---
name: session-review
description: "Examine a Nomos chat session, compare the user's objective with the actual outcome, identify causes of failure (missing tools, excessive tool calls, blocked actions, model behavior), and propose concrete fixes."
risk_class: reversible_low
inputs: [session_id]
---
# Session review

Analyze Nomos chat sessions from the live database, diff objectives
against outcomes, and propose fixes.

## 1. Retrieve session data

```bash
# List recent sessions
curl -s http://localhost:8092/sessions | jq '.sessions[:5]'

# Fetch one session with messages
curl -s http://localhost:8092/sessions/{session_id} | jq .
```

## 2. Classify the session

For each session determine:

| Dimension | Check |
|-----------|-------|
| Objective | What was the user trying to accomplish? |
| Outcome | Was it achieved? (read final assistant text) |
| Tool calls | Count, unique tools, redundancy (e.g., N+1 fan-out) |
| Blockers | Missing action? Missing tool? Model refusal? Empty response? |
| User frustration | Did the user need to clarify/correct/repeat? |
| Message sizes | Content blob sizes — truncation needed? |

## 3. Key failure signatures

| Signature | Root cause | Fix |
|-----------|-----------|-----|
| Agent: "I can't run X" | Missing target or capability | Use `run` with shell command — there is no fixed action enum anymore |
| Agent: "No local knowledge on that" + no web tool | Missing `http_get` / web fetch MCP tool | Add MCP tool |
| Empty assistant bubble (text="", no tools) | Model returned blank completion | Retry + error surfacing |
| Non-English boilerplate refusal | Flash-tier model degradation | Response quality guard |
| >30 tool calls per turn, same tool repeated | N+1 fan-out instead of bulk tool | Enrich bulk tools + tighten SOUL.md |
| Message >50KB in DB | Raw tool results persisted verbatim | Truncation in `store.go` |

## 4. Extract patterns across sessions

```bash
# All sessions summary
curl -s http://localhost:8092/sessions | jq -r '.sessions[] | "\(.id[:8]) \(.title[:80]) \(.created_at[:16])"'

# Message count + tool count per session
for id in $(curl -s http://localhost:8092/sessions | jq -r '.sessions[].id'); do
  msgs=$(curl -s "http://localhost:8092/sessions/$id" | jq '.messages | length')
  tools=$(curl -s "http://localhost:8092/sessions/$id" | jq '[.messages[].content.tool_calls | length] | add')
  echo "$id $msgs msgs $tools tools"
done
```

## 5. Output format

```
Session: {id[:8]} — "{title[:60]}"
  Messages: {N} ({user}/{assistant})
  Tool calls: {total} across {turns} turns
  Top tools: {name:count, name:count, ...}
  Objective: {one-line summary}
  Outcome: ✅ / ❌ / ⚠️
  Blockers: {list or "none"}
  Fixes needed: {concrete actions}
  Severity: blocker | friction | cosmetic
```

## Related files

- `cmd/nomos/agent.go` — agent loop, tool building, response guards
- `cmd/nomos/store.go` — session + message persistence
- `internal/mcp/server.go` — all tool implementations (`run`, `list_lxcs`, …)
- `web/src/lib/components/ToolCallGroup.svelte` — tool result display
  (in the `dtoro/oikos-web` repo, `~/Projects/oikos-web`, since the
  Phase 1 client extraction)
- `nomos/SOUL.md` — agent persona and tool selection rules
- `plans/done/2026-07-09-chat-sessions-improvements.md` — prior session findings
- `plans/done/2026-07-09-session-execution-and-ux-fixes.md` — latest plan
