history-analysis

History Analysis

Overview

As iterations accumulate, the output of evo-dag show history grows too large to read in a single terminal command. Naively piping through head -200 or tail -200 discards critical information — early iterations' lessons are lost with tail, and recent results are lost with head. This skill provides a structured methodology to analyze the complete history using targeted CLI commands, producing a focused summary of what matters for the current iteration.

When to Use

At the start of every session (Session 0, 1, and 2) before any other work. The history analysis provides the context needed for informed decisions — skipping it leads to repeated mistakes, redundant patches, and missed lessons.

The Problem with Truncation

Do NOT pipe evo-dag show history through head, tail, or any truncation command. This loses information:

• head -N: Loses all recent iterations' results and reflections
• tail -N: Loses early iterations' foundational lessons and patterns
• Increasing the number (head -300, tail -500) is a losing battle — the history grows every iteration

History Analysis Procedure

Step 1: Quick Orientation

Start with small, complete outputs to establish context:

# DAG topology and best candidate (always small output)
evo-dag summary

# DAG lineage visualization (always small output)
evo-dag show lineage

From this, note:

• How many iterations have been run
• Which candidate has the best dev score
• The current lineage path

Step 2: Full History via File Redirect

Redirect the full history to a temporary file and read it with file tools. This avoids terminal output truncation entirely:

evo-dag show history > /tmp/evo_history.txt

Then read the file in sections using file reading tools (e.g., cat with line ranges, or IDE file reading). This lets you see the complete history regardless of length.

Read the file in manageable sections:

• Start from the beginning to understand early foundational changes
• Read the end to see the most recent iterations
• Search for specific patterns or scenario IDs as needed