Captain's Log

The append-only journal that ties everything together. The cross-goal spine.

captainslog.md is one of the pillars of every .human/. Git tracks the what; the captain's log tracks the how — the per-session record of how the work actually went.

Every entry has five fields, in fixed order:

1. Intention — what this session set out to do.
2. Status — where it ended up.
3. Summary — what actually happened.
4. Lesson — the dated takeaway (see Lesson).
5. Open Items — what's left, carried forward.

Where it sits

The captain's log is what the protocol means by institutional memory: per-session, append-only, the record of how the work went that no git history captures. Its Lesson field is where a Lesson gets logged — the atomic unit that compounds into pseudoskills.

Example

## 2026-06-16 — example session
- Intention:  Add a contact form to the site.
- Status:     Done, shipped.
- Summary:    Built the form, wired up sending, and sent a test message through.
- Lesson:     A submit can succeed in the browser yet never arrive — verify the sender.
- Open Items: Add spam protection next session.

Related