Context Budget

Context is a finite, billable resource. Spend it like money. The goal is the most progress per token, not the most thorough sweep.

When This Skill Activates

This skill applies to every session, but especially when:

• Exploring an unfamiliar codebase
• Searching for where something is defined or used
• Reading files to answer a question
• Running commands whose output could be large (logs, test runs, find, git log)
• Research that spans many files or repos

The Rules

1. Search narrow, then widen

• Start with the most specific query that could work. Widen only if it misses.
• Prefer grep/glob with a path or file-type filter over a repo-wide sweep.
• Use files_with_matches mode first; pull full content only for the files that matter.

2. Read what you need, not the whole file

• For a known symbol, read the relevant range, not the entire file.
• Read a file once. Don't re-read to "verify" an edit — the edit tool already confirms success.
• Don't read generated files, lockfiles, node_modules, or build output unless the task is about them.

3. Summarize, don't dump

• Never paste large command output back to the user. Pipe through head, grep, or a count.
• When reporting findings, give the answer and the file:line pointer — not the full source.
• Truncate logs to the relevant window. Nobody needs 500 lines of stack trace to see one error.

4. Delegate heavy research to subagents

• If a question needs more than ~3 search rounds, spawn a subagent (Explore or general-purpose).
• The subagent's large intermediate reads stay out of the main context; only its summary returns.
• Give the subagent a tight question and ask for a short report.

5. Prefer cheap signals before expensive ones

• git log --oneline -10 before reading diffs. Directory listing before reading files.
• A type-check or single test before the full suite, when you only need a quick signal.

Anti-Patterns

• Reading 10 files "to get context" before knowing which one matters.
• Running a command, getting 2,000 lines, then reading all of it.
• Re-grepping the same term with slightly different spellings instead of one good regex.
• Dumping an entire config/schema into the conversation to reference one field.

The Test

Before a large read or search, ask: "What specific question does this answer, and is there a cheaper way to answer it?" If you can't name the question, don't spend the tokens.