ds-project-compact

name	ds-project-compact
description	Compact the .project/ memory files — archive spent decisions and finished roadmap sections, keep the live files to what still governs. Loss-free and approval-gated.
disable-model-invocation	true

Compact the .project/ memory so the live files stay small and current while nothing is lost.

When invoked, sweep .project/ for material that has stopped governing and move it to a dated archive, leaving each live file as the current contract. The principle is live stays, spent moves, essence promotes: an active decision stays in DECISIONS.md; a superseded or expired one moves to the archive (its residual truth, if any, re-recorded as a fresh active decision); a finished roadmap section moves out of PLAN.md; ## Now is never touched. Run it when DECISIONS.md/PLAN.md have grown enough to cost tokens or to let stale entries keep steering. The counterpart to /ds-project-checkpoint, which grows these files; compact is what trims them.

Process

1. If .project/ is absent, say so and stop — there is nothing to compact.
2. Classify each DECISIONS.md entry as one of:
   • active — still describes a current contract or constraint. Stays in DECISIONS.md.
   • superseded — a later decision replaced it. Archive it; if it still carries residual truth the replacement doesn't state, re-record that as a fresh active decision.
   • expired — described a one-time choice already carried out, no longer governing anything. Archive it.
3. Classify PLAN.md ## Roadmap sections. A section whose tasks are all complete ([x]) moves to the archive. ## Now is never modified. A section with open tasks stays.
4. Offer stale scratch files for deletion. If handoff.md or EXPLORE.md exists and is stale (older than PLAN.md, or its work is done), offer to delete it — durable findings should already have been routed to DECISIONS.md/PROJECT.md by checkpoint, so the file itself is disposable.
5. Get per-item approval. Show each classification and each archive move one at a time and wait for the nod before writing — same model as checkpoint. Honor a batch approval ("archive them all"). Nothing is written without approval.
6. Move spent material to the archive. Append it to .project/archive/<file>-<date>.md (e.g. DECISIONS-2026-07-12.md), append-only, plain Markdown. Then remove the archived entries/sections from the live file. Every archived item stays readable in the archive — compact never deletes decision content.
7. Promote essence only on approval. If an archived entry distills to a standing constraint that belongs in the map, propose it as a single additive line to PROJECT.md (the additive-only rule /ds-project-checkpoint uses) — never rewrite the map, and only with approval.
8. Report what moved where, and confirm the live files now hold only what still governs.

Rules

• Loss-free. The union of the live files and the archive contains every pre-compact decision entry. Compact relocates; it never discards.
• ## Now is off-limits. Compact only touches ## Roadmap sections and the decision log — current state is checkpoint's, not compact's.
• Approval-gated. Every classification and every reader-affecting write is approved per item (batch approval honored). Default to keeping an entry live when its status is unclear — err toward not archiving.
• Archive is write-only memory. .project/archive/ is append-only and is never read by /ds-project-resume — it exists for a human who wants the history, not for orientation.
• Owned files stay owned. SPEC.md is never touched (flag it stale if a decision moved past it); PROJECT.md gets additive constraint promotions only, with approval.

Output

A list of what was archived (decisions by classification, roadmap sections), the archive file paths written, any PROJECT.md promotion made, any scratch file deleted, and a one-line confirmation that the live files are compacted and nothing was lost.