Skill: Context Engineering

Load trigger: "load context-engineering skill" > DORA: AI Capability 3: AI-accessible internal data Token cost: Low

Purpose

Move AI tools from generic assistants to specialized experts by connecting them to internal documentation and codebase structure. "Context engineering" is the practice of deliberately managing what internal knowledge is available to AI tools at session start — not just what prompt you give them.

DORA AI Capabilities Model v2025.1: "Connecting AI to your internal documentation and codebases moves it from a generic assistant to a specialized expert."

This skill eliminates the "re-discover context every session" tax — particularly costly at 2hrs/day across an 8-repo portfolio.

Minimum Corpus per Repo

Every uFawkes* repo must maintain these files for AI-accessible context. Missing files are flagged as corpus gaps, not silently ignored.

Per-Repo Corpus Extensions

Beyond the minimum, each repo has domain-specific files that should be in the corpus:

Session Startup Checklist

Run at the start of every opencode session involving more than one file change. Takes under 2 minutes. Prevents context-blind agent decisions.

# 1. Verify minimum corpus files exist
for f in README.md AGENTS.md CONTRIBUTING.md AI_STANCE.md CHANGELOG.md; do
  [ -f "$f" ] || echo "CORPUS GAP: $f missing"
done

# Check for ARCHITECTURE.md in either location
[ -f "ARCHITECTURE.md" ] || [ -f "docs/ARCHITECTURE.md" ] || \
  echo "CORPUS GAP: ARCHITECTURE.md missing (check docs/ too)"

# Check for test README
[ -f "tests/README.md" ] || [ -f "tests/TESTING.md" ] || \
  echo "CORPUS GAP: test suite documentation missing"

# 2. Check AGENTS.md references current skill list
# (Agent should read AGENTS.md and verify all listed skills exist in .agents/skills/)

Corpus Quality Signals

These indicate the corpus will give poor context — flag them, don't silently continue:

Span Events

Emit these telemetry spans (integrates with agent-observability skill):

Output Format

{
  "skill": "context-engineering",
  "repo": "paruff/REPO_NAME",
  "corpus_current": true,
  "last_built": "2026-06-16T08:00:00Z",
  "hours_stale": 2,
  "missing_files": [],
  "corpus_quality_warnings": [],
  "pending_skills": ["j-curve-navigation"],
  "ready_for_session": true
}

Sub-Skills