name	context-discipline
description	Recover from context compaction and keep long agent sessions token-efficient. Load on demand — after a compaction event, or when the session context is filling with tool/MCP output.

Context Discipline Skill

On-demand procedures for context recovery and long-session hygiene. Load this skill only when needed — after a compaction, or when context pressure builds.

Compaction Recovery Procedure

When context is compacted or truncated mid-task, re-anchor before acting:

Session state — read AGENTS.md or CLAUDE.md for recorded decisions; in solo sessions, look for === PHASE: <name> === markers in the visible context to find your position.
Recent history — run git log --oneline -10 to see the latest commits and infer phase progress from their prefixes (test: = red, feat: = green, refactor:, docs: add spec = spec phase, etc.).
Ground truth — run the project test command; the pass/fail state is a reliable phase indicator.
Artifacts — check specs/ for written specification documents and read the most recently modified files to see what was last changed.
Resume, don't restart — continue from the last completed phase. Never restart a pipeline from scratch after a compaction.
Confirm when unsure — tell the user: "Context was compacted. Last commit was X. Shall I continue with [phase]?"

Summarizing Tool and MCP Output

Tool results and MCP responses (Context7 documentation, search results, API lookups) are the fastest way to fill a context window. Rules:

Extract the relevant findings from any tool output longer than ~30 lines; never leave a full dump in the transcript.
After an MCP documentation lookup, keep only the signatures, parameters, and constraints you need — drop prose, examples you won't use, and unrelated sections.
Record what you learned in 3-5 lines in your working notes, then reference the note instead of re-querying.
When delegating, pass file paths and one-line conclusions, not the raw output you collected.

Working-Notes Protocol for Long Sessions

Keep a running checklist of pipeline phases; tick them off as they finish.
After each phase or sub-agent result, write a 3-5 line summary and drop the detail from active use.
Write large intermediate products (specs, plans, analyses) to disk and reference them by path — the file system is your external memory.
Prefer re-reading a small file over keeping its content in context "just in case".

Context Discipline Skill

On-demand procedures for context recovery and long-session hygiene. Load this skill only when needed — after a compaction, or when context pressure builds.

Compaction Recovery Procedure

When context is compacted or truncated mid-task, re-anchor before acting:

Session state — read AGENTS.md or CLAUDE.md for recorded decisions; in solo sessions, look for === PHASE: <name> === markers in the visible context to find your position.

Recent history — run git log --oneline -10 to see the latest commits and infer phase progress from their prefixes (test: = red, feat: = green, refactor:, docs: add spec = spec phase, etc.).

Ground truth — run the project test command; the pass/fail state is a reliable phase indicator.

Artifacts — check specs/ for written specification documents and read the most recently modified files to see what was last changed.

Resume, don't restart — continue from the last completed phase. Never restart a pipeline from scratch after a compaction.

Confirm when unsure — tell the user: "Context was compacted. Last commit was X. Shall I continue with [phase]?"

Summarizing Tool and MCP Output

Tool results and MCP responses (Context7 documentation, search results, API lookups) are the fastest way to fill a context window. Rules:

Extract the relevant findings from any tool output longer than ~30 lines; never leave a full dump in the transcript.

After an MCP documentation lookup, keep only the signatures, parameters, and constraints you need — drop prose, examples you won't use, and unrelated sections.

Record what you learned in 3-5 lines in your working notes, then reference the note instead of re-querying.

When delegating, pass file paths and one-line conclusions, not the raw output you collected.

Working-Notes Protocol for Long Sessions

Keep a running checklist of pipeline phases; tick them off as they finish.

After each phase or sub-agent result, write a 3-5 line summary and drop the detail from active use.

Write large intermediate products (specs, plans, analyses) to disk and reference them by path — the file system is your external memory.

Prefer re-reading a small file over keeping its content in context "just in case".

context-discipline