| name | strategic-compact |
| description | Monitor context usage and suggest compaction at logical milestones |
| origin | pm-pilot |
| version | 1.0.0 |
| triggers | ["proactive when context exceeds 60%","compact","context getting long"] |
Strategic Compact
Proactively manage context window to prevent degraded performance in long sessions.
When to Use
- Context usage exceeds 60%
- After completing a major planning phase
- After finishing implementation, before review
- Before starting a fundamentally different task
- When responses start feeling slower or less precise
Procedure
-
Assess Context State
- Estimate current context consumption
- Identify which content is load-bearing vs stale
-
Identify Compaction Point
Suggest compaction at natural milestones:
- After planning: decisions locked, plan documented
- After implementation: code committed, tests passing
- Before review: implementation complete, shifting to review mode
- After triage: results documented, moving to fixes
-
Preserve Key State
Before suggesting /clear, ensure these are persisted:
- Active task and status in
tasks/todo.md
- Key decisions in handoff doc or
tasks/lessons.md
- Any uncommitted work is committed or stashed
- File paths of actively-edited files
-
Suggest Compaction
Output:
Context check: ~{percent}% used
Milestone: {what was just completed}
Recommendation: {compact now / safe to continue / approaching limit}
Before /clear:
- [ ] Handoff doc written
- [ ] Work committed
- [ ] Todo updated
-
Post-Compaction Recovery
After /clear, use session-init skill to restore context.
Output Format
Context check: ~65% used
Milestone: Implementation phase complete
Recommendation: Good time to compact before code review
Before /clear:
- [ ] Handoff doc written
- [ ] Work committed (3 files)
- [ ] Todo updated
Rules
- Never force compaction; always suggest
- Never compact mid-task; wait for a milestone
- Always write handoff doc before suggesting /clear
- Err on the side of compacting earlier rather than later
- The last 20% of context window produces degraded output