prep-compact

/compact is a built-in CLI command. A skill or tool call cannot run it; only the user can. This skill does everything up to that point, so the user only pastes and presses Enter.

The brief goes in two places on purpose:

• In the reply. The compactor summarizes the conversation, so text in the last reply is the text it is told to keep.
• In a file. The summary can still lose detail. The file is the full copy that Claude re-reads after compaction.

Steps

1. Collect the facts

Check the current state with read-only tools before writing anything. Never fill the brief from memory where a command can confirm it.

• pwd, git rev-parse --show-toplevel, git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD, git status --short (skip when not in a git repo).
• git worktree list when the session used worktrees.
• Background processes and agents this session started that still run.

2. Write the retention brief

Write the brief in the reply, under the heading ## Retention brief. Include every section that applies; leave out empty ones. Be specific: exact paths, ids, names, numbers, error text. Leave out narration of how the session went.

1. Goal — what the user wants, in one to three sentences. Quote the user's own words where the wording matters.
2. Location — repo, worktree path, branch, and the directory to work in.
3. Plan — the plan file path, which steps are done, which step is in progress, and every %% note still open.
4. Decisions — each decision made, with the reason, and options the user rejected (so they do not come back).
5. User rules for this task — corrections and preferences the user gave in this session that are not in any CLAUDE.md.
6. Changes so far — files created, edited, or deleted, one line each with what changed.
7. Verification state — the last build and test results, with pass and fail counts and the exact error text of any failure.
8. Open threads — unanswered questions, things blocked on the user (for example codegen to run), and running processes, agents, or review ids (wisplet rv_…) with what each one waits for.
9. Key references — ticket links, PR numbers, URLs, function and type names that the next step needs.
10. Next step — the exact next action.

3. Save the brief to a file

Save the same brief to ~/.claude/compact-briefs/<repo>_<YYYY-MM-DD>_<slug>.md:

• <repo> is the basename of git rev-parse --show-toplevel, or no-repo outside a git repo.
• <slug> is a short kebab-case name for the task.
• If the file exists, overwrite it only when it is from this same session; otherwise add -2, -3, and so on.

4. Build the /compact command

Build one line, with no line breaks, so the paste runs as a slash command:

/compact Keep the "Retention brief" from the last assistant message in full: every path, id, decision, rule, test result, open thread and the next step, word for word where possible. After compaction, re-read <absolute brief file path> before doing anything else.

Replace <absolute brief file path> with the real path from step 3. Expand ~ to the full home path.

5. Copy it to the clipboard

Run printf '%s' '<the command>' | pbcopy (macOS). If pbcopy is not available or fails, say so.

6. Report

End the reply with:

• The brief file path.
• The /compact … line in a code block, so the user can copy it by hand if the clipboard step failed.
• One line: "Copied to clipboard. Paste and press Enter to compact." (Only if step 5 succeeded.)

Do not make code changes, commits, or ticket updates in this skill.