Strategic Compact Skill

Suggests manual /compact at strategic points in your workflow rather than relying on arbitrary auto-compaction.

Why Strategic Compaction?

Auto-compaction triggers at arbitrary points:

• •Often mid-task, losing important context
• •No awareness of logical task boundaries
• •Can interrupt complex multi-step operations

Strategic compaction at logical boundaries:

• •After exploration, before execution - Compact research context, keep implementation plan
• •After completing a milestone - Fresh start for next phase
• •Before major context shifts - Clear exploration context before different task

How It Works

The suggest-compact.sh script runs on PreToolUse (Edit/Write) and:

1. •Tracks tool calls - Counts tool invocations in session
2. •Threshold detection - Suggests at configurable threshold (default: 50 calls)
3. •Periodic reminders - Reminds every 25 calls after threshold

Hook Setup

Add to your ~/.claude/settings.json:

{
  "hooks": {
    "PreToolUse": [{
      "matcher": "tool == \"Edit\" || tool == \"Write\"",
      "hooks": [{
        "type": "command",
        "command": "~/.claude/skills/strategic-compact/suggest-compact.sh"
      }]
    }]
  }
}

Configuration

Environment variables:

• •COMPACT_THRESHOLD - Tool calls before first suggestion (default: 50)

Best Practices

1. •Compact after planning - Once plan is finalized, compact to start fresh
2. •Compact after debugging - Clear error-resolution context before continuing
3. •Don't compact mid-implementation - Preserve context for related changes
4. •Read the suggestion - The hook tells you when, you decide if

Related

• •The Longform Guide - Token optimization section
• •Memory persistence hooks - For state that survives compaction

Skill: strategic-compact

Purpose

Suggest manual compaction at logical points to preserve key context.

When to Use

• •Long sessions with many tool invocations.
• •Before/after phase changes (exploration → implementation).

Usage

• •Install the PreToolUse hook with suggest-compact.sh.
• •Adjust COMPACT_THRESHOLD for more or less frequency.

Examples

• •Configure ~/.claude/settings.json with the hook.
• •Compact after completing a milestone.

Related Skills

• •iterative-retrieval
• •continuous-learning