Enhance scratchpads system with auto-setup and retention policies

[joshukraine]

Summary

Based on analysis of our scratchpads approach vs industry practices, our system is superior to common patterns but could benefit from several enhancements to make it even more seamless.

Current Strengths

Our scratchpads approach excels with:

• Systematic 4-tier organization (pr-reviews, planning, debugging, notes)
• Workflow integration (built into commands)
• Git-safe by design (auto-ignored)
• Consistent timestamped naming
• Template-driven structured content

Proposed Enhancements

1. Auto-Setup on First Use

Problem: Currently requires manual /setup-scratchpads execution
Solution: Commands auto-create structure when needed

if [[ \! -d "scratchpads" ]]; then
  mkdir -p scratchpads/{pr-reviews,planning,debugging,notes}
  echo "scratchpads/" >> .gitignore
fi

2. Retention Policy System

Problem: No cleanup strategy for old files
Solution: Optional cleanup command for old scratchpads

# Clean files older than 30 days
find scratchpads -name "*.md" -mtime +30 -delete

3. Search/Index Helper

Problem: No way to search across previous scratchpads
Solution: Add /search-scratchpads <term> command

grep -r "search-term" scratchpads/ --include="*.md"

4. Global vs Project Distinction

Problem: Unclear if some scratchpads should be global
Solution: Consider ~/.scratchpads/ for cross-project notes

Implementation Priority

1. High: Auto-setup on first use (removes friction)
2. Medium: Search helper (improves discoverability)
3. Low: Retention policy (maintenance feature)
4. Research: Global scratchpads (needs user research)

Context

This issue was identified during comprehensive analysis of the Claude configuration system improvements. The scratchpads approach is already superior to common industry practices but these enhancements would make it even more seamless.

Related

• Part of broader Claude configuration improvements
• Integrates with /fix-github-issue, /review-pr, and /init-project commands