chronicle-project-tracker

Chronicle Project Tracker

This skill helps you manage project development meta-state using Chronicle's built-in project tracking features. Use MCP tools for programmatic access or CLI commands for portability.

Auto-Activation

This skill auto-activates! (Milestone #13)

Prompts like "what's next?" or "show roadmap" automatically trigger this skill. No manual loading needed!

Trigger patterns: what's next, show roadmap, create milestone, track progress

See: docs/HOOKS.md for full details

When to Use This Skill

Use this skill when:

• Planning new features or milestones
• Tracking development progress
• Viewing project roadmap
• Linking sessions to milestones
• Checking what's in progress or planned
• Answering "what should I work on next?"
• Generating progress reports

Available Tools (MCP + CLI)

MCP Tools (Programmatic Access)

Query Tools:

• mcp__chronicle__get_milestones(status, milestone_type, limit) - List milestones
• mcp__chronicle__get_milestone(milestone_id) - Get milestone details
• mcp__chronicle__get_next_steps(completed, milestone_id, limit) - List next steps
• mcp__chronicle__get_roadmap(days) - View project roadmap

Update Tools:

• mcp__chronicle__update_milestone_status(milestone_id, new_status) - Update status
• mcp__chronicle__complete_next_step(step_id) - Mark step complete

CLI Commands (Portable)

See "CLI Commands Reference" section below for full list.

Key commands:

• chronicle milestones - List milestones
• chronicle roadmap - View roadmap
• chronicle next-steps - List next steps
• chronicle milestone-complete <id> - Mark complete

Workflow: Planning a New Feature

When user wants to add a new feature:

1. Check existing roadmap to avoid duplicates:

``python roadmap = mcp__chronicle__get_roadmap(days=30) # Review planned milestones ``

1. Create milestone via CLI (user runs this):

``bash chronicle milestone "Feature name" \ --description "What it does" \ --type feature \ --priority 1 \ --tags "phase-5,api,backend" ``

1. Break down into next steps:

``bash chronicle next-step "Design API endpoints" --priority 1 --effort medium --milestone <ID> chronicle next-step "Write tests" --priority 2 --effort small --milestone <ID> chronicle next-step "Document in README" --priority 3 --effort small --milestone <ID> ``

1. Update status when starting work:

``python mcp__chronicle__update_milestone_status(milestone_id=1, new_status="in_progress") ``

Workflow: Session Linking

When completing a development session:

1. Get session ID from recent sessions:

``python sessions = mcp__chronicle__get_sessions(limit=5) latest_session_id = sessions[0]['id'] ``

1. Find active milestone:

``python milestones = mcp__chronicle__get_milestones(status="in_progress") active_milestone_id = milestones[0]['id'] ``

1. Link them (user runs this):

``bash chronicle link-session <session_id> --milestone <milestone_id> ``

1. Complete next steps as work progresses:

``python mcp__chronicle__complete_next_step(step_id=1) ``

Workflow: Generating Progress Reports

When user asks "what did I accomplish this week?":

1. Get roadmap:

``python roadmap = mcp__chronicle__get_roadmap(days=7) ``

1. Extract info:
2. roadmap['recently_completed'] - Milestones completed in last 7 days
3. roadmap['in_progress'] - Current active work
4. roadmap['summary'] - Statistics

1. Get linked sessions for each completed milestone:

``python for milestone in roadmap['recently_completed']: milestone_details = mcp__chronicle__get_milestone(milestone['id']) sessions = milestone_details['linked_sessions'] # Summarize work done ``

1. Format report showing:
2. Completed milestones with linked sessions
3. Git commits from those sessions
4. Time spent (from session durations)
5. Key files modified

Workflow: Viewing Roadmap

When user asks "what's next?" or "show me the roadmap":

# Get full roadmap
roadmap = mcp__chronicle__get_roadmap(days=7)

# Present in organized format:
print("🚧 IN PROGRESS:")
for m in roadmap['in_progress']:
    print(f"  - {m['title']} ({len(m['related_sessions'])} sessions)")

print("\n📋 PLANNED (High Priority):")
for m in roadmap['planned_high_priority']:
    print(f"  - [P{m['priority']}] {m['title']}")

print("\n🔜 NEXT STEPS:")
for step in roadmap['pending_next_steps']:
    effort = f" [{step['estimated_effort']}]" if step['estimated_effort'] else ""
    print(f"  - [P{step['priority']}] {step['description']}{effort}")

print("\n✅ RECENTLY COMPLETED:")
for m in roadmap['recently_completed']:
    print(f"  - {m['title']} ({m['completed_at']})")

Workflow: Completing a Milestone

When all work for a milestone is done:

1. Verify all next steps completed:

``python steps = mcp__chronicle__get_next_steps(milestone_id=<ID>, completed=False) if len(steps['next_steps']) == 0: # All done! ``

1. Mark milestone complete (user runs):

``bash chronicle milestone-complete <ID> ``

1. Auto-generates documentation by querying:

``python milestone = mcp__chronicle__get_milestone(<ID>) # Has all linked sessions, commits, duration # Can auto-update DEVELOPMENT_HISTORY.md or export to Obsidian ``

Querying Examples

"What features are in progress?"

milestones = mcp__chronicle__get_milestones(status="in_progress")
for m in milestones['milestones']:
    sessions = len(m['related_sessions'])
    print(f"{m['title']}: {sessions} sessions so far")

"What's the highest priority work?"

roadmap = mcp__chronicle__get_roadmap()
top_planned = roadmap['planned_high_priority'][0]
print(f"Next up: {top_planned['title']} (P{top_planned['priority']})")

"Show me all optimization work"

milestones = mcp__chronicle__get_milestones(milestone_type="optimization")

"What work did session 16 contribute to?"

# Get all milestones
all_milestones = mcp__chronicle__get_milestones(limit=100)
for m in all_milestones['milestones']:
    if 16 in m['related_sessions']:
        print(f"Session 16 worked on: {m['title']}")

Statistics & Reports

Weekly Progress Report

roadmap = mcp__chronicle__get_roadmap(days=7)

completed_count = len(roadmap['recently_completed'])
in_progress_count = len(roadmap['in_progress'])

print(f"Week of {date}:")
print(f"✅ {completed_count} milestones completed")
print(f"🚧 {in_progress_count} milestones in progress")
print(f"⏰ {roadmap['summary']['total_next_steps'] - roadmap['summary']['completed_next_steps']} pending tasks")

Milestone Velocity

# Get all completed milestones
completed = mcp__chronicle__get_milestones(status="completed", limit=100)

# Calculate average time from creation to completion
durations = []
for m in completed['milestones']:
    created = datetime.fromisoformat(m['created_at'])
    completed_at = datetime.fromisoformat(m['completed_at'])
    durations.append((completed_at - created).days)

avg_days = sum(durations) / len(durations)
print(f"Average milestone completion time: {avg_days:.1f} days")

Auto-Documentation Pattern

Instead of manually updating DEVELOPMENT_HISTORY.md:

# Query completed milestones
completed = mcp__chronicle__get_milestones(status="completed")

# For each milestone, get details
for milestone in completed['milestones']:
    details = mcp__chronicle__get_milestone(milestone['id'])

    # Extract:
    # - Title, description
    # - Related sessions (with summaries)
    # - Related commits (with messages)
    # - Duration (from session data)
    # - Files modified (from commits)

    # Generate markdown section
    md = f"### {details['title']}\n"
    md += f"{details['description']}\n\n"
    md += f"**Status**: {details['s