snapshot

/snapshot — On-Demand Session Snapshot (cowork variant)

Archive a snapshot of the current Cowork conversation to intake/pre-compact-captures/ for later review. Same on-disk shape as aria-knowledge's /snapshot output — both plugins' /audit-knowledge can read snapshots from this directory regardless of which plugin wrote them.

Cowork variant of aria-knowledge's /snapshot. Output schema (path, frontmatter, body format) byte-aligned where possible. Source acquisition differs significantly — Cowork has no ~/.claude/projects/{cwd-encoded}/{session-id}.jsonl access per probe 12 + Cowork-runtime constraints. Item #14 locks define a 3-path source acquisition chain:

1. Cowork transcript MCP (if exposed at invocation time) — verbatim transcript
2. User-paste — verbatim user-supplied content
3. Claude-recall fallback — Claude writes a structured recall-based snapshot from current context

Path 1 is preferred when available. Path 2 is the typical case. Path 3 is the last-resort fallback when paste is declined or impractical.

No hook companion in cowork. aria-knowledge's /snapshot has a pre-compact-check.sh hook that auto-invokes /snapshot before context compaction. Cowork has no hook layer (per ADR-001 + ADR-004), so /snapshot is manual-invoke only. Invoke before expected compaction events, before risky operations, before switching context, or any time you want the conversation preserved.

Runtime Gate (per ADR-094)

Canonical resolution: This is the Claude Cowork variant — namespaced-only. When both plugin-claude-code and plugin-claude-cowork are loaded in the same session (most common in Claude Desktop), bare /snapshot resolves to aria-knowledge's variant — Code is the canonical owner of all 24 dual-port skills per ADR-094 §Part 1. To reach this skill, use the namespaced form: /aria-cowork:snapshot. Do NOT match bare /snapshot — that belongs to aria-knowledge.

Before Step 0: Check whether the Bash tool is available in this session. If Bash IS available (you are running in Claude Code or another runtime with shell access), surface the following notification and wait for explicit user confirmation:

⚠️ Runtime mismatch — you invoked aria-cowork's /snapshot from a runtime with shell access.

This variant uses 3-path source acquisition (transcript MCP → user-paste → Claude-recall) because Cowork lacks the ~/.claude/projects/.../jsonl path. For the Code-native variant (reads raw transcript directly via save-transcript.sh), use /snapshot (the aria-knowledge canonical).

Use /snapshot instead? (y / n)

Wait for an explicit reply:

• y / yes — Use the Skill tool to invoke snapshot (the bare-slash canonical, which routes to aria-knowledge when both ports are loaded) with the same arguments the user provided to this invocation. Do not proceed with this skill's steps; the aria-knowledge variant takes over and runs to completion. This is the default-yes path — auto-redirect is the helpful action.
• n / no — Proceed with this (aria-cowork) variant anyway despite the runtime mismatch. The user has explicitly opted in.
• No response / any other reply — Treat as "do not proceed" and exit cleanly without running either variant.

This gate applies even when mode = auto per ADR-094 §Part 3. Auto mode's "implicit-yes on all gates" rule is suspended for the runtime-mismatch check — auto trusts that the user invoked the correct variant, and this gate enforces that precondition. All other auto-mode gates remain bypassed. The friction cost is now low: on y, the auto-redirect runs the correct variant with the original args.

If Bash is NOT available (normal Cowork runtime), proceed to Step 0.

When to use this vs /extract vs /clip

• /snapshot — raw archive (or structured recall when raw unavailable), no synthesis. Use before switching context, before a risky operation, or any time you want the full conversation preserved.
• /extract — synthesizes knowledge from the current conversation into backlogs/ideas. Use when you want captured insights, not the full transcript.
• /clip — saves a single URL or snippet. Unrelated to session transcripts.

/snapshot is intentionally orthogonal: it preserves the raw record (or best-available approximation) so /extract (or a human review) can work from it later.

Step 0: Resolve config

The default knowledge folder is ~/Projects/knowledge/ (expand ~ to your home directory's absolute path). Read <knowledge_folder>/aria-config.md and extract knowledge_folder. If aria-config.md doesn't exist, stop: "aria-cowork is not configured. Run /aria-setup to get started."

Use <knowledge_folder> for all file operations during this session.

Step 1: Determine snapshot identifier

Compute the snapshot filename: <knowledge_folder>/intake/pre-compact-captures/{YYYY-MM-DD}_{identifier}.md.

• {YYYY-MM-DD} — today's date.
• {identifier} — pick the first available of:
• Cowork session ID (if reachable via MCP — typically 8-character truncated form like a1b2c3d4)
• Unix timestamp suffix (e.g., 1715990400) when no session ID is available
• Manual user-provided label if the user supplies one via natural-language prompt (e.g., "snapshot as 'stakeholder-prep-q3'")

Collision handling: if the target file already exists for the same date + identifier, append -2, -3, etc. to the identifier until unique. Mirrors aria-knowledge's overwrite-same-session behavior except cowork preserves prior snapshots (cowork has fewer snapshots due to no hook auto-creation; preserving them avoids accidental loss).

Folder creation: if <knowledge_folder>/intake/pre-compact-captures/ does not exist, create it lazily on first /snapshot invocation. This folder was historically Code-only (aria-knowledge's hook wrote there exclusively); v0.3.0 makes it a shared folder both plugins can write to.

Step 2: Source acquisition (3-path chain)

Path 1: Cowork transcript MCP (preferred — if exposed)

Probe at invocation time for a Cowork MCP tool that exposes the current session's transcript. Common candidate names: mcp__session_info__read_transcript, mcp__session_info__get_current, or similar.

• If a current-session transcript MCP is found: invoke it; capture the returned transcript verbatim. Record the source as Path 1 (MCP). Skip to Step 3.
• If the MCP returns "Session not found" or similar for current session (per the 2026-04-30 probe finding): fall through to Path 2.
• If no such MCP is available: fall through to Path 2.

This probe is invocation-time, not setup-time — Cowork's MCP catalog may evolve, and this skill is meant to opportunistically use newer surfaces as they ship.

Path 2: User-paste (typical case)

Prompt the user:

"Cowork doesn't expose a current-session transcript MCP from this conversation. To capture the verbatim conversation, paste it below. Or press enter to use a structured recall-based snapshot instead.

Paste conversation here (or press enter to skip):"

If the user pastes content:

• Capture the pasted content verbatim. Record the source as Path 2 (user-paste). Skip to Step 3.
• Don't validate paste content — accept whatever the user provides (could be partial, could be JSON-shaped, could be plain text). The user knows what they want preserved.

If the user presses enter without pasting (or replies "no" / "skip"):

• Fall through to Path 3.

Path 3: Claude-recall fallback

When neither MCP nor paste produces content, Claude writes a structured recall-based snapshot from current context. This is approximation — Claude's working memory of the conversation, not a verbatim transcript.

Compose a structured snapshot body with these sections (per #14n):

## Conversation Summary
{2-3 sentence overview of what was discussed and the outcome.}

## Decisions Surfaced
- {Each significant decision made or surfaced in the co