Session Tracking Architecture Improvements

Unified session tracking system with clear hierarchy and single source of truth

Session Tracking Architecture Improvements

Overview

Session 10.1 establishes a clean, unified session tracking architecture that ensures perfect synchronization between:

The Problem (Before)

❌ Multiple sources of "truth"
   - docs/data/sessionID.json (sometimes existed)
   - docs/sessionID.json (legacy)
   - .cursor/mcp-config.json (sometimes out of sync)
   - .cursor/ai-memory/current-session.json (sometimes stale)
   - MongoDB ai-agents.sessions (sometimes not synced)

❌ Path confusion
   - docs/data/ moved to sessions/
   - docs/english/Ai-Data/sessions/ moved to docs/english/sessions/
   - Old references scattered across codebase

❌ No single command to update everything

The Solution (After)

Clear Hierarchy

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  1. MongoDB (ai-agents)         ← CLOUD AUTHORITY       │
│     - All decisions persisted                           │
│     - Cross-device sync                                 │
│     - Historical record                                 │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
                        ↑ syncs
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  2. sessions/sessionID.json     ← SESSION SOURCE        │
│     - Current session number + ID                       │
│     - MCP reads this on preflight                       │
│     - MCP increments sessionID on log_decision          │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
                        ↑ derived from
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  3. sessions/sessions-history/  ← SESSION MANIFESTS     │
│     - One JSON per session                              │
│     - Git-tracked for audit                             │
│     - Contains goals, progress, handoff                 │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
                        ↑ cached in
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  4. .cursor/ai-memory/          ← HOT CACHE             │
│     - Ephemeral, can be regenerated                     │
│     - Fast access for MCP                               │
│     - Last 2 sessions cached locally                    │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

File Locations

Type Location Purpose
Session Data sessions/sessionID.json Current session tracking
Session Manifests sessions/sessions-history/session-X.json Session metadata
Session Docs docs/english/sessions/session-X/ Human documentation
MCP Cache .cursor/ai-memory/current-session.json Hot cache
MCP Config .cursor/mcp-config.json MCP configuration

Single Command Updates

# View status of all locations
node tools/scripts/database/session-manager.js status

# Start new session (updates ALL 6 locations)
node tools/scripts/database/session-manager.js start 11 "Description"

# Complete session (archives + syncs)
node tools/scripts/database/session-manager.js complete

Files Modified

Core Infrastructure

File Change
tools/scripts/database/session-manager.js Updated all paths from docs/data to sessions/
MCP/mcp-development-ai/src/config/constants.ts New SESSIONS_DATA_DIR pointing to sessions/
MCP/mcp-development-ai/src/storage/docs-data-integration.ts Updated comments and session context paths

Documentation

File Change
AGENTS.md Updated session tracking section
CLAUDE.md Updated documentation paths
docs/AGENTS.md Updated all docs/data references to sessions/
sessions/README.md Complete rewrite with architecture diagram
.cursor/ai-memory/README.md Updated source of truth hierarchy

Data Files

File Change
sessions/sessionID.json Fixed schema paths, sessionID to 10.1
sessions/sessions-history/session-10.json Updated required reading paths
.cursor/mcp-config.json Updated to session 10, numeric sessionID
.cursor/ai-memory/current-session.json Synced with sessionID.json

MCP Integration

The MCP server automatically:

  1. Reads sessions/sessionID.json on preflight()
  2. Increments sessionID on each log_decision() (10.1 → 10.2 → 10.3)
  3. Writes to sessions/sessionID.json after increment
  4. Syncs decisions to MongoDB ai-agents.decisions

Restart Required

After these changes, restart the MCP server to pick up the new paths:

# The MCP server uses the constants from:
# MCP/mcp-development-ai/src/config/constants.ts

Verification

# Check all locations are in sync
node tools/scripts/database/session-manager.js status

# Expected output:
# Local: Session 10, ID: 10.1, Status: active
# MCP Config: Current: 10, Current ID: 10.1
# MongoDB: Active sessions: 1

Additional Fixes (Session 10.2)

After initial path updates, MCP logs revealed additional issues:

Issues Identified

  1. Workspace detection failed - Looking for old docs/data/sessionID.json
  2. toISOString error - s.timestamp could be string or undefined
  3. Environment variable mismatch - Script exports WORKSPACE_ROOT, MCP looked for MCP_WORKSPACE_ROOT

Fixes Applied

File Fix
workspace-detector.ts Now checks sessions/sessionID.json first
workspace-detector.ts Accepts both WORKSPACE_ROOT and MCP_WORKSPACE_ROOT env vars
file-storage.ts Handle timestamp as string, Date, or undefined
server.ts Updated log messages to say "sessions/"
docs-data-integration.ts Updated all comments to reference new paths

Next Steps

  1. ✅ All path updates complete
  2. ⏳ Restart MCP - Required for changes to take effect
  3. ⏳ Verify session shows 10/10.x not 0/0
  4. ⏳ Test full flow: log_decision → verify MongoDB sync

Session 10.2 - December 17, 2025