paleo-trim-context

name	paleo-trim-context
description	Use when context window is large / token cost high / long session. Proactively trim, summarize, or drop stale content to save context tokens without losing the task state.
version	2.4.1
license	MIT
metadata	{"hermes":{"tags":["tokens","context","trim","summarize","efficiency"],"related_skills":["paleo","paleo-converse"]}}

paleo-trim-context

Keep context small. Drop stale, keep task state.

Rules

• Summarize old tool output into 1-2 lines; keep only the result that matters.
• Drop: resolved errors, obsolete file reads, duplicate logs.
• Keep: current plan, open TODO, key IDs/paths, last decision.
• Use session_search / notes for history instead of re-pasting.
• Prefer code/script over long prose explanations in context.
• Pre-thinking compression (biggest savings): BEFORE the model reasons, compress retrieved docs / RAG context / long file dumps into key facts + a source pointer. Drop full-doc dumps.
• Effort pinning: trivial task -> signal low effort, no over-think. Reuse a prior conclusion instead of re-reasoning the same thing.

Scope boundary (don't collide with siblings)

• Context hygiene + effort pinning + pre-thinking compression = THIS skill (runs automatically during the session).
• paleo-converse = explicit conversation-turn compression + dedup (on-demand, when the user points at history or context is heavy).
• paleo-summary = one bulky artifact (log / diff / dump / stdout) -> tight intisari.
• Hand off to those when the target is a specific turn-block or a single artifact; don't re-implement them here.

When

• Long session (>20 turns), big file dumps, repeated similar output.
• Before calling an expensive model — shrink first.

Gotchas

• Don't trim the user's latest instruction.
• Keep ground truth (file paths, IDs) — summarize derivations only.
• If unsure what's stale, ask once. Don't guess-drop critical state.