| name | prime-context |
| description | Use before starting pipeline work on a Ready feature the agent hasn't worked yet. Triggers — "/engineer.prime-context", "prime context", "load context before we start", "get up to speed on feature X". |
prime-context
Load working memory before pipeline work on a Ready feature — the convergent counterpart to discuss. Forked from superpowers:brainstorming but inverted: no exploration, just loading and orienting. Produces no artifact.
When to use
A prep step (not a checkpoint) between feature-init and discover-acs, on any feature the agent hasn't already worked this session.
Skip when: the agent just created the feature this session (context already warm). Not for: exploring whether a feature is worth doing (discuss).
Workflow
- Resolve + locate — resolve the methodology root + manifest via
${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/dae_resolve.py (see references/resolving.md); locate the feature (slug arg or branch name). Reject if no folder / no feature.md.
- Silent batch load — without narrating:
feature.md, CHARTER.md, manifest.yml, prior handoffs/ (especially the originating *-discuss.md), and the files named in feature.md's "Related code / design pointers". When loading those code pointers, prefer LSP — documentSymbol for file shape, hover for signatures/types, workspaceSymbol to pull in the symbols they reference — over reading whole files blind, when an LSP MCP capability is available; fall back to grep + Read otherwise. See ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/references/code-lookup.md.
- Orient — give a concise summary: outcome, scope, autonomy level (+ charter cap), key prior decisions, related code, relevant ADRs.
- One prompt — ask exactly one question: anything else to load? If the user names a new code pointer, load it and offer to add it to
feature.md. Then stop — prime-context orients, it does not interview.
- Breadcrumb handoff — emit a tiny handoff recording what was loaded.
Re-invocation re-loads fresh (no incremental diffing).
Handoff
Emit per ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/references/handoff-summary.md. checkpoint: null; artifacts: []; human_action_needed: no; recommended_next: "/engineer.discover-acs".
Always emit a breadcrumb. Earlier versions produced no handoff because prime-context creates no artifact. Users expect a breadcrumb after every skill invocation (distbute Jun 4: "emit the handoff") — surprising them with "no artifact by design" breaks the agentic-summary contract. The breadcrumb records: which feature was primed, what files were loaded, any new pointer added to feature.md, and the next recommended skill. Body can be one paragraph — frontmatter is the load-bearing part for progress-log propagation.
References
