Recording Outcomes
Learn how to record effective outcomes that improve your playbooks over time.
Why Record Outcomes?
Outcomes are the fuel for playbook evolution. They tell ACE:
- What works well (preserve it)
- What doesn't work (fix it)
- What's missing (add it)
- What's confusing (clarify it)
After 5 outcomes accumulate, ACE automatically triggers evolution to generate an improved playbook version.
How to Record
Using Claude Desktop or Claude Code:
"Record an outcome for playbook abc-123:
- Task: Reviewed authentication PR with 300 lines of changes
- Outcome: success
- Notes: Caught SQL injection in user lookup, suggested parameterized query"
Outcome Values
| Value | When to Use |
|---|---|
| success | Task completed correctly with good results |
| partial | Task completed but with gaps or issues |
| failure | Task did not complete or results were wrong |
Writing Effective Outcomes
Task Description
Be specific about what was done:
- "Reviewed code" - too vague
- "Reviewed user authentication module PR (#234) with 300 lines of TypeScript changes" - gives evolution useful context
Notes
Include actionable details:
- "It went well" - too vague for evolution to learn from
- "Caught SQL injection in user lookup function. Suggested parameterized queries. Missed rate limiting issue that was found later." - tells evolution what to reinforce and what to add
Reasoning Trace
When available, include how the agent approached the task. This helps evolution understand the decision-making process and improve guidance for future tasks.
Viewing Outcomes
- Navigate to your playbook
- Click the Outcomes tab
- View all recorded outcomes
Size Limits
| Field | Max Size |
|---|---|
task_description | 10 KB |
notes | 2 KB |
reasoning_trace | 10 KB |