Strategic Compaction

Proactive context management to maximize usable working context.

When to Compact

Compact at natural phase transitions, not arbitrary token thresholds:

1. •Research → Plan: After gathering information, before writing implementation plan.
2. •Plan → Implement: After plan is approved, before writing code.
3. •Implement → Test: After initial implementation, before test writing/debugging.
4. •Debug → Next Feature: After resolving a bug, before moving to next task.
5. •Any → Handoff: Before ending a session that will continue later.

How to Compact

1. •Summarize key decisions and context into a concise handoff note.
2. •Include: current state, next steps, blockers, file paths touched.
3. •Use /compact with a summary of what to preserve.

Handoff Document Template

## Session Handoff — [date]

### What was done
- [Completed task 1]
- [Completed task 2]

### Current state
- [Branch name, last commit]
- [What's working, what's not]

### Next steps
- [ ] [Task 1]
- [ ] [Task 2]

### Key decisions
- [Decision 1: chose X because Y]
- [Decision 2: chose A over B because C]

### Files touched
- `path/to/file.go` — [what changed]
- `path/to/other.py` — [what changed]

Anti-Patterns

• •Don't compact mid-debug. You lose stack trace context.
• •Don't compact right after reading a large file. Summarize it first.
• •Don't rely on auto-compact — it triggers at 80% capacity with no phase awareness.
• •Don't start a new feature without compacting the previous one's context.