| name | claude-praetorian |
| description | Cross-session memory — save insights after research, restore prior context before planning or research. Restore first, compact second. |
Claude Praetorian
Context preservation across sessions. Restore before work, compact after valuable findings.
Workflow: restore → work → compact
1. Restore Before Work
Check compactions BEFORE planning, research, or subagents:
praetorian_restore(query="topic") # search — summary mode, ~50 tokens/result
praetorian_restore(query="topic", detail="full") # full detail when summary hit looks relevant
praetorian_restore() # recent compactions
praetorian_restore(project="current") # only this project
When to restore:
- Before planning sessions or architectural decisions
- Before web research — you may already know this
- Before launching subagents — prior context exists
- At session start on a familiar project
- After
/clear — reload lost context
2. Compact After Valuable Findings
Update existing compactions — reuse title to merge, don't create duplicates:
praetorian_compact(type="web_research", title="auth JWT research",
key_insights=[...], refs=[...])
When to compact:
- After research with findings NOT already in compactions
- After decisions worth preserving across sessions
- After subagent results with new insights
- Always reuse existing title to merge — check first
When NOT to compact:
- Routine work, trivial discoveries
- Information already saved in an existing compaction
- Every single web search (only genuinely valuable ones)
3. Manage Storage
praetorian_manage(action="status") # per-project counts, disk size
praetorian_manage(action="prune", count=3) # remove 3 oldest
praetorian_manage(action="prune", project="/path") # prune specific project
Per-project limit: 13. Auto-prunes oldest when exceeded (merges are free).
Only mention cleanup to user when >50 total or >500KB.
Tools
| Tool | Purpose |
|---|
praetorian_restore | Search/load past context. Summary mode by default (cheap). |
praetorian_compact | Save insights. Auto-merges same title+type (>70% Jaccard). |
praetorian_manage | Storage health: status and prune. |
Token Discipline
- Restore summaries first — only load full detail for relevant hits
- One well-maintained compaction > five stale ones
- Compact selectively — key decisions, hard-won findings, patterns that save time
- Don't flood context with full restores when summaries suffice
