| name | strategic-compact |
| description | Suggests manual context compaction at logical intervals to preserve context through task phases rather than arbitrary auto-compaction. |
Strategic Compact
Suggests manual /compact at strategic points in your workflow rather than relying on arbitrary auto-compaction.
When to Activate
- Running long sessions that approach context limits
- Working on multi-phase tasks (research, plan, implement, test)
- Switching between unrelated tasks within the same session
- After completing a major milestone and starting new work
- When responses slow down or become less coherent
Compaction Decision Guide
| Phase Transition | Compact? | Why |
|---|
| Research / Planning | Yes | Research context is bulky; plan is the distilled output |
| Planning / Implementation | Yes | Plan is in TodoWrite or a file; free up context for code |
| Implementation / Testing | Maybe | Keep if tests reference recent code; compact if switching focus |
| Debugging / Next feature | Yes | Debug traces pollute context for unrelated work |
| Mid-implementation | No | Losing variable names, file paths, and partial state is costly |
| After a failed approach | Yes | Clear the dead-end reasoning before trying a new approach |
What Survives Compaction
| Persists | Lost |
|---|
| CLAUDE.md / AGENTS.md instructions | Intermediate reasoning and analysis |
| TodoWrite task list | File contents you previously read |
Memory files (~/.claude/memory/) | Multi-step conversation context |
| Git state (commits, branches) | Tool call history and counts |
| Files on disk | Nuanced user preferences stated verbally |
Best Practices
- Compact after planning -- Once plan is finalized in TodoWrite, compact to start fresh
- Compact after debugging -- Clear error-resolution context before continuing
- Don't compact mid-implementation -- Preserve context for related changes
- Write before compacting -- Save important context to files or memory before compacting
- Use
/compact with a summary -- Add a custom message: /compact Focus on implementing indirect offsets next
Rust-Specific Considerations
- After reading large source modules (the evaluator and parser submodule trees can pull hundreds of lines into context across many files), compact before implementing
- After running
cargo test / cargo nextest run with verbose output, compact if moving to a different module
- After architecture review or exploration, compact before starting refactoring work
