context-optimization

1# Context Optimization Techniques
2 
3Context optimization extends the effective capacity of limited context windows through strategic compression, masking, caching, and partitioning. Effective optimization increases useful capacity without requiring larger models or longer windows — but only when applied with measurement discipline. The techniques below are ordered by impact and risk.
4 
5## When to Activate
6 
7Activate this skill when:
8- Context budgets or token costs constrain task complexity
9- Observation masking can replace verbose tool outputs with retrievable references
10- Prefix or KV-cache hit rate needs improvement
11- Retrieval scoping can reduce irrelevant loaded context
12- Context partitioning can extend effective capacity across agents
13- Budget triggers are needed for masking, compaction, or partitioning
14 
15Do not activate this skill for adjacent work owned by other skills:
16- Explaining why attention or context windows behave this way: `context-fundamentals`.
17- Diagnosing active lost-in-middle, poisoning, distraction, confusion, or clash: `context-degradation`.
18- Designing a structured handoff summary for a long conversation: `context-compression`.
19- Storing large outputs, plans, or logs as files: `filesystem-context`.
20- Model-initiated rewrites of its own context and their re-prefill cost: `self-managed-context`.
21 
22## Core Concepts
23 
24Apply four primary strategies in this priority order:
25…