context-refresh

name	context-refresh
description	Audit or refresh PipeCrew context docs at three scopes: a single repo (its agent-context/, CLAUDE.md, and DESIGN_SYSTEM.md if frontend), the workspace (platform.md), or everything (workspace + every repo). Audit mode reports staleness only; refresh mode updates docs to match current code.

Usage

/context-refresh <repo-key-or-path> [--mode=audit|refresh] [--workspace=<slug>]
/context-refresh --workspace=<slug> [--mode=audit|refresh]
/context-refresh --all [--workspace=<slug>] [--mode=audit|refresh]

Scopes (pick one)

Scope	Selector	What's audited / refreshed
Single repo	<repo-key-or-path>	That repo's agent-context/, CLAUDE.md, and the design system file (if frontend — agent-context/design-system.md for new bundle, agent-context/common/DESIGN_SYSTEM.md for legacy)
Workspace	--workspace=<slug>	{workspace_root}/{slug}/context/platform.md
Everything	--all	Workspace scope + every repo in the config

Flags

Flag	Default	Description
--mode	audit	audit = report only. refresh = apply updates.
--workspace	auto-detect	Workspace slug. Auto-detected for single-repo when omitted; required for --workspace and --all.
--full	false	Bypass the git-diff fast path; force a full claim-verification audit. Use when you suspect the docs are wrong about claims that pre-date the last refresh.
--since=<sha|tag|ref>	—	Override the comparison point for the fast path. Useful for "audit since last release tag" workflows. Implies --mode=refresh is delta-driven from this ref.

Examples

# Single-repo audit
/context-refresh publisher-service

# Single-repo refresh (also updates DESIGN_SYSTEM.md if frontend)
/context-refresh abvi-pms-frontend --mode=refresh

# Workspace-level audit — all workspace context docs
/context-refresh --workspace=dal

# Workspace-level refresh, stacks only
/context-refresh --workspace=dal --mode=refresh

# Everything — workspace + every repo
/context-refresh --all --workspace=dal --mode=refresh

---

Instructions

Step 1: Resolve scope + workspace

Step 1.0 — resolve {workspace_root}: run node {plugin_dir}/scripts/workspace-root.js --get to capture the user's configured workspaces root. Use {workspace_root} everywhere paths below reference workspace dirs. If the script exits non-zero (root never configured), tell the user to run /discover first — context-refresh has nothing to refresh against without an onboarded workspace.

Step 1.1 — pick scope from args:

• If first positional arg is present and not a flag → single-repo scope. Resolve repo-key-or-path the same way /review does. Auto-detect workspace from repo path if --workspace omitted.
• If --workspace=<slug> is present without a positional arg → workspace scope.
• If --all is present → everything scope (workspace + every repo in the config). --workspace required here (cannot be auto-detected without a repo).

Step 1.2 — load + validate config: load {workspace_root}/{slug}/config.json and validate via node {plugin_dir}/scripts/validate-config.js {path}. Halt on errors.

Step 1.2b — pull shared memory (only if config.workspace.memory.enabled): node {plugin_dir}/scripts/sync-memory.js pull {workspace_root}/{slug} so the audit/refresh runs against the team's latest platform.md. Warn-only (dirty tree / fetch failure → uses local copy); skip silently when memory is off.

Step 1.3 — flag check: no scope-narrowing flags exist for the workspace pass — it always refreshes platform.md.

---

Step 1.5: Decide fast-path vs full-audit per repo

This skill defaults to a git-diff fast path for single-repo and --all scopes: only the docs that touch files changed since the last refresh get re-verified. The full claim-verification audit (slow but complete) becomes the safety net.

State file location: {workspace_root}/{slug}/runs/context-refresh/state.json. Schema:

{
  "abvi-publisher-service": {
    "head_sha": "4a9e8f2c…",
    "branch": "main",
    "ran_at": "2026-04-25T14:30:00Z",
    "mode": "fast",
    "fast_runs_since_full": 3
  }
}

Decision tree per repo:

Condition	Path	Why
--full flag passed	full audit	explicit override
State file missing OR no entry for this repo	full audit, save state	first run on this repo
git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD differs from state.branch	full audit, update state	branch switch makes prior sha meaningless
git status --porcelain shows >100 modified files	full audit	working tree too divergent for confident diff
state.fast_runs_since_full >= 5	full audit, reset counter	periodic safety net catches drift fast-path missed
state.head_sha == HEAD AND working tree clean	skip — no changes	nothing to refresh
Otherwise	fast path (Step 1.6)	the common case

--since=<ref> overrides state.head_sha for the comparison point — used as-is, no state read.

---

Step 1.6: Compute the file-changed scope (fast path only)

Run from {repo.path}:

git diff <comparison_sha>..HEAD --name-only
git status --short --untracked-files=no | awk '{print $2}'

Where <comparison_sha> is state.head_sha (or the value from --since=<ref> resolved via git rev-parse <ref>). Concatenate both lists, dedupe.

Bail-out check: if the combined list has more than 200 entries, switch this repo to full audit (faster than per-file analysis at that scale).

Classify each changed file to derive a per-doc impact list — pass this to context-manager as the files_changed input in refresh mode. The mapping depends on whether the repo uses the legacy template (single agent-context/common/ subdir) or one of the new role-specific bundles (backend / frontend, with domains/ / features/ / integrations/ / api-clients/ plural folders). The agent should read what's present on disk and choose the matching column.

File pattern	Backend (new bundle) doc impact	Frontend (new bundle) doc impact	Legacy doc impact
src/.../controller/* / views.py / routes/*.ts	agent-context/api-conventions.md (Endpoint Catalog row)	n/a	agent-context/api-conventions.md
pages/*.tsx / app/*/page.tsx	n/a	agent-context/features/{feature}.md (Pages table) + AGENT_INDEX feature catalogue	AGENT_INDEX feature catalogue
New top-level directory under src/	agent-context/architecture.md	agent-context/architecture.md + new agent-context/features/{feature}.md if it's a feature module	agent-context/architecture.md
db/changelog/* / migrations/*	agent-context/database.md (Schema + Migrations sections)	n/a	agent-context/architecture.md data-model section
Files importing software.amazon.awssdk.* / boto3 / @aws-sdk/*	agent-context/integrations/aws.md (create from _template.md if missing and the AWS-multi-resource trigger applies)	n/a	agent-context/common/AWS_INTEGRATION.md
New external integration (Kafka, Stripe, Datadog, etc.)	agent-context/integrations/{name}.md (create from _template.md)	n/a (frontend integrations are typically API consumers)	n/a
New Spring/Django/etc. service introducing a new bounded context	agent-context/domains/{name}.md (create from _template.md) + row in business-context.md	n/a	per-feature doc under agent-context/features/
src/api/services/* / src/api/clients/* (frontend)	n/a	agent-context/api-clients/{service}.md (Endpoints Used table)	agent-context/services/{SERVICE}_API.md
src/features/* (frontend)	n/a	agent-context/features/{feature}.md	per-feature doc under agent-context/features/
Component / token changes (frontend)	n/a	agent-context/ui-components.md and/or agent-context/design-system.md	agent-context/common/UI_COMPONENTS.md / DESIGN_SYSTEM.md
Locale file changes (frontend i18n)	n/a	agent-context/features/{feature}.md (Translation Keys table)	agent-context/common/I18N.md
New exception class	agent-context/error-handling.md (Exception Mapping Table)	agent-context/error-handling.md (API Error Types)	same paths
Test files	agent-context/testing.md	agent-context/testing.md	agent-context/common/TESTING.md
package.json / pom.xml / pyproject.toml	platform.md (workspace scope) — flag for next workspace refresh	platform.md (workspace scope)	platform.md
Deleted files	every doc that referenced them — full grep across agent-context/	same	same

The agent does the actual mapping by reading the changed files; the table above is a hint set, not a hard contract. HARD RULE: a refresh that would touch a <!-- human-owned --> section must surface the change as a finding (with file:line evidence and proposed wording) — the agent does not edit human-owned sections. Only <!-- agent-updatable --> sections are edited automatically.

No state file or --full selected → skip Step 1.6 entirely; fall through to full audit in Step 2/3.

---

Step 2: Workspace-level refresh (when scope = workspace or all)

Checks and updates these files:

• {workspace_root}/{slug}/context/platform.md — architecture, entities, integration patterns, established workspace-wide patterns. Must stay in sync with repo reality.
• {workspace_root}/{slug}/context/audit-findings.md — from onboarding / prior refreshes. Not auto-refreshed; just checked for orphan references.

Do NOT auto-refresh {workspace_root}/{slug}/history/learn-log.md — that's an append-only learning record owned by /pipecrew:learn. It lives under history/, not context/, because nothing reads it on every dispatch.

Step 2a: Audit pass (always runs, regardless of mode)

Run concern-specific checks against platform.md:

• Entities & Ownership table — does each row's "Owning Service" actually exist in the current config?
• Service Map — does each row's spec path still exist on disk?
• Established Patterns — are the cited versions / libraries / config formats still accurate per repo pom.xml / package.json / application.* / pyproject.toml? (Cross-cutting workspace patterns live here, not in a separate per-stack doc.)
• Known Constraints — any entries explicitly dated > 90 days old?

design_system_path config field drift (every frontend repo in the config):

• If config.repos[repo-name].design_system_path is set, verify the file exists at {repo.path}/{design_system_path}. Missing file → flag as design-system path drift with the suggested fix (move the file, update the config, or run /discover --resume to re-bootstrap).
• If the field is absent on a frontend repo, probe the canonical path {repo.path}/agent-context/common/DESIGN_SYSTEM.md. If found, flag as design-system path not explicit — run /discover --resume to persist the path to config. If not found, flag as design-system missing — run /discover --resume to bootstrap (Phase B3).

Emit a staleness report:

## Workspace audit — {slug}

### platform.md
- ⚠ "Entities & Ownership" row for `BulkUploadRequest` cites `publisher-service` but the entity no longer exists in code (was removed in commit 4a9e8f)
- ⚠ "Established Patterns" still says "Liquibase YAML changesets" but 3/5 services migrated to Flyway
- ✓ Service Map current

### Frontend design-system paths
- ✓ abvi-pms-frontend: `agent-context/common/DESIGN_SYSTEM.md` exists, config field set
- ⚠ admin-portal: config.design_system_path missing — run `/discover --resume` to persist

If --mode=audit, stop here and present the report. Done.

Step 2b: Refresh pass (if --mode=refresh)

Dispatch a scanning agent for platform.md in refresh semantics — never overwrite hand-curated content; only update stale sections.

Tool: Agent subagent_type: general-purpose description: "Refresh platform.md — {slug}"

Prompt:

You are refreshing the workspace's platform context document at
{workspace_root}/{slug}/context/platform.md.

## Staleness findings from the audit

{paste the finding entries verbatim}

## Your job

For each finding, update the specific section named, based on what the current code actually shows:

1. Read the current file — note which sections exist and their current content.
2. For each stale section: re-scan the relevant repos (grep, read configs, parse package manifests), determine the current state, and update the section in place.
3. **Never delete or rewrite sections that are not stale** — the audit lists what to update; leave the rest alone. Hand-curated text in a non-stale section stays verbatim.
4. Update the `Last Updated` date at the top of the file.
5. If the audit identified a "reference file that no longer exists" (e.g., in the Service Map), replace it with the nearest still-existing analog — don't leave a broken reference.

Output: write the updated file using the Edit tool — surgical edits, not whole-file rewrites. Report which sections you updated.

After the agent returns, verify:

• platform.md still parses as markdown.
• Last Updated bumped.
• No {{placeholders}} introduced.

---

Step 3: Single-repo refresh (when scope = repo)

Fast-path notice: if Step 1.5 selected the fast path for this repo, you have a files_changed list from Step 1.6. Pass it to the agent. Otherwise, the agent does a full audit.

Verify {repo_path}/agent-context/ exists. If not:

• audit mode: report "No agent-context directory found. Run /discover first or generate with /context-refresh --mode=refresh."
• refresh mode: ask "No agent-context exists. Generate from scratch? (yes / no)". If yes, dispatch context-manager in full mode (writes agent-context AND rewrites CLAUDE.md as an index). If the repo is claude-only by design, keep it that way and stop.

Frontend repos — additional check:

Design system can live at one of two paths depending on which template generated this repo:

• New bundle: {repo_path}/agent-context/design-system.md (top-level)
• Legacy: {repo_path}/agent-context/common/DESIGN_SYSTEM.md

Probe both, in that order, and use whichever is present.

• If present: audit its §-anchor structure against {plugin_dir}/templates/agent-context-frontend/design-system.md.template (new) or {plugin_dir}/templates/DESIGN_SYSTEM.md.template (legacy fallback). Stale sections / missing required anchors / reference files that no longer exist → findings.
• If missing on BOTH paths: propose bootstrap via /discover --resume Phase B3 (not auto-fixed by context-refresh — B3 is the canonical bootstrap path).

Dispatch the context-manager agent for the repo's agent-context + CLAUDE.md, plus — for frontend — an additional pass that refreshes DESIGN_SYSTEM.md against current feature code:

Tool: Agent subagent_type: context-manager description: "Context {mode} — {repo-name}"

Prompt:

Mode: {mode}
Repo: {repo_path}
Repo type: {type}
Repo role: {role}
{if fast_path:}
Scope: fast (delta from {comparison_sha} since {state.ran_at})
Files changed:
  {newline-separated list from Step 1.6}
Doc-impact hints (advisory):
  {pre-classified hint list from Step 1.6 mapping table}

Constrain your scan to these files and the docs they could plausibly affect.
You may follow imports/refs out from these files when needed, but do NOT
re-verify the entire codebase — that's the periodic full audit's job.
{else:}
Scope: full (no prior state OR --full was passed OR branch changed)

{if mode == "audit":}
Read the agent-context docs at {repo_path}/agent-context/.
Scan the codebase for stale references, missing coverage, and contradictions.
{if role == "frontend":}
Additionally audit the repo's design system file. Probe in this order and use the first one that exists:
  1. {repo_path}/agent-context/design-system.md (new frontend bundle)
  2. {repo_path}/agent-context/common/DESIGN_SYSTEM.md (legacy)

Audit it against the matching PipeCrew template:
  - For path #1: {plugin_dir}/templates/agent-context-frontend/design-system.md.template
  - For path #2: {plugin_dir}/templates/DESIGN_SYSTEM.md.template (legacy)

Checks:
- Required §-anchors present?
- Reference files for each §-subsection still exist?
- Known Inconsistencies: any entries that should be removed because the inconsistency was fixed?
Produce the staleness report. Do NOT modify any files.

{if mode == "refresh":}
Read the agent-context docs at {repo_path}/agent-context/.
Compare against current code reality. Update any stale references.
Add coverage for new modules, endpoints, or features that aren't documented.

If any agent-context/common/ topic files were added or removed, update CLAUDE.md's `## Deep context` table to match (this is the only routine touch CLAUDE.md gets — see implementer-common-rules.md Rule 5), then run:
  node {plugin_dir}/scripts/validate-claude-md.js {repo_path}/CLAUDE.md
Fix any validator errors before finishing. Do not touch CLAUDE.md's stable sections.

{if role == "frontend":}
Additionally refresh the design system file at whichever of these exists:
  1. {repo_path}/agent-context/design-system.md (new frontend bundle)
  2. {repo_path}/agent-context/common/DESIGN_SYSTEM.md (legacy)

For the chosen file:
- For each §-subsection, verify reference files still exist; if not, replace with the nearest still-existing exemplar.
- The Known Inconsistencies table is `<!-- agent-updatable -->` (in the new template) — if an entry that the current code no longer exhibits, remove the row; if a new inconsistency is visible, add a row.
- All other sections are `<!-- human-owned -->` (in the new template) — leave them untouched. If you observe drift, surface it as a finding instead of editing.

Report what you changed.

---

Step 4: --all scope

Workflow:

1. Run the workspace-level pass (Step 2) first — it's the broader context, and per-repo refreshes may reference what's in platform.md § Established Patterns.
2. Then run the single-repo pass (Step 3) for every repo in the config, in parallel (batched if many — say 5 at a time). Each repo independently consults Step 1.5 — some may take the fast path while others go full.
3. Consolidate all reports into a single summary.

---

Step 4.5: Update state file (after --mode=refresh succeeds)

After every successful refresh on a per-repo basis, write back to {workspace_root}/{slug}/runs/context-refresh/state.json:

{
  "<repo-key>": {
    "head_sha": "<git rev-parse HEAD output>",
    "branch": "<git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD output>",
    "ran_at": "<ISO 8601 UTC>",
    "mode": "fast" | "full",
    "fast_runs_since_full": <number — 0 after a full run; +1 after each fast run>
  }
}

Rules:

• Update only the entry for the repo(s) that were just refreshed. Other entries stay untouched.
• If mode was full → reset fast_runs_since_full to 0.
• If mode was fast → increment fast_runs_since_full.
• If a refresh failed for a repo → do NOT update its entry (preserves the old comparison point so the next run retries the same delta).
• For --mode=audit, do NOT write state. Audits are read-only operations.

This file is part of the workspace's run history. It's created on first refresh and grows as new repos are touched. It's small (one entry per repo, ~150 bytes each) and human-editable — if a user wants to force a full audit on next run, they delete the relevant entry.

---

Step 5: Present results + one-line status

Emit the standard one-line phase-done status per scope. Include fast/full path counts so users can see when the safety net (full audit) ran:

# Audit mode
[context-refresh ✔] workspace: 4 findings, repos: 12 findings across 7 repos (audit only, no changes)

# Refresh mode (mostly fast path)
[context-refresh ✔] workspace: 3 files updated, repos: 5 files updated across 4 repos
  Path: 3 fast, 1 full (publisher-service — periodic safety net; reset counter)
  Tokens: 24k, duration 3:42

# Refresh mode (no changes since last refresh)
[context-refresh ✔] No code changes detected since last refresh — skipped 4 repos.
  Last refresh: 2026-04-25T14:30:00Z. Use --full to re-verify anyway.

# Partial — some refreshes failed
[context-refresh ✔⚠] workspace: 2 updated, 1 deferred; repos: 4 updated, 1 deferred (backoffice-service agent failed after retry)
  Deferred: abvi-backoffice-service (agent non-response after retry) — re-run /context-refresh --resume --workspace={slug}

For --mode=audit: print the full staleness report grouped by file, no modifications.

For --mode=refresh: print a concise summary — files modified, sections touched, Last Updated bumped. Offer to diff before/after if the user wants.

Step 6: Sync workspace memory to GitHub (only if config.workspace.memory.enabled AND --mode=refresh changed workspace-level docs)

If the workspace opted into GitHub-backed memory and this refresh touched any workspace-level durable doc under {workspace_root}/{slug}/context/ (platform.md, observability.json, audit-findings.md, adrs, diagrams), persist it:

node {plugin_dir}/scripts/sync-memory.js {workspace_root}/{slug} --message "context-refresh: {scope} ({N} files)" --checkpoint=context-refresh

Skip for --mode=audit (read-only, nothing changed) and when memory.enabled is absent/false. Per-repo doc refreshes (CLAUDE.md / agent-context inside the code repos) are committed in those repos' own git, not the memory repo. The script redacts secrets, commits, rebases onto the team's latest, and publishes per config.workspace.memory.sync_mode — a platform.md refresh under hybrid/pr opens a memory/* PR; an observability/audit-findings refresh commits directly. Push/PR failures warn but never fail the refresh. See docs/design/github-memory.md.

---

Interruption handling

• If a scanner agent fails on a single file, record it in the report, continue with the others.
• --all with many files: dispatch in batches (~5) to avoid token-flood; sequential batches, parallel within.
• Always emit observability events (run_start, phase_start/end, agent_end) per {plugin_dir}/rules/observability.md. Run directory: {workspace_root}/{slug}/runs/context-refresh/{run_id}/.

---

Do NOT touch

These files are owned by other skills and have their own refresh/update paths:

File	Owned by	Refresh path
{workspace_root}/{slug}/config.json	/discover	/discover --resume
{workspace_root}/{slug}/agents/*.md	/discover Phase C	/discover --resume + manual edit
{workspace_root}/{slug}/history/learn-log.md	/pipecrew:learn	Append-only; no refresh
{workspace_root}/{slug}/context/audit-findings.md	/discover Phase C	/discover --resume
{workspace_root}/{slug}/runs/context-refresh/state.json	this skill (Step 4.5)	Auto-managed; delete an entry to force full audit on next run for that repo
Repo package.json / pom.xml / pyproject.toml	Repo owner	Manual

If the audit reveals that any of these are stale, surface it as a finding with a pointer to the correct refresh path — but do not auto-update.