Keep a project decision after your AI forgets the chat

A long coding conversation can lose an older decision after compaction. A handoff summary can miss it too. For a decision you expect to use again, record the decision itself in Jackdaw and check that a new session can retrieve it.

This walkthrough preserves a current decision and its evidence, not the full conversation or the way a particular session worked.

1. Pick one decision worth keeping

Find the point in your chat, issue, or document where the choice was actually made. Write down:

• Decision: what was chosen.
• Reason: why the other option was rejected.
• Scope: which project or situation it applies to.
• Owner or review point: who can change it, or when to revisit it.
• Source: the discussion or document that supports it, if available.

For example:

“Northwind: launch to pilot accounts first, rather than all accounts. The security review is still open. Priya will revisit the rollout after that review is signed off.”

Do not turn a brainstormed option into a decision. If the team has not settled it, label it as an open question on the page.

2. Put it on the project page

In Jackdaw, open the existing Northwind project page, or create one. Add the decision, reason, and review point to its editable notes. If a connected document contains the decision, compare the captured source with Jackdaw's extracted claim before accepting it.

This gives the next session a named place to look. You can inspect the page yourself instead of trusting a conversation summary to carry the choice forward.

3. Check it from a new coding session

Connect your coding tool to Jackdaw, then start a fresh session. Ask:

“Call Jackdaw's get_context with this question: Why did we choose a pilot rollout for Northwind, and who can revisit that decision?”

Check that the agent called Jackdaw and got the decision and reason. For the full project notes, ask it to call get_context with pages: true, then read_evidence with the Northwind page name or key. If the answer is incomplete, open the Wiki page and fill in the missing detail before relying on it for code changes.

4. Record a change without losing the history

When the decision changes, update the project page with the new choice, why it changed, and which earlier choice it replaces. Review any conflicting extracted fact in the Inbox. In a new session, ask the same question again and make sure the agent uses the current choice rather than an older source excerpt.

Jackdaw can return current project context when a connected AI calls it. It does not prevent a coding tool from compacting its own chat, and MCP does not force that tool to call get_context on every turn. Ask for a fresh Jackdaw read when the decision matters.