---
title: Sprint Retrospective
description: Run a team-aware engineering retrospective with commit analysis and trend tracking.
persona: B
---

# Sprint Retrospective

> Analyze commits, work patterns, and code quality with persistent trend tracking.

**Best for:** End of sprint, weekly review  
**Time estimate:** 10-15 minutes  
**Skills used:** [mk:retro](/reference/skills/retro)  
**Agents involved:** analyst (cost data), documenter (saves report)

## Overview

The [mk:retro](/reference/skills/retro) skill analyzes your git history to produce a structured retrospective. It's team-aware (breaks down per-person contributions) and tracks trends across runs to show improvement or regression.

## Step-by-step guide

### Step 1: Run the retrospective

```
/mk:retro
```

### Step 2: Review the analysis

The skill analyzes:
- **Commits** by type (feat, fix, refactor, docs) and author
- **Work patterns** — velocity, review turnaround, deploy frequency
- **Code quality** — test coverage trends, security findings over time
- **Per-person** — contributions, strengths, growth areas (with praise)
- **Cost** — token usage from `memory/cost-log.json` via the **analyst** agent

### Step 3: Track trends

Each retrospective is saved, so the next one compares:
- Are we shipping more or fewer features?
- Is review turnaround improving?
- Are security findings decreasing?
- Is cost per feature going up or down?

### How the analyst agent contributes

The **analyst** provides cost and pattern data from `memory/`:
- Token usage trends (are we using cheaper models when appropriate?)
- Pattern frequency (recurring issues that should become rules)
- Lessons learned that inform the retrospective's recommendations

::: tip Sprint Data from Jira
If Atlassian MCP is available, mk:retro can pull sprint velocity and ticket metrics directly from Jira. Currently mk:retro uses git history only — Jira sprint data integration is planned for a future release.
:::

### Step 4: Action-item ceremony (Agile mode)

When an Agile context is active (sprint-state contract present, `MEOW_JIRA_BASE_URL` env, `jira_tickets:` in plans, or Jira-key prompt match), `mk:retro` parses the narrative for `## 3 Things to Improve` and `## 3 Habits for Next Week` and surfaces a per-item AskUserQuestion:

| Option | Effect |
|--------|--------|
| Create Jira story now | Invokes `mk:jira-issue create` with body pre-filled — REQUIRES user review before submit |
| Add to plan TODO | Appends to active plan as a TODO item |
| Document as no-action | Appends to `.claude/memory/retros/{date}-decisions.md` with reason |
| Defer to next retro | Carries the item forward |

The retro is not "complete" until every surfaced action has a disposition. NEVER auto-creates Jira stories — preserves the reports-not-automation principle. In non-Agile sessions this step is inert (the rule isn't loaded). Governed by `.claude/rules-conditional/agile-feedback-cycle.md`.

## Next workflow

→ [Architecture Decisions](/workflows/architecture) — document architectural choices
