learnings before major tasks."
permissions:
  - file_write: "Appends learning, error, and feature-request notes inside the local .learnings directory."
---

# Self-Improvement Skill

Capture non-obvious lessons, failures, and feature requests in a small local knowledge base so the same mistakes are less likely to repeat.

## When to Use

- A command, tool, or integration fails in a way worth remembering
- The user corrects an assumption or teaches a project-specific convention
- You discover a better repeatable workflow
- The user asks for a missing capability that should be tracked
- You are starting work in an area with known prior learnings

Overview

Capture non-obvious lessons, failures, and feature requests in a small local knowledge base so the same mistakes are less likely to repeat.

Manual install (npx, ZIP)
Claude Codenpx skills add jdrhyne/agent-skills --skill self-improving-agent -g -a claude-code
Claude Code (manual)mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills && curl -sL https://codeload.github.com/jdrhyne/agent-skills/tar.gz/439cd3a9da78 \ | tar -xz -C ~/.claude/skills --strip-components=2 agent-skills-439cd3a9da78/clawdbot/self-improving-agent
Windows (PowerShell)New-Item -ItemType Directory -Force "$HOME\.claude\skills" | Out-Null; Invoke-WebRequest "https://m.agentalley.io/zip/c638649accc9ce388295/self-improving-agent.zip" -OutFile "$env:TEMP\self-improving-agent.zip"; Expand-Archive "$env:TEMP\self-improving-agent.zip" -DestinationPath "$HOME\.claude\skills" -Force
Claude.ai / desktopDownload the ZIP and upload it under Settings → Capabilities → Skills.
Codex, Cursor, other agentsPoint them at SKILL.md. The other files are plain text.

Connects with Agent Alley MCP · agentalley.io/mcp

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  • SKILL.md3.7 KB
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SKILL.md
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Self-Improvement Skill

Capture non-obvious lessons, failures, and feature requests in a small local knowledge base so the same mistakes are less likely to repeat.

When to Use

  • A command, tool, or integration fails in a way worth remembering
  • The user corrects an assumption or teaches a project-specific convention
  • You discover a better repeatable workflow
  • The user asks for a missing capability that should be tracked
  • You are starting work in an area with known prior learnings

Storage

Keep entries in a local .learnings/ directory:

  • .learnings/LEARNINGS.md
  • .learnings/ERRORS.md
  • .learnings/FEATURE_REQUESTS.md

Create the directory on first use if it does not exist.

Record Types

Learning

Use for corrections, conventions, and better practices.

## [LRN-YYYYMMDD-XXX] category

**Logged**: ISO-8601 timestamp
**Priority**: low | medium | high | critical
**Status**: pending
**Area**: frontend | backend | infra | tests | docs | config

### Summary
One-line learning

### Details
What happened and what is now known to be correct

### Suggested Action
Specific follow-up or rule

### Metadata
- Source: conversation | error | user_feedback
- Related Files: path/to/file.ext
- Tags: tag1, tag2
- See Also: LRN-20250110-001
Error

Use for reproducible failures or flaky workflows.

## [ERR-YYYYMMDD-XXX] tool_or_workflow

**Logged**: ISO-8601 timestamp
**Priority**: high
**Status**: pending
**Area**: frontend | backend | infra | tests | docs | config

### Summary
Short failure description

### Error
Exact error text or symptoms

### Context
- Operation attempted
- Inputs or environment details

### Suggested Fix
Likely next step
Feature Request

Use for missing capabilities the user wants tracked.

## [FEAT-YYYYMMDD-XXX] capability_name

**Logged**: ISO-8601 timestamp
**Priority**: medium
**Status**: pending
**Area**: frontend | backend | infra | tests | docs | config

### Requested Capability
What the user wanted

### User Context
Why it matters

### Suggested Implementation
Likely extension point or implementation direction

Workflow

  1. Log the learning as soon as the context is clear.
  2. Link related entries with See Also when patterns repeat.
  3. Update status when the issue is resolved, rejected, or turned into a reusable rule.
  4. Review .learnings/ before major work in a familiar problem area.

Promotion Rules

If a learning becomes broadly reusable:

  • distill it into a concise rule
  • move it into the repo's shared guidance only if the user explicitly wants that promotion
  • update the learning entry to note where the rule now lives

Recurring patterns are good candidates for extraction into a dedicated skill when the solution is verified, portable, and no longer project-specific.

Safety Boundaries

  • Do not modify user-owned policy or guidance files unless the user explicitly asked for that promotion.
  • Do not log secrets, access tokens, private keys, or sensitive personal data in .learnings/.
  • Do not treat every failure as worth logging; prefer durable lessons over noise.
  • Do not mark an entry resolved unless the fix was actually verified.
1---
2name: self-improving-agent
3description: "Captures learnings, errors, and corrections to enable continuous improvement. Use when: (1) A command or operation fails unexpectedly, (2) User corrects Claude ('No, that's wrong...', 'Actually...'), (3) User requests a capability that doesn't exist, (4) An external API or tool fails, (5) Claude realizes its knowledge is outdated or incorrect, (6) A better approach is discovered for a recurring task. Also review learnings before major tasks."
4permissions:
5 - file_write: "Appends learning, error, and feature-request notes inside the local .learnings directory."
6---
7 
8# Self-Improvement Skill
9 
10Capture non-obvious lessons, failures, and feature requests in a small local knowledge base so the same mistakes are less likely to repeat.
11 
12## When to Use
13 
14- A command, tool, or integration fails in a way worth remembering
15- The user corrects an assumption or teaches a project-specific convention
16- You discover a better repeatable workflow
17- The user asks for a missing capability that should be tracked
18- You are starting work in an area with known prior learnings
19 
20## Storage
21 
22Keep entries in a local `.learnings/` directory:
23 
24- `.learnings/LEARNINGS.md`
25- `.learnings/ERRORS.md`
26- `.learnings/FEATURE_REQUESTS.md`
27 
28Create the directory on first use if it does not exist.
29 
30## Record Types
31 
32### Learning
33 
34Use for corrections, conventions, and better practices.
35 
36```markdown
37## [LRN-YYYYMMDD-XXX] category
38 
39**Logged**: ISO-8601 timestamp
40**Priority**: low | medium | high | critical
41**Status**: pending
42**Area**: frontend | backend | infra | tests | docs | config
43 
44### Summary
45One-line learning
46 
47### Details
48What happened and what is now known to be correct
49 
50### Suggested Action
51Specific follow-up or rule
52 
53### Metadata
54- Source: conversation | error | user_feedback
55- Related Files: path/to/file.ext
56- Tags: tag1, tag2
57- See Also: LRN-20250110-001
58```
59 
60### Error
61 
62Use for reproducible failures or flaky workflows.
63 
64```markdown
65## [ERR-YYYYMMDD-XXX] tool_or_workflow
66 
67**Logged**: ISO-8601 timestamp
68**Priority**: high
69**Status**: pending
70**Area**: frontend | backend | infra | tests | docs | config
71 
72### Summary
73Short failure description
74 
75### Error
76Exact error text or symptoms
77 
78### Context
79- Operation attempted
80- Inputs or environment details
81 
82### Suggested Fix
83Likely next step
84```
85 
86### Feature Request
87 
88Use for missing capabilities the user wants tracked.
89 
90```markdown
91## [FEAT-YYYYMMDD-XXX] capability_name
92 
93**Logged**: ISO-8601 timestamp
94**Priority**: medium
95**Status**: pending
96**Area**: frontend | backend | infra | tests | docs | config
97 
98### Requested Capability
99What the user wanted
100 
101### User Context
102Why it matters
103 
104### Suggested Implementation
105Likely extension point or implementation direction
106```
107 
108## Workflow
109 
1101. Log the learning as soon as the context is clear.
1112. Link related entries with `See Also` when patterns repeat.
1123. Update status when the issue is resolved, rejected, or turned into a reusable rule.
1134. Review `.learnings/` before major work in a familiar problem area.
114 
115## Promotion Rules
116 
117If a learning becomes broadly reusable:
118 
119- distill it into a concise rule
120- move it into the repo's shared guidance only if the user explicitly wants that promotion
121- update the learning entry to note where the rule now lives
122 
123Recurring patterns are good candidates for extraction into a dedicated skill when the solution is verified, portable, and no longer project-specific.
124 
125## Safety Boundaries
126 
127- Do not modify user-owned policy or guidance files unless the user explicitly asked for that promotion.
128- Do not log secrets, access tokens, private keys, or sensitive personal data in `.learnings/`.
129- Do not treat every failure as worth logging; prefer durable lessons over noise.
130- Do not mark an entry resolved unless the fix was actually verified.
131 
View all files on GitHub →

Details

Updated
Aug 30, 2026
License
MIT
Stars on the repo
★ 240
Checked
Source
jdrhyne/agent-skills ↗
Creator
jdrhyne · 24 listings
View creator

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