Generating Chronicles

Chronicles are comprehensive narrative documents that capture what happened during a development period. They serve as institutional memory, handoff documents, and historical reference.

When to generate: After 48+ hours of focused work, major feature completion, or sprint end.

Quick Start

Use the chronicle tool - it creates everything automatically:

mcpammer_chronicle_create(service_id="{service}", time_range="48h")

This returns:

• Epic ID with 9 child tickets
• Template location
• Step-by-step instructions

Workflow

1. Gather Data

Data Source	Command
Git commits	git log --since="48 hours ago" --format="%h %s" --reverse
Devlogs	mcpammer_devlog_list(service_id, limit=50)
Tickets	mcpammer_ticket_list(service_id, include_done=True)
Deployments	mcpammer_deployments_list(service_id, limit=20)
Incidents	mcpammer_console_errors(service_id, limit=50)

2. Write Key Sections

Executive Summary

One paragraph. What evolved, what shipped, what went wrong.

User Impact (Required for A grade)

| Capability | Before | After |
|------------|--------|-------|
| **Feature name** | What users couldn't do | What users can now do |

**Net effect:** One-liner summarizing the impact.

Timeline with Gap Annotations

### December 18, 2025

*Gap: ~12 hours overnight — no development activity*

| Time | Event | Type |
|------|-------|------|
| 17:01 | Created epic | planning |

Contextualized Metrics

Bad	Good
Commits: 17	Commits: 17 (~3.5x typical velocity)
Features: 5	Features: 5 major (completed in under 8 hours)

Recommended Next Session (Required for A grade)

**If you have 4 hours, here's the move:**

1. **First 30min:** Fix P0 blocker
   - Specific steps
   - Verification command

2. **Next 2h:** Main task
   - What to test

**Exit criteria:** List 3-4 testable conditions.

3. Save to Both Locations

Artifact API:

mcpammer_artifact_create(
  name="Chronicle: {service} {period}",
  content="{full_chronicle_markdown}",
  tags=["chronicle", "{service}"]
)

Repository:

git add chronicles/{date}_{service}_{period}.md
git commit -m "docs: Chronicle {period}"
git push

4. QA Verification

Check	Command	Expected
Artifact saved	mcpammer_artifact_get(artifact_id)	Returns content
Repo pushed	git log origin/main..HEAD	Empty
Grade meets target	Self-assess against rubric	A or higher

Grading Rubric

Grade	Requirements
B	Timeline, raw metrics, file list
B+	+ User Impact table, contextualized metrics
A-	+ Owners/estimates on action items, gap annotations
A	+ Recommended next session WITH exit criteria
A+	+ Screenshots/visuals

Target A for handoff documents.

What Differentiates A from B+

B+	A
User Impact exists	User Impact with "Net effect" summary
Raw metrics	Contextualized ("3.5x typical velocity")
Action items listed	Action items with owners + estimates
Timeline has events	Timeline explains gaps
"What's next" section	Recommended 4h session with exit criteria

Common Failures

Failure	Fix
Artifact create auth error	Check JETTA_STATUS_API_KEY in Infisical
Marked complete but didn't save	Follow QA checklist
Grade below target	Use rubric, add missing content
Only saved to one location	Save to BOTH artifact API AND git repo