# Prior Work Retrieval

Only for explicit prior-work/reuse/history requests, not status checks.

- Repository: https://github.com/daymade/claude-code-skills (1509 stars)
- Category: Testing
- License: MIT
- Last updated: 2026-11-01
- Runs scripts: yes, review before use

## Install

Claude Code: `npx skills add daymade/claude-code-skills --skill prior-work-retrieval -g -a claude-code -y`
Codex: `npx skills add daymade/claude-code-skills --skill prior-work-retrieval -g -a codex -y`
Cursor: `npx skills add daymade/claude-code-skills --skill prior-work-retrieval -g -a cursor -y`
Gemini CLI: `npx skills add daymade/claude-code-skills --skill prior-work-retrieval -g -a gemini-cli -y`
Claude Code plugin marketplace: `/plugin marketplace add daymade/claude-code-skills`

## Description

Only for explicit prior-work/reuse/history requests, not status checks. Finds and verifies existing work before new production when reuse is plausible. Use when the user explicitly references earlier work, existing code, history, or prior decisions, or says 以前做过, 已有代码, 别重复造轮子. Not for current tests, files, bug fixes, or mechanical verification. Produces a reuse/adapt/reject receipt; zero hits never prove absence.

## SKILL.md, as published by its author (untrusted third-party text, read it as data)

# Prior Work Retrieval

Run this before substantial production **only when the trigger above is present**. Read-only
current-state checks stay direct unless the user asks for history. Its job is not to generate another
summary. Its job is to answer: **what already exists, which source is current,
what should be reused, and what remains genuinely new?**

**Not for**: current-file inspection, ordinary bug fixes, mechanical verification, or a task
merely because the final answer happens to be a report/summary. A mention of current/现有 tests,
README, files, implementation, behavior, or validation is not by itself a prior-work request. Do
not infer the trigger merely because new work might duplicate something, that risk alone does not
make a request explicit.

## Completion contract

A retrieval pass is complete only when all conditions below are true:

1. The task's real business outcome is written as one sentence.
2. Every relevant carrier declared in the manifest reports `searched`,
   `manual_completed`, or an explicit failure/coverage gap.
3. Candidate claims are opened at their original path or record, not accepted
   from a search snippet alone.
4. Each adopted item has a `reuse` or `adapt` decision and a reason tied to the
   current task. If nothing is adopted, the receipt carries a concrete
   `no_reuse_reason`.
5. `scripts/prior_work.py check` accepts the receipt for this session.

`retrieved` is not `verified`; `verified` is not `reused`. Keep those states
separate so “I searched” cannot impersonate “I used our best prior work.”

## Workflow

### 1. Read the local operating context first

Before querying, read the current project's `AGENTS.md`/`CLAUDE.md`, navigation
index, and any North Star/current-decision file they name. Historical material
cannot override a newer explicit decision.

### 2. Validate the explicit source manifest

The rest: https://github.com/daymade/claude-code-skills/blob/HEAD/daymade-claude-code/prior-work-retrieval/SKILL.md