strategic-compact

Manual context compaction prevents arbitrary auto-compaction by prompting you to compact at logical task transitions. This preserves essential information by proactively suggesting compaction based on tool call thresholds rather than waiting for automatic triggers.

You should compact the context window at task transitions, such as moving from research to planning or implementation to testing. Compacting at these strategic intervals ensures critical information from previous phases is retained without losing your implementation plan.

Yes, managing token limits proactively requires setting up a hook in Claude's settings.json for PreToolUse events. This hook configuration enables the skill to monitor tool call thresholds and offer proactive compaction suggestions.

The best way to preserve research context is to manually compact it before starting the coding phase. This ensures your implementation plan remains accessible and within token limits without the bulk of raw research notes cluttering the context window.

Yes, context compaction works effectively with complex feature workflows involving research, planning, coding, and testing phases. It prompts you to compact at each logical transition point, ensuring critical context is retained throughout the entire multi-phase development process.