Strategic Compaction

Purpose

Generate handoff documents before context limits are reached, preserving critical information for session continuation.

When to Use

• •Context window approaching limits
• •Before complex multi-step operations
• •At session transitions
• •When preserving state for another agent/session

Process

1. Assess Current Context

• •Identify key decisions made this session
• •Note files modified and their purposes
• •Track open questions and blockers

2. Generate Handoff Document

Create a structured summary with:

• •Original Goal: Original objective
• •Progress Summary: What was accomplished
• •State: Current position in workflow
• •Files Changed: List with brief descriptions
• •Decisions Made: Key choices and rationale
• •Blockers/Questions: Unresolved issues
• •Next Steps: Immediate actions for continuation

3. Output Format

# Session Handoff: [Date/Time]

## Original Goal

[What we set out to accomplish]

## Progress Summary

- [Completed item 1]
- [Completed item 2]

## Current State

[Where we are in the process]

## Files Changed

| File         | Changes           |
| ------------ | ----------------- |
| path/to/file | Brief description |

## Decisions Made

1. [Decision]: [Rationale]

## Open Questions

- [Question 1]

## Next Steps

1. [Immediate next action]
2. [Following action]

Integration

• •Triggered by /compact-handoff command
• •Manual trigger criteria: token count exceeds 50,000, more than 10 files modified, or session exceeds 30 minutes
• •Writes to scratchpad or user-specified location
  • •Scratchpad location: .claude/scratchpad/ directory in the project root (auto-created if missing)
  • •Persistence: Scratchpad files persist across sessions and are gitignored by default