Summary capsules
Summary capsules are compact session snapshots that tell the main chat what a worker session is doing right now.
Definition
Section titled “Definition”A summary capsule is a low-noise view of an active coding session. It summarizes the current state, recent direction, and next likely action without pasting the session’s full terminal transcript into chat.
Why It Exists
Section titled “Why It Exists”Full terminal output is useful for deep debugging, but it is a poor default context format for orchestration. If every worker stream were pasted into the main chat:
- important decisions would be buried in terminal noise
- the main chat would waste context on repetitive output
- supervising multiple sessions would become slow and error-prone
Summary capsules exist so Jarvis can keep the main conversation informed while preserving enough headroom for planning, triage, and human decisions.
How It Works
Section titled “How It Works”Each active session has a compact status representation that Jarvis can refresh as the session evolves. In practice, a summary capsule usually answers a small set of questions:
- Which runtime is this session using?
- Is it running, waiting, blocked, or idle?
- What is the worker trying to accomplish?
- What happened recently that a human should know?
- Does the session need a decision or follow-up?
Summary capsules work alongside MCP reporting tools:
- Summary capsule: passive snapshot pulled into the main chat view
- MCP report: active signal pushed by the worker when something important happens
That split matters. Capsules provide continuity even when the worker stays quiet, while MCP tools let the worker raise its hand at the exact moment it needs help.
What a Good Capsule Captures
Section titled “What a Good Capsule Captures”A useful capsule is short, current, and operational. It should help you decide whether to open the full session, dispatch more work, or wait.
Typical content includes:
- runtime and session identity
- current state
- recent progress or stalled step
- explicit blocker, if one exists
- whether a human answer is pending
Failure Modes
Section titled “Failure Modes”Summary capsules are intentionally compact, which means they have limits:
- Too stale: the session may have moved on since the last refresh.
- Too compressed: a capsule can signal that something changed, but not always why.
- Missing root-cause detail: debugging still requires opening the underlying session transcript or logs.
- Conflicting signals: a capsule may show “running” while an MCP report says the worker is blocked; when that happens, inspect the session directly.
The capsule is the supervisory view, not a replacement for full inspection.