lo-park

LO Park

Captures ideas and conversation context for later. When you've been discussing something with Claude and want to save the thinking without committing to planning or building, park it.

When to Use

• User invokes /lo:park
• User says "park this", "save this for later", "let's come back to this"
• A conversation has produced valuable thinking that isn't ready for /lo:plan

When NOT to Use — Redirect Instead

• "Let's plan this" → /lo:plan (creates backlog entry + plans in one motion)
• "Let's build this" → /lo:work (creates backlog entry + executes)
• "Ship it" → /lo:ship

Critical Rules

• The .lo/ directory must exist. If missing, tell user to run /lo:setup first.
• ALWAYS present the capture for user review before writing. Nothing saves without approval.
• Re-read BACKLOG.md from disk on every invocation. Never rely on cached content.
• Read last_feature and last_task from BACKLOG.md frontmatter for ID allocation.
• After writing, increment the relevant counter in BACKLOG.md frontmatter.

Mode Detection

Detect mode from arguments:

• /lo:park (no args) → Mode 1: Capture from Conversation
• /lo:park feature "name" → Mode 2: Quick Park (backlog entry only)
• /lo:park task "name" → Mode 2: Quick Park (backlog entry only)

---

Mode 1: Capture from Conversation

This is the primary mode. The user has been discussing something and wants to preserve the thinking.

Step 1: Determine what to capture.

Suggest a name based on the conversation topic:

What should I call this?

1. [suggested name based on conversation]
2. Something else

Classify as feature (f{NNN}) or task (t{NNN}) based on scope. Features are bigger and need design. Tasks are smaller, just-do-it items. If scope is ambiguous, ask:

Is this a feature (bigger, needs design) or a task (smaller, just do it)?

Step 2: Generate the conversation capture.

Read the conversation context and produce a rich, near-verbatim summary that preserves the thinking. This is NOT a structured extraction — it reads like meeting notes that capture the actual flow of ideas.

Include all of these:

• What was discussed and in what order
• Decisions that were made and WHY
• Approaches that were considered and WHY they were accepted or rejected
• Points of excitement or emphasis from the user
• Open questions that weren't resolved
• Technical details, code patterns, or architecture discussed

The capture should be long enough that future-you can read it and be immediately back in the headspace. Err on the side of too much context rather than too little.

Format the capture file per references/park-format.md:

# <id> — <name>
parked: <YYYY-MM-DD>

<Rich narrative capture. Multiple paragraphs.
Preserves the flow of thinking, not just the conclusions.>

Step 3: Present for review.

Show the complete capture to the user:

Here's what I captured. Review and approve, or tell me what to change:

---
[full capture content]
---

Save this? (yes / edit / redo)

HARD GATE: Do not write any files until the user approves. If the user says "edit" or "redo", ask what to change, regenerate, and re-present. Repeat until approved.

Step 4: Persist.

After the user approves:

1. Read BACKLOG.md from disk. Extract the next ID:

# Read the counter from frontmatter
grep 'last_feature:' .lo/BACKLOG.md   # → last_feature: 9
# Next feature ID = last_feature + 1 → f010

2. Create .lo/park/ directory if it doesn't exist:

mkdir -p .lo/park

3. Write the capture file:

# Path: .lo/park/<id>-<slug>.md
# Example: .lo/park/f010-image-gen.md

# f010 — Image Generation for MDX Pipeline
parked: 2026-03-12

Started by exploring whether we could auto-generate hero images...
[rich narrative continues]

4. Add a backlog entry under the appropriate section of BACKLOG.md.

For features, add under ## Features:

- [ ] f010 Image Generation for MDX Pipeline
  AI-powered image generation integrated into the article publishing pipeline.
  [parked](.lo/park/f010-image-gen.md)

For tasks, add under ## Tasks:

- [ ] t016 Fix dark mode toggle
  [parked](.lo/park/t016-dark-mode.md)

5. Increment the counter in BACKLOG.md frontmatter:

# Before:
last_feature: 9
# After:
last_feature: 10

6. Update the updated: date in BACKLOG.md frontmatter to today.

7. Report:

Parked: f010 "Image Generation for MDX Pipeline"
Capture: .lo/park/f010-image-gen.md

Pick this up later with /lo:plan f010 or /lo:work f010

---

## Mode 2: Quick Park

Just a backlog entry. No capture file. Use when the user provides a name directly.

1. Read BACKLOG.md from disk. Get the next ID from the frontmatter counter:

grep 'last_task:' .lo/BACKLOG.md   # → last_task: 15
# Next task ID = 15 + 1 → t016

2. If feature and no description was provided, ask for 1-2 sentences describing it.

3. Add the entry to BACKLOG.md under the appropriate section. No [parked] link — this is a plain backlog item.

For features:

- [ ] f010 Real-time Collab Editing
  Collaborative editing for field notes using CRDTs.

For tasks:

- [ ] t016 Fix dark mode toggle

4. Increment the relevant counter in BACKLOG.md frontmatter.
5. Update the updated: date to today.
6. Report: Parked: <id> "<name>"

---

Error Handling

• .lo/ directory doesn't exist → Stop. Tell the user: "Run /lo:setup first to initialize the project."
• BACKLOG.md doesn't exist → Create it from this template before proceeding:

---
updated: <today>
last_feature: 0
last_task: 0
---

## Features

## Tasks

• User rejects the capture ("edit" or "redo") → Ask what to change, regenerate the capture, and re-present for approval. Loop until the user says "yes".

---

User has been discussing image generation for MDX articles for 20 minutes.

User: park this

Assistant suggests name: "Image Generation for MDX Pipeline" (feature). User confirms.

Assistant generates rich capture preserving the full conversation thinking, presents it for review.

User: yes

Parked: f009 "Image Generation for MDX Pipeline"
Capture: .lo/park/f009-image-gen.md

Pick this up later with /lo:plan f009 or /lo:work f009

User: /lo:park feature "real-time collab editing"

Assistant reads BACKLOG.md, gets next feature ID (f010), asks for a brief description since none was provided.

User: Collaborative editing for field notes using CRDTs.

Assistant adds backlog entry with description, increments counter.

Parked: f010 "Real-time Collab Editing"

User: /lo:park task "fix dark mode toggle"

Assistant reads BACKLOG.md, gets next task ID (t016), adds entry directly. No description prompt needed for tasks.

Parked: t016 "Fix dark mode toggle"