Merge pull request #37 from Digital-Threads/feat/consolidate-claude-p-backend

feat(consolidate): claude -p backend — works without an API key (0.20.0)

Author: Shahinyanm

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -7,6 +7,22 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 
 ## [Unreleased]
 
+## [0.20.0] - 2026-06-13
+
+### Added
+- **`consolidate` now works without an API key.** It picks a backend
+  automatically: the direct Haiku API when `ANTHROPIC_API_KEY` is set
+  (~1c/run), otherwise the local **`claude -p`** binary — your existing Claude
+  subscription login, **no API key needed** (post-2026-06-15 it bills as extra
+  usage and boots the environment per call, so it's pricier, but it requires no
+  key). With neither available it still skips cleanly, writing nothing.
+  `TJ_CONSOLIDATE_BACKEND=none` force-disables it.
+
+### Internal
+- `consolidate::summarize` (backend selection) + `consolidate_via_cli` reusing
+  the classifier's `run_claude_json` / `ClaudeBinaryStdinRunner` (recursion
+  guard intact).
+
 ## [0.19.0] - 2026-06-13
 
 ### Added

Cargo.lock

@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ members = [
 ]
 
 [workspace.package]
-version = "0.19.0"
+version = "0.20.0"
 edition = "2021"
 rust-version = "1.88"
 license = "MIT"

Cargo.toml

@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ default = ["embed"]
 embed = ["tj-core/embed"]
 
 [dependencies]
-tj-core = { package = "task-journal-core", version = "0.19.0", path = "../tj-core", default-features = false }
+tj-core = { package = "task-journal-core", version = "0.20.0", path = "../tj-core", default-features = false }
 anyhow = { workspace = true }
 clap = { workspace = true }
 tracing = { workspace = true }

crates/tj-cli/Cargo.toml

@@ -3942,19 +3942,21 @@ fn run_consolidate(max_facts: usize) -> anyhow::Result<()> {
     let texts: Vec<String> = sources.iter().map(|(_, t)| t.clone()).collect();
     let source_ids: Vec<String> = sources.iter().map(|(id, _)| id.clone()).collect();
 
-    let consolidator = match tj_core::consolidate::Consolidator::from_env(max_facts) {
-        Ok(c) => c,
-        Err(e) => {
-            println!("skipped: {e}. Set ANTHROPIC_API_KEY to enable consolidation (~1c/run).");
+    let (backend, facts) = match tj_core::consolidate::summarize(&texts, max_facts)? {
+        Some(x) => x,
+        None => {
+            println!(
+                "skipped: no consolidation backend. Either set ANTHROPIC_API_KEY \
+(direct Haiku API, ~1c/run) or install Claude Code so `claude` is on PATH \
+(uses your subscription login, no API key needed)."
+            );
             return Ok(());
         }
     };
     eprintln!(
-        "consolidating {} high-signal event(s) via {} …",
-        texts.len(),
-        consolidator.model
+        "consolidating {} high-signal event(s) via {backend} …",
+        texts.len()
     );
-    let facts = consolidator.consolidate(&texts)?;
     if facts.is_empty() {
         println!("no durable facts found");
         return Ok(());

crates/tj-cli/src/main.rs

@@ -5355,6 +5355,9 @@ fn consolidate_skips_without_api_key_and_spends_nothing() {
         .current_dir(proj.path())
         .env("XDG_DATA_HOME", xdg.path())
         .env_remove("ANTHROPIC_API_KEY")
+        // Force the no-backend path so the test is deterministic even where
+        // `claude` is on PATH (which would otherwise be tried).
+        .env("TJ_CONSOLIDATE_BACKEND", "none")
         .args(["consolidate"])
         .assert()
         .success()

crates/tj-cli/tests/cli.rs

@@ -1,14 +1,17 @@
 //! Memory consolidation (Pillar C): distil a project's recurring decisions and
-//! constraints into a handful of durable semantic/procedural facts via a direct
-//! Anthropic Haiku API call.
+//! constraints into a handful of durable semantic/procedural facts with a
+//! single LLM call.
 //!
-//! Direct API, not `claude -p`: post-2026-06-15 both bill as extra usage, but
-//! `claude -p` also boots the whole user environment (~tens of k tokens) on
-//! every call, while the direct API sends only our ~7k-token prompt — roughly
-//! 1c per run versus 5-10c. This is a MANUAL command (one call per run, only
-//! when the user asks), so it never resembles the per-prompt classifier burn.
-//! No `ANTHROPIC_API_KEY` → the caller skips cleanly; we never fall back to a
+//! Two backends, picked by [`summarize`]: the **direct Anthropic Haiku API**
+//! when `ANTHROPIC_API_KEY` is set (cheapest — only our ~7k-token prompt,
+//! ~1c/run), otherwise the local **`claude -p`** binary (subscription auth, no
+//! API key needed, but it boots the whole environment per call so it's
+//! pricier). With neither, the caller skips cleanly — we never fall back to a
 //! heuristic, which would manufacture low-trust "facts".
+//!
+//! Either way this is a MANUAL command: one call per run, only when the user
+//! asks, never wired to a hook — so it never resembles the per-prompt
+//! classifier burn.
 
 use anyhow::{anyhow, Context};
 use serde::{Deserialize, Serialize};
@@ -91,6 +94,50 @@ impl Consolidator {
     }
 }
 
+/// Run whichever summarisation backend is available and return its label plus
+/// the facts it produced. Order: (1) `ANTHROPIC_API_KEY` set → direct Haiku API
+/// (cheapest, ~1c/run); (2) else `claude` on PATH → local `claude -p`
+/// (subscription auth, no API key, heavier per-call boot); (3) else `Ok(None)`,
+/// so the caller skips with a message — never a heuristic.
+/// `TJ_CONSOLIDATE_BACKEND=none` forces the no-backend path (disable / tests).
+pub fn summarize(
+    events: &[String],
+    max_facts: usize,
+) -> anyhow::Result<Option<(&'static str, Vec<ConsolidatedFact>)>> {
+    if std::env::var("TJ_CONSOLIDATE_BACKEND").as_deref() == Ok("none") {
+        return Ok(None);
+    }
+    if std::env::var("ANTHROPIC_API_KEY").is_ok() {
+        let c = Consolidator::from_env(max_facts)?;
+        return Ok(Some(("haiku-api", c.consolidate(events)?)));
+    }
+    if crate::classifier::agent_sdk::claude_on_path() {
+        return Ok(Some(("claude -p", consolidate_via_cli(events, max_facts)?)));
+    }
+    Ok(None)
+}
+
+/// Summarise via the local `claude -p` binary (subscription auth). Reuses the
+/// classifier's command plumbing — including the recursion guard set by
+/// `base_claude_command` — and unwraps the `--output-format json` envelope.
+fn consolidate_via_cli(
+    events: &[String],
+    max_facts: usize,
+) -> anyhow::Result<Vec<ConsolidatedFact>> {
+    if events.is_empty() {
+        return Ok(Vec::new());
+    }
+    let prompt = build_prompt(events, max_facts);
+    let model = std::env::var("TJ_CONSOLIDATE_MODEL")
+        .unwrap_or_else(|_| crate::classifier::agent_sdk::DEFAULT_MODEL.to_string());
+    let text = crate::classifier::agent_sdk::run_claude_json(
+        &crate::classifier::agent_sdk::ClaudeBinaryStdinRunner,
+        &model,
+        &prompt,
+    )?;
+    Ok(parse_facts(&text))
+}
+
 /// The summarisation prompt. Deliberately strict: durable-only, fixed line
 /// format, "output nothing" escape hatch so the model doesn't pad.
 pub fn build_prompt(events: &[String], max_facts: usize) -> String {

crates/tj-core/src/consolidate.rs

@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ path = "src/main.rs"
 
 [dependencies]
 # Lean: the MCP server doesn't embed yet, so it skips the model2vec backend.
-tj-core = { package = "task-journal-core", version = "0.19.0", path = "../tj-core", default-features = false }
+tj-core = { package = "task-journal-core", version = "0.20.0", path = "../tj-core", default-features = false }
 anyhow = { workspace = true }
 tokio = { workspace = true }
 tracing = { workspace = true }

crates/tj-mcp/Cargo.toml

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "task-journal",
-  "version": "0.19.0",
+  "version": "0.20.0",
   "description": "Append-only journal of AI-coding task reasoning chains: hypotheses, decisions, rejections, evidence. Renders compact resume packs so an agent can pick up a 2-week-old task with full context.",
   "author": {
     "name": "Mher Shahinyan"