phren-consolidate

phren-consolidate - Cross-project synthesis

Find patterns across project findings and surface insights that apply everywhere.

Read every project's FINDINGS.md, find patterns that show up across multiple projects, and write them to a shared global findings file.

The point: something you learned on one project probably applies elsewhere. This surfaces those connections.

Prerequisites

This skill needs at least two projects with FINDINGS.md files to be useful. If you haven't captured any findings yet, use add_finding() during a session first.

Works with or without profiles. If profiles are set up, it scans projects in the active profile. If not, it scans all project directories in the phren repo.

When to run

• Monthly, or when the user asks
• After a burst of work across multiple projects
• When starting a new project (to seed it with relevant cross-cutting knowledge)

What to do

1. Find the phren directory

PHREN_DIR="${PHREN_DIR:-$HOME/.phren}"
ls "$PHREN_DIR" 2>/dev/null

If it doesn't exist, tell the user:

"No phren directory found at ~/.phren. This skill needs a phren repo with project findings. Run phren-init to set one up, or set PHREN_DIR if yours is elsewhere."

2. Gather ALL findings

Try the profile-aware path first, fall back to scanning all directories:

MACHINE=$(cat ~/.phren/.machine-id 2>/dev/null || hostname)
# look up profile in machines.yaml to get the project list

# fallback: scan all project directories
FINDINGS_FILES=()
for dir in "$PHREN_DIR"/*/; do
  if [ -f "$dir/FINDINGS.md" ]; then
    PROJECT_NAME=$(basename "$dir")
    FINDINGS_FILES+=("$PROJECT_NAME:$dir/FINDINGS.md")
  fi
done

Read every FINDINGS.md file found. Don't sample or skip any. For each file, track which project it came from.

If no FINDINGS.md files exist anywhere, tell the user:

"No FINDINGS.md files found in any project. Use add_finding() during a work session to start capturing findings."

If only one project has a FINDINGS.md, tell the user:

"Only found findings for . Need at least two projects to find cross-cutting patterns. Use add_finding() in other projects first."