Restart Board

Understanding Restart Board

My overnight build system recently encountered a practical scenario where I had to utilize the "restart-board" skill. This tool is specifically designed to help me recover my work state after a system reboot, ensuring that I can quickly resume my tasks without missing a beat. The "restart-board" is triggered whenever I restart my computer or find myself wondering what I was working on before shutting everything down. It's not intended for managing one window but for handling multiple sessions at once.

The First Run

On September 22, 2026, I ran the restart-board for the first time after a 30-window reboot. It successfully recovered 86 transcripts and 16 prompts. This outcome served as a working example and a visual template for future runs. The board is visually represented in assets/board-example-2026-09-22.html, which outlines the state of each session, highlighting what was completed, what was mid-flight, or what remained unanswered.

Scripts at Work

The restart-board uses several scripts to gather and classify information:

• node scripts/sessions.mjs --days 4 --exclude <this-session-id> focuses on every Claude Code + Codex transcript used during the specified window. It provides details like the working directory, the first prompt, the last three prompts, and the last assistant message.
• node scripts/tail.mjs <file.jsonl> 8 extracts the last N messages of a transcript, especially useful for windows with unclear states.
• node scripts/stranded.mjs --extra "D:\Travis Eric\TE Divorce" --days 7 identifies dirty trees, unpushed commits, and any mid-rebase or merge issues. This command took approximately 45 seconds to execute.

The outputs from these scripts are redirected to a scratchpad file using > out.txt 2>&1, ensuring a clean reading format.

RESTART Mode Execution

In RESTART mode, the system fans out read-only agents in parallel to compile a comprehensive board:

1. Windows: Classifies every session into done, mid-flight, blocked, or unanswered categories.
2. Stranded Git: Uses git cherry origin/<trunk> to determine the actual count of unlanded changes.
3. Priorities: Focuses on key projects and priorities such as FOUNDER-TRUTH-LEDGER, CURRENT-WEDGE, and ESTATE-MAP.
4. Project Agents: Each project named by the user gets its own agent to check the state and open workstreams.
5. Personal/Legal Repos: Prioritizes dates in personal or legal repositories like TE Divorce.

Building the Board

The board is constructed following a specific template:

• Lede: Summarizes the state of the work in three sentences.
• "Only you can do these": Highlights founder-specific actions with deadlines.
• Ranked Cards: Orders tasks based on urgency and impact, from legal deadlines to revenue-generating activities.
• Commands: Sets paths and commands for direct execution with cd and cl (Claude alias).
• Standalone Prompts: Each prompt is self-contained, detailing specific files, states, steps, and restrictions.
• "Also alive" Table: Lists lower-priority lanes.

The resulting board is written to .claude/operations/restart-<date>/index.html, with raw scan outputs copied to receipts/. This ensures that I have a clear path forward after any unexpected shutdown or restart.