ContextOptimizer

Analyzes and optimizes repository-level agent context files (CLAUDE.md, AGENTS.md, .cursorrules, etc.) using evidence-based principles from the paper "Evaluating AGENTS.md: Are Repository-Level Context Files Helpful for Coding Agents?" (Gloaguen et al., ICML 2025).

Key Research Findings (Paper Reference)

The paper found that context files tend to reduce task success rates while increasing inference cost by 20%+. The core problem: unnecessary requirements make tasks harder. However, developer-written minimal context files slightly outperform having no context at all. The skill applies these findings to produce optimized, minimal context files.

Workflow Routing

Workflow	Trigger	File
Audit	"audit context files", "analyze CLAUDE.md"	`Workflows/Audit.md`
Optimize	"optimize context files", "improve CLAUDE.md"	`Workflows/Optimize.md`
Generate	"generate context file", "create CLAUDE.md from scratch"	`Workflows/Generate.md`

Examples

Example 1: Audit existing context files

code

User: "Audit the context files in this repo"
→ Invokes Audit workflow
→ Scans for CLAUDE.md, AGENTS.md, .cursorrules, .github/copilot-instructions.md
→ Scores each file against research-backed anti-patterns
→ Returns report with specific line-level recommendations

Example 2: Optimize a bloated CLAUDE.md

code

User: "Optimize my CLAUDE.md"
→ Invokes Optimize workflow
→ Reads current file, detects anti-patterns
→ Produces optimized version: removes redundancy, trims codebase overviews, keeps only actionable constraints
→ Shows before/after diff for user approval

Example 3: Generate minimal context from scratch

code

User: "Generate a CLAUDE.md for this repo"
→ Invokes Generate workflow
→ Explores repo structure, build system, test commands
→ Produces minimal context file with only non-obvious, actionable requirements
→ Avoids codebase overviews (paper found them ineffective)