compiling-context-pack

name	compiling-context-pack
description	Use when compiling context pack is required during kernel work, especially when the result must be traceable, independently reviewable, and safe to hand to another agent.
license	MIT
compatibility	ForgeOS-compatible Agent Skills hosts; no provider-specific model required.
metadata	{"author":"forgeos-community","version":"0.2.0","pack":"kernel","kind":"core","status":"stable"}

Compiling Context Pack

Overview

This skill owns one bounded responsibility: compiling context pack. Its focus is compile the minimum sufficient context needed for one skill cell while preserving provenance and freshness. It converts declared inputs into typed artifacts and reproducible evidence without silently changing product scope.

Trigger

Activate only when the project is in one of these stages: intent, discovery, research, divergence, synthesis, selection, product-definition, ux-design, architecture, planning, implementation, verification, release-readiness, all contract preconditions pass, and the router identifies a missing output this skill can produce. Do not activate merely because the skill name resembles the user request.

Required Inputs

• project-state
• gate-state
• Optional: confirmed-intent
• Current gate result, open findings, artifact hashes, and invalidation state
• Required tools: none
• Optional tools: none
• Confirmed human decisions relevant to this scope

Method-Specific Protocol

1. Start from declared consumes and traverse only direct dependencies within the reference-depth budget.
2. Represent large project structures through stable IDs, hashes, signatures, and deltas.
3. Include unresolved findings and decisions that constrain the output.
4. Reject stale artifacts whose hashes no longer match the graph.
5. Emit an explicit omission list so the worker knows what was deliberately excluded.

Procedure

1. Read the current project state and active gate.
2. Resolve only the minimum missing state required for routing.
3. Start from declared consumes and traverse only direct dependencies within the reference-depth budget.
4. Represent large project structures through stable IDs, hashes, signatures, and deltas.
5. Include unresolved findings and decisions that constrain the output.
6. Reject stale artifacts whose hashes no longer match the graph.
7. Emit an explicit omission list so the worker knows what was deliberately excluded.
8. Compile a bounded context pack from direct dependencies.
9. Execute the contracted operation without authoring unrelated artifacts.
10. Record decisions, provenance, and audit events.
11. Emit the next eligible skill set and stop condition.

Verification Questions

• Can the task be completed without asking for already-known facts?
• Can each included item be traced to a contract requirement?
• Is any full file or conversation included when a symbol or artifact slice would suffice?
• Are freshness hashes checked?

Evidence Packet

Produce or reference all applicable evidence:

• context manifest
• artifact hashes
• omission list
• token estimate

Evidence must identify the current artifact hash, command or method used, result, reviewer identity, timestamp, and limitations.

Output Contract

Produce:

• context-pack

The primary artifact must include schema version, provenance, consumed artifact IDs, decisions, evidence references, residual risks, validation state, and invalidation targets. Narrative explanation may accompany the artifact but cannot replace it.

Quality Gate

Reviewer: independent-reviewer

• The output directly and completely performs compiling context pack within its declared boundary.
• Can the task be completed without asking for already-known facts?
• Can each included item be traced to a contract requirement?
• Is any full file or conversation included when a symbol or artifact slice would suffice?
• Are freshness hashes checked?
• Every material claim is traceable to an input, decision, executable check, or evidence item.
• Required fields are complete and machine-readable.
• The producing agent is not the approving reviewer.
• Open uncertainty and residual risk are explicit; critical findings are never hidden by an aggregate score.

Pass only when: All mandatory rules pass, evidence targets the current artifact hash, and no unresolved critical finding applies.

Forbidden Shortcuts

• Do not infer a material requirement that the user has not confirmed.
• Do not replace a typed artifact with a long explanation.
• Do not approve work produced by the same agent identity.
• Do not hide a critical failure behind a high aggregate score.
• Do not load unrelated project history, files, references, or skill bodies.
• Do not mark evidence complete when it targets a different artifact hash or version.

Failure Modes

• guessing a material requirement
• producing prose without the contracted artifact
• self-approving the output
• expanding scope without a decision record
• dumping the repository
• repeating the user brief
• using stale summaries

Escalation and Invalidation

Stop and request a human decision when scope, risk acceptance, irreversible action, cost ceiling, privacy boundary, or product direction is materially ambiguous. When this artifact changes, invalidate only descendants named by the artifact graph; preserve unaffected verified branches.

Handoff

• Next transition: the graph router selects a real consumer of context-pack.
• Required evidence: contract-validation, independent-review, context manifest, artifact hashes, omission list, token estimate.
• Required envelope fields: artifactId, schemaVersion, sha256, producingSkill, producingAgent, consumedArtifacts, decisionIds, evidenceIds, residualRisks, validationState, invalidationTargets, stopCondition.
• Stop condition: Output contract is satisfied, a blocker is recorded, or a material human decision is required.

Token and Context Policy

Load at most 8 direct artifacts and reference depth 1. Use stable IDs, hashes, signatures, and deltas instead of repeating full history. Use established domain terminology, state each requirement once, and spend context on decisions, code, tests, or evidence rather than narration.

Reference Playbook

Load skills/references/core/kernel.md only when this skill needs pack-wide decision tables, evidence patterns, or cross-skill handoff rules.

See contract.json for the machine-readable contract.