Context Optimization & Management Skill

Context Optimization & Management

Manage context window efficiently to maintain productivity in long sessions.

For persistent memory operations, see the memory-management skill.

Summary

Goal: Manage context window usage efficiently to maintain productivity in long sessions.

| Step | Action | Key Notes | |------|--------|-----------| | 1 | Writing | Save critical findings to persistent memory | | 2 | Selecting | Load relevant memories at session start | | 3 | Compressing | Create context anchors every 10 operations | | 4 | Isolating | Delegate specialized tasks to sub-agents |

Key Principles:

Use offset/limit or grep before reading large files -- never read entire files unnecessarily
Combine search patterns with OR (\|) instead of sequential searches
Thresholds: 50K consider compression, 100K required, 150K critical

Four Strategies

1. Writing (Save Important Context)

Save critical findings to persistent memory via memory-management skill:

Discovered architectural patterns
Important business rules, cross-service dependencies
Solution decisions

2. Selecting (Retrieve Relevant Context)

Load relevant memories at session start:

mcp__memory__search_nodes({ query: 'relevant keywords' });
mcp__memory__open_nodes({ names: ['EntityName'] });

3. Compressing (Summarize Long Trajectories)

Create context anchors every 10 operations:

=== CONTEXT ANCHOR [N] ===
Task: [Original task]
Completed: [Done items]
Remaining: [Todo items]
Findings: [Key discoveries]
Next: [Specific next step]
Confidence: [High/Medium/Low]
===========================

4. Isolating (Use Sub-Agents)

Delegate specialized tasks: broad exploration, independent research, parallel investigations.

Token-Efficient Patterns

File Reading

// BAD: Reading entire files
Read({ file_path: 'large-file.cs' });

// GOOD: Read specific sections
Read({ file_path: 'large-file.cs', offset: 100, limit: 50 });

// GOOD: Use grep to find content first
Grep({ pattern: 'class SaveEmployeeCommand', path: 'src/' });

Search Optimization

// BAD: Multiple sequential searches
Grep({ pattern: 'CreateAsync' }); Grep({ pattern: 'UpdateAsync' });

// GOOD: Combined pattern
Grep({ pattern: 'CreateAsync|UpdateAsync|DeleteAsync', output_mode: 'files_with_matches' });

Parallel Operations

// GOOD: Parallel reads for independent files
[Read({ file_path: 'file1.cs' }), Read({ file_path: 'file2.cs' })];

Anti-Patterns

| Anti-Pattern | Better Approach | | -------------------------- | ------------------------------ | | Reading entire large files | Use offset/limit or grep first | | Sequential searches | Combine with OR patterns | | Repeating same searches | Cache results in memory | | No context anchors | Write anchor every 10 ops | | Not using sub-agents | Isolate exploration tasks | | Forgetting discoveries | Save to memory entities |

Token Estimation: 1 line ~ 10-15 tokens | 1 page ~ 500 tokens | Avg file ~ 1-3K tokens

Thresholds: 50K: consider compression | 100K: required | 150K: critical - save & summarize

IMPORTANT Task Planning Notes

Always plan and break many small todo tasks
Always add a final review todo task to review the works done at the end to find any fix or enhancement needed

Agent Skills: Context Optimization & Management

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