open-claw-team/.openclaw/workspace/skills/strategic-compact/SKILL.md

name, description

name	description
strategic-compact	Systematic context compaction for AI agents — reduce conversation history while preserving critical information. Use when conversation is long, context window is tight, or before handing off to another agent.

Strategic Compaction

Based on ECC strategic-compact skill.

When to Compact

• Conversation history exceeds 50% of context window
• Handing off to another agent (need condensed context)
• Long debugging session with many iterations
• Starting a new phase of work after long exploration
• Before spawning sub-agents (they get context via handoff)

Compaction Strategy

What to KEEP (high priority)

• User instructions and requirements
• Key decisions made and why
• Architecture/design choices
• Current state of work (what's done, what's next)
• Open questions and blockers
• File paths and code snippets that are actively being worked on

What to REMOVE (low priority)

• Intermediate debugging steps that led nowhere
• Multiple attempts that were superseded
• Raw tool output that's been summarized
• Conversational filler
• Explored alternatives that were rejected (keep only the final decision)
• Old scratch work

What to SUMMARIZE (medium priority, replace with brief summary)

• Long chain of reasoning → "Investigated X, found Y, decided Z because..."
• Multiple file reads → "Read 15 files in src/, key ones are A, B, C"
• Test output iterations → "Fixed 3 test failures: details in git log"
• API exploration → "Researched 3 libraries, chose X because..."

Compaction Output Format

## Context Summary — [date/time]

### Project: [name]
**Current goal**: [what are we working on right now]
**Status**: [where we are]

### Key decisions:
1. [Decision] because [reason]
2. [Decision] because [reason]

### Current state:
- Done: [completed items]
- In progress: [what's being worked on]
- Next: [what comes after]
- Blocked by: [if any]

### Relevant files:
- [path/to/file]: [brief description of role]
- [path/to/file]: [brief description of role]

### Open questions:
- [question]? — [status: answered/pending/needs-input]

### Code context (brief snippets if critical):
- [key function signature or interface definition]

Techniques

Before Compacting

1. Write down everything important in a summary file
2. Commit if possible (git provides history)
3. Update any tracking files (MEMORY.md, memory/daily)

After Compacting

1. Verify the summary has all key info
2. Check that the next step is clear
3. Ensure file paths and key names are preserved
4. Test if you can continue work from the summary alone