Install with Codex or Claude Copy this prompt, paste it into Codex, Claude, or another assistant, and let it review the skill page and install it for you.
A direct command skips the review prompt. Inspect the source before running it.
Run Skill(conserve:clear-context) to spawn continuation agent
Agent receives fresh context with saved state
Option C: Archive and Summarize
Best when:
Context 40-60% full
Some stale content mixed with active
Not ready for full clear
Process:
Archive old decisions/errors to .claude/context-archive/
Summarize completed work in memory
Continue with leaner context
Option D: Delegate to Subagent
Best when:
Parallel work possible
Independent subtasks exist
Context pressure moderate
Process:
Identify delegatable tasks
Spawn specialized agents via Task tool
Main context stays lean
Step 3 – Estimate Savings (estimate-savings)
For the recommended strategy, estimate:
Strategy
Typical Savings
Risk
/clear and /catchup
70-90%
Low if state saved
Continuation agent
80-95%
Low, state preserved
Archive and summarize
20-40%
Very low
Delegate to subagent
30-50%
Low, parallel work
Reversible compression (CCR)
47-92% per archived output
Low, original cached
The CCR row is per oversized tool output, not whole-context: a large Bash,
Read, or Grep result is archived to a handle and replaced by a digest for
future turns. Savings are content-type-dependent (logs compress hard, prose
barely at all). See modules/reversible-compression.md.
This is automatically created by the pre_compact_preserve hook before
any /compact operation.
Integration Points
PreCompact hook: Automatically preserves context before compression
Tool output summarizer: Warns when tool outputs accumulate
Context warning hook: Three-tier alerts at 40%/50%/80%
Specialized Modules
Load modules/log-debugging-hygiene.md when the bloat source is
pasted log output (debug traces, CI failures, hook logs, JSONL).
That module documents a three-tier filter-first workflow with
benchmarked snippets and an honest framing of when compression
is and is not warranted. On the committed intake_queue.jsonl
fixture, tail -n 100 beats lossless compression by 25
percentage points; the module formalizes that asymmetry.
Load modules/reversible-compression.md when large tool outputs
(code search, log dumps, file reads) are the bloat source. That
module documents the CCR pattern: the tool_output_summarizer
hook archives any oversized output to a content-addressed handle
under .claude/context-archive/, and context_retrieve.py
fetches the original (or a slice) on demand, so the original
survives /clear without staying resident.
Example Usage
/compression-strategy
Output:
Context Analysis:
- Current usage: 52%
- Tool output: ~15KB (3 tool results)
- Stale content: ~40% (decisions from 8+ turns ago)
Recommendation: Option C - Archive + Summarize
- Archive old decisions to context-archive
- Keep active files and recent decisions
- Estimated savings: 25-35%
Commands:
1. Read .claude/context-archive/ to see what's preserved
2. Summarize completed work
3. Continue with leaner context
Exit Criteria
Context analyzed: current usage and tool-output share estimated
A single strategy recommended (A-D, or reversible compression) with a
stated reason
Savings estimated with the named risk from the Step 3 table
For large tool outputs, the CCR handle and context_retrieve.py
retrieval command are surfaced (not just a warning)
Recommendation refused or downgraded when the bloat source is dense
prose (compresses by roughly nothing)
