| name | compact-hygiene |
| description | Guides proactive /compact usage with preservation instructions to prevent context rot in long Cascade sessions. Triggers when context reaches ~50% of window, before large tool outputs, or when the user mentions "context", "compact", "drift", or "forgetting". |
| version | 1.0.0 |
| trigger | Context window is approaching 50% utilization, OR user asks about: context management, drift, "the agent keeps forgetting", long sessions, "how do I stop the AI from losing track", or explicitly mentions /compact.
|
Compact Hygiene
Long sessions rot. Most users only run /compact when the warning light is already red — and by then the earliest (most foundational) context is already being summarized away. You run it proactively, with explicit preservation instructions.
When to Run
- Proactive (best): at 50–60% context utilization, before the model starts approximating
- Pre-output: right before a large tool output (big file read, long test run) you don't need to keep verbatim
- Checkpoint: after finishing a major step, before starting the next
- Never: at 95%. By then you're compressing context that already degraded the last 20 responses.
How to Compact With Preservation
Run /compact with a clear list of what to keep verbatim and what to drop. Example:
/compact
Preserve verbatim:
- The current plan file path: plans/2026-04-17-stripe-webhooks.md
- The 3 AGENTS.md invariants I cited this session (testing ≥80%, no PII logging, API shape)
- The 2 design decisions from @architect: (1) use Stripe PaymentIntents not Charges, (2) webhook idempotency via Redis INCR
- The current plan's checkbox state (which are done, which are next)
- All error messages from the last failed test run
Discard:
- Tool outputs from exploration that didn't lead anywhere
- File contents I've already edited
- Previous grep results we superseded
- Verbose npm install logs
Preservation Checklist — What You Almost Always Want to Keep
Things Safe to Drop
Agent Protocol
- Monitor context size silently. At ~50%, suggest a compact and list what you'd preserve.
- Ask first if the session has made novel design decisions not yet written to the plan. Compact can summarize these away.
- Write decisions to vault/ FIRST. Anything worth preserving long-term goes to
vault/decisions/ before you compact — the vault survives forever, the session doesn't.
- After compact, re-read the preserved plan file and any cited vault pages to ground yourself before continuing.
Never
- Never run
/compact without explicit preservation instructions — you lose the thread
- Never wait until context is at 95% to compact — by then the earliest (and most foundational) context is already degraded
- Never compact mid-tool-call — finish the in-flight step first
- Never rely on compact as long-term memory — write durable facts to
vault/ before compacting; the vault survives forever, the session doesn't
- Never compact away an active blocker or the current plan file path — always keep those in the preserve list
Credits
Pattern from MindStudio's /compact writeup (Apr 2026) and Anthropic's automatic context compaction cookbook.
