docs: remove the pql-improvements notes
The internal pql-improvement notes are retired; the actionable items live as pql tickets now. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
This commit is contained in:
Claude Opus 4.8
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# pql — improvement notes from a live session
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Feedback for [`postmeridiem/pql`](https://github.com/postmeridiem/pql), gathered
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while using pql as the planning backend for the `clide` repo. Everything below
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was observed first-hand, not inferred from docs.
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**Environment**
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- pql `1.5.0`, commit `ab191fb`, schema_version 1 (binary), DB schema_version 2.
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- Consumer: a single-dev repo using pql for decisions + tickets, with pql's
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installed git hooks (`.pql/hooks/post-checkout`, `post-merge`, `post-rewrite`,
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`pre-commit`) and a git-tracked `.pql/changelog/` + `.pql/pql-plan.json`.
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The core is genuinely good — structural queries, the decision/ticket model, exit
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codes, and the changelog-as-source-of-truth idea all worked. The notes below are
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where it bit us or surprised us, roughly in priority order.
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---
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## 1. CRITICAL — ticket mutations aren't persisted, and rebuild-on-checkout silently destroys them
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**Observed.** `pql ticket new` (and `ticket status` / `ticket block`) write only to
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`.pql/pql.db`, which is gitignored. Nothing writes through to the git-tracked
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`.pql/changelog/` automatically. Separately, pql's installed `post-checkout` and
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`post-merge` hooks run `pql plan rebuild`, which replays the **committed**
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changelog and overwrites `pql.db`.
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The two facts combine into silent data loss:
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1. Created an 18-ticket tree (an initiative + 4 epics + tasks, with blockers and
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decision refs) via a series of `pql ticket new` calls. Verified present in
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`pql ticket list`.
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2. A routine `git checkout` fired `post-checkout` → `pql plan rebuild` → `pql.db`
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was rebuilt from the changelog, which still ended at the previous max ticket.
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3. All 18 tickets were gone. No warning, no prompt.
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**Impact.** Total, silent loss of un-exported planning work on an ordinary git
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operation. The user did nothing wrong — they switched branches.
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**Repro.**
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```bash
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pql ticket new task "scratch ticket" # lands in pql.db only
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git checkout -b somebranch # post-checkout runs `pql plan rebuild`
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pql ticket list | grep "scratch" # gone
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```
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**Suggested fixes** (any one closes the hole; (a) is the principled one):
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- **(a) Write-through.** Have ticket/decision mutations append to the changelog
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at mutation time, making the changelog the log of record and `pql.db` a derived
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cache. Then rebuild is always safe.
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- **(b) Divergence guard.** `pql plan rebuild` (and the hooks that call it) should
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detect when `pql.db` holds rows not represented in the changelog and refuse or
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loudly warn instead of overwriting — e.g. *"pql.db has 18 un-exported rows; run
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`pql plan export` first, or pass --force."*
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- **(c) Non-destructive rebuild.** Merge the changelog into `pql.db` rather than
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replacing it.
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At an absolute minimum, the `post-checkout`/`post-merge` hooks should not
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discard local state without a word.
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---
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## 2. `pql plan export` writes the changelog, but docs/help say it writes a JSON snapshot
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**Observed.** `pql plan export` wrote:
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```
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{"files_written":[".pql/changelog/ticket_deps/2026-06.sql",
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".pql/changelog/tickets/2026-06.sql"],"rows_written":23}
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```
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It did **not** touch `.pql/pql-plan.json`, which stayed frozen at an older date
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across every mutation and export this session. But the `--help` text and the
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bundled skill both describe export as *"Snapshot planning state to JSON (default:
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`pql-plan.json`)"* and recommend committing `pql-plan.json`.
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**Impact.** Users (and the bundled skill) commit `pql-plan.json` believing it is
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the durable artifact. It is stale. The actually-durable artifact is the
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changelog. This directly compounds #1 — people think they've versioned their
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planning state when they haven't.
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**Suggested fix.** Make `--help`, docs, and the embedded skill match real
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behavior. Clarify the role of `pql-plan.json` vs `.pql/changelog/`: is the JSON
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snapshot deprecated in favor of the changelog? If both exist, document which one
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`pql plan import` / `pql plan rebuild` prefer.
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---
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## 3. Schema upgrade is a hard break requiring multi-step manual recovery
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**Observed.** After a pql binary upgrade, every planning command failed:
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```
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$ pql decisions sync
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planning: decision_refs.created_at missing — pql.db is from an earlier schema.
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$ pql plan status
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planning: decisions.created_at missing — pql.db is from an earlier schema.
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```
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(exit 69). Recovery was manual and multi-step: delete `pql.db`, `pql plan
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rebuild`, then `pql decisions sync`.
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**Impact.** All planning surfaces are dead until the user performs a manual
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recovery they have to read out of the error text. Easy to get wrong (the error
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also offers a `--legacy pql-plan.json` path — see #4).
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**Suggested fix.** Auto-migrate the schema on open (additive column adds are
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cheap), or ship a single `pql plan repair` / `pql migrate` command that performs
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the safe delete-rebuild-sync sequence (with a backup of the old DB).
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---
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## 4. Schema-error recovery hint can point at the stale snapshot
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**Observed.** The schema error (see #3) lists recovery options including
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`pql plan import --legacy .pql/pql-plan.json`. Given #2 (that file is stale), a
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user following that branch restores an out-of-date snapshot. The correct path
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was the changelog rebuild.
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**Suggested fix.** In the recovery list, prefer/recommend `pql plan rebuild` when
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`.pql/changelog/` is present, and annotate the `pql-plan.json` option as
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potentially stale.
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---
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## 5. Scripting ergonomics — no id-only output from `pql ticket new`
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**Observed.** Building a ticket tree means capturing each created ticket's id to
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use as the next call's `--parent`/blocker. `pql ticket new` emits the full ticket
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JSON, so a creation script must parse `.id` out of every call.
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**Suggested fix.** A `--quiet` / `--id-only` (or `-o id`) flag that prints just
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the new `T-NNN`, so tree-creation scripts stay simple. (Determinism is already a
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strength: re-running the same `new` calls in order against a clean baseline
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reproduces the same ids — which is what let us recover from #1.)
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---
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## 6. Minor — bundled skill assumes binary features the installed version lacks
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**Observed.** The bundled `pql` skill documents `pql ticket show --tree`,
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`--leaf`, `--unblocked`, `--under`, and `pql ticket append` (annotated "pql ≥
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1.6.0"). The installed binary reports 1.5.0 as current (`pql doctor` /
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`pql skill status`), and rejects them:
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```
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$ pql ticket show T-65 --tree
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unknown flag: --tree # exit 64
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```
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**Impact.** A consumer following the skill hits unknown-flag errors and has to
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discover the 1.5.0 fallbacks (`--with-children`, `--with-blockers`) by trial.
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**Suggested fix.** Keep the embedded skill's documented surface in lockstep with
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the binary it ships alongside, or have `pql skill install` stamp/gate
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version-specific sections so the skill never advertises flags the paired binary
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doesn't have.
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---
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## 7. Question-index regeneration drops the "Resolved questions" section
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**Observed.** The repo keeps a human-readable index of decisions/questions in
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`governance/README.md`, regenerated by `pql decisions sync` (run by the installed
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hooks). After a sync, the regenerated index moves every *resolved* question back
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into the main (open) list, in numeric order, and deletes the `## Resolved
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questions` heading entirely. Concretely, Q-6, Q-19, Q-21, Q-22 are all
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`status: resolved` per `pql decisions show`, yet the regenerated README lists
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them as if open.
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**Impact.** Two problems: (a) the index mislabels resolved questions as open, so
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the doc lies about project state; and (b) because a hook regenerates it on every
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sync/commit, it produces a persistent false-dirty diff — `git restore` it and the
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next pql operation brings it back, so the working tree never stays clean.
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**Repro.**
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```bash
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pql decisions show Q-6 # -> status: resolved
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pql decisions sync # regenerates governance/README.md
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git diff governance/README.md
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# Q-6/19/21/22 moved into the open list; "## Resolved questions" section gone
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```
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**Suggested fix.** The index generator should key each question's section off its
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`status` (open vs resolved vs withdrawn) and keep resolved/withdrawn entries
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under their own heading — i.e. round-trip the same structure it parses, so a
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sync is idempotent and doesn't reclassify resolved questions.
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---
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## Summary
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The one that matters most is **#1** — a routine `git checkout` can silently erase
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planning work because mutations live only in a gitignored DB and the
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pql-installed hooks rebuild that DB destructively. **#2** makes it worse by
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pointing users at the wrong file to commit. Fixing write-through (or a divergence
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guard) plus aligning the export docs would remove a whole class of "where did my
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tickets go" incidents.
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