Session Management Command

Relevant Source Files

• src/cli/session.ts
• src/storage/memory.ts
• src/storage/frontmatter.ts
• src/storage/vault-walker.ts
• src/types.ts
• test/session-cli.test.ts
• test/cli-commands.test.ts
• test/cli-json-output.test.ts

The palee session command suite manages the real-time learning lifecycle, active focus tracking, and persistence of study session records. It maintains a short-term "working memory" file (.palee/hot.md), a chronological session index (.palee/index.md), and durable session notes in .palee/sessions/.

---

1. Session Lifecycle & Architecture

A session represents an active period of study focused on a single PALEE topic. The lifecycle encompasses topic resolution, working memory synchronization, interim draft checkpoints, and final session confirmation.

Topic Resolution Hierarchy

When running commands that require an active study target (start, draft, end), PALEE resolves the target topic with resolveSessionTopicResolution() src/cli/session.ts:

1. CLI Flag Resolution: An explicit --topic <query> is resolved against the vault through the shared resolveTopicQuery resolver that review and assess use — an exact palee_id wins outright, otherwise a partial ID or case-insensitive title substring must match exactly one topic, and only if nothing matched at all is the query compared to the note's exact vault path (the identifier next and plan print, #313). The session is then recorded against that topic's canonical palee_id, never the raw argument (#302).
2. Sentinel: A --topic of (none) (whitespace tolerated) means "no topic" and is not looked up.
3. Working Memory Inspection: With no flag, the target is the active_topic frontmatter property of .palee/hot.md. That value is not re-resolved: hot.md is canonical, and refusing to end a session because its note was renamed or deleted since the session started would discard recorded work.
4. Refusal: A --topic that matches no topic, or matches several, terminates with exit code 2 and lists the candidates (the same refusal review gives for the identical string). A start/draft/end with neither a flag nor an active topic terminates with exit code 2; a refused start creates no new active session and prints no success banner (#546).

---

Working Memory (hot.md), Index (index.md) & True Duration Tracking

• .palee/hot.md (Working Memory): Automatically generated and refreshed by rebuildHotAndIndex() src/storage/memory.ts. Contains metadata on the current active topic (active_topic), session start timestamp (started_at), timestamp of last update (updated_at), and a truncated 250-word working memory excerpt of the note body for quick context recovery.
• .palee/index.md (Session Index): Chronological index of completed learning sessions, cross-referenced with topic IDs and formatted as Obsidian-style links.
• True Session Duration Persistence: When a session starts or checkpoints, its precise ISO-8601 start timestamp (started_at) is written to .palee/hot.md and interim draft checkpoints. Upon session completion, PALEE computes the exact elapsed study time in minutes and persists started_at, ended_at, and duration_minutes to the permanent session note.

---

Draft Recovery Protocol

If an unexpected interruption occurs (such as terminal closure or system reboot), PALEE leaves an unconfirmed draft note (DRAFT-S-<hex>.md) in .palee/sessions/ preserving the original started_at timestamp.

When palee session start is executed:

• Non-Interactive Mode: Alerts the user that unconfirmed drafts exist and suggests running palee session start --interactive (exiting with code 2 or emitting status: 'drafts_pending' in JSON mode).
• Interactive Mode (-i, --interactive): Prompts the user with four recovery options for each orphaned draft src/cli/session.ts#96-112:
  • [R]esume: Continues the previous session, retaining the draft.
  • [S]ave: Immediately finalizes and converts the draft into a confirmed session note (S-*.md), calculating true elapsed duration from its started_at timestamp, and unlinks the draft.
  • [D]iscard: Safely unlinks the orphaned draft checkpoint via deleteSessionNote().
  • [I]gnore: Leaves the draft file untouched on disk.
• Interactive Recovery in JSON Mode: with --json (or PALEE_JSON=1) the recovery banner and menu are written to stderr, so stdout still carries exactly one document. drafts_pending is only the non-interactive arm; an interactive run that resolves its drafts then resolves its topic like any other start — it finishes with started, or refuses with one {error} document at exit 2 when no topic resolves (#546).
• Interactive Mode at End of Input: If stdin closes before every draft has been answered (a piped or scripted run, or Ctrl+D at the prompt), the menu ends instead of re-prompting a dead stream. Unanswered checkpoints stay on disk byte-identical, no session starts, and the run exits with code 2 naming them — the same refusal the non-interactive mode already applies.

---

2. Command Subactions

The palee session command accepts four distinct action arguments:

1. palee session start

Initializes the study environment:

• Scans .palee/sessions/ for unconfirmed draft checkpoints.
• Rebuilds hot.md if missing or corrupted using resetHotMemory() and rebuildHotAndIndex().
• Resolves the study topic (via --topic, or the active topic from hot.md) and exits 2 when neither names one — no success banner is printed and no session is written (#546).
• Records the current timestamp as started_at in .palee/hot.md for the resolved topic.
• Prints the active topic ID, last session timestamp, and the working memory body excerpt from hot.md.

# Start study session in interactive recovery mode
palee session start --interactive

# Query session start status as structured JSON
# (emits drafts_pending on unconfirmed checkpoints, otherwise status: started;
# a start with no resolvable topic emits one {error} document on stderr at exit 2)
palee session start --json

2. palee session draft

Captures an interim checkpoint during an ongoing study session without closing the session:

• Resolves the study topic against the vault (--topic resolved via resolveTopicQuery, or the active topic from hot.md) and exits 2 when the flag names no single topic.
• Inherits the started_at timestamp from active hot memory if available, or records current timestamp.
• Generates a unique draft identifier (DRAFT-S-<random_hex>).
• Persists a draft markdown file in .palee/sessions/ containing topic_id, started_at, and status: 'draft'.

# Capture a checkpoint for the active topic
palee session draft

# Capture a checkpoint for an explicit topic
palee session draft --topic "T-20260814T120000-abcd"

3. palee session end

Concludes the study period, calculates actual elapsed time, and formalizes the session:

• Resolves the target topic ID against the vault (via --topic or hot.md) and exits 2 when the flag names no single topic, before any session note is written.
• 3-Tier Start Timestamp Recovery Algorithm:
  • Tier 1 (Topic Draft Checkpoints): Queries getTopicDrafts(vaultPath, topicId) for active drafts matching the topic, sorting chronologically to recover the earliest started_at.
  • Tier 2 (Active Working Memory): Reads started_at from .palee/hot.md if active_topic matches the session topic.
  • Tier 3 (Current Instant Fallback): Falls back to the current instant ended_at if no prior timestamp exists.
• Duration Calculation:

  const endedAt = new Date().toISOString();
  const durationMs = Math.max(0, new Date(endedAt).getTime() - new Date(startedAt).getTime());
  const durationMinutes = Math.round(durationMs / 60000);

• Generates a confirmed session ID (S-YYYYMMDDTHHMMSS-<hex>.md) and writes the permanent session note via writeSessionNote() containing started_at, ended_at, duration_minutes, and status: 'completed'.
• Deletes matching draft checkpoints via storage helper deleteTopicDrafts(vaultPath, topicId).
• Executes rebuildHotAndIndex() to refresh hot.md and index.md.

# Finalize the current study session
palee session end --topic "T-20260814T120000-abcd"

4. palee session list

Displays session history and pending drafts:

• Lists the most recent 10 confirmed sessions in chronological order.
• Lists all active draft checkpoints awaiting resolution.
• Supports --json for machine-readable integrations.

# List sessions in terminal
palee session list

# Output structured session JSON
palee session list --json

---

3. Options Reference for palee session

The following table lists all supported arguments and options for palee session src/types.ts#464-474:

Parameter / Flag	Type	Default	Description	Example
<action>	string	Required	Session action to perform: start, draft, end, or list.	palee session start
-i, --interactive	boolean	false	Enable interactive prompt mode for draft recovery during palee session start.	palee session start -i
--topic <query>	string	undefined	Target topic, resolved against the vault like review's argument: an exact palee_id, or a unique ID/title substring. Overrides the active_topic defined in .palee/hot.md; (none) selects no topic.	palee session end --topic "T-01"
--json	boolean	false	Output results as structured JSON. Every action answers exactly one document on stdout — start → status: "started", draft → "drafted", end → "recorded" or "already_recorded", list → {confirmed, drafts, total_confirmed, total_drafts}, and unconfirmed checkpoints on start → "drafts_pending" — while refusals put {error} on stderr at exit 2. Per-line notices and warnings are fields inside the document (consumed_drafts, warnings), never prose above it, so 2>&1 stays parseable.	palee session start --json

---

4. Physical Storage Layout & Boundary Isolation

All session metadata is isolated within the .palee/ directory at the vault root. CLI command handlers interact with this storage strictly via dedicated storage helpers (src/storage/index.ts), with zero direct fs.unlinkSync or fs.mkdirSync calls in CLI handlers:

<vaultPath>/
├── .palee/
│   ├── hot.md                     # Active working memory, topic context & started_at
│   ├── index.md                   # Chronological session index
│   └── sessions/
│       ├── S-20260814T120000-abcd1234.md       # Confirmed session record (with duration_minutes)
│       ├── S-20260814T153000-efgh5678.md       # Confirmed session record (with duration_minutes)
│       └── DRAFT-S-98765432.md             # Unconfirmed draft checkpoint (with started_at)
└── Topics/
    └── Topic-Note.md

File Naming & Schema Specifications

File Type	Path Pattern	Frontmatter Key Fields
Working Memory	.palee/hot.md	palee_schema: 1, memory_id: "H-active", active_topic: string | null, started_at: string | null, last_session: string | null, updated_at: string
Confirmed Session	.palee/sessions/S-<TIMESTAMP>-<HEX>.md	palee_schema: 1, session_id: string, topic_id: string, started_at: string, ended_at: string, duration_minutes: number, status: "completed"
Draft Checkpoint	.palee/sessions/DRAFT-S-<HEX>.md	palee_schema: 1, session_id: string, topic_id: string, started_at: string, ended_at: null, status: "draft"

---

5. Exit Codes for Session Management

Exit	Behavior
0	Session action (start, draft, end, list) completed successfully.
1	session end recorded the session note but a follow-up write partially failed: a draft checkpoint could not be deleted, or hot.md's active-session marker could not be cleared (an OCC conflict on that clear is reported as exit 4). Human mode prints the reason as a warning; under --json stdout still carries the status: "recorded" document, with the reason in warnings[] and the count in draft_cleanup_failures.
2	Vault path not configured, a --topic that resolves to no topic or to several (every candidate is listed), missing --topic for start/draft/end when no active topic exists (a refused start creates no new active session and prints no banner, so a following end still reports no active session — #546), unconfirmed drafts blocking non-interactive session start, or unknown action specified.
4	OCC conflict during session note write or hot.md update (isConflictError).
5	Unexpected runtime exception or storage boundary violation error.