Context catch up

Context Catch-Up

Use this only at a fresh-session or true-resume boundary in a repository that already has context-harness files.

Repeat catch-up only after a real resume/compaction boundary, a materially changed user objective, or an external context change. Otherwise use loaded context, and use context-maintain only for updates, closeout, lesson capture, or plan stress-testing.

Compatibility Check

Before ordinary catch-up, quickly inspect AGENTS.md, CONTEXT.md, and NOW.md for:

• <!-- context-harness:schema v3 --> in generated context files.
• A small AGENTS.md Context Contract plus generated Context Index.
• Required CONTEXT.md sections: Project, Structure, Operating Constraints, Workflow, Language, Relationships, Flagged Ambiguities, Learned Patterns.
• A non-empty NOW.md with current focus, blockers, immediate next step, and touched files.

If files are empty, partial, stale, or missing the v3 schema marker, report the drift in the catch-up summary and route inspection or repair work to explicit context-upgrade. Do not rewrite partial or schema-drifted layouts from catch-up, and do not let non-blocking harness drift replace the user's requested project task.

Read Order

1. Read the small NOW.md recovery packet first.
2. If the user supplied an objective, task, question, or relevant context, use that as the hydrate query. If not, derive the query from NOW.md focus and immediate next step.
3. Reconcile the user's context with NOW.md: prefer the current user objective when scope changed, but surface material conflicts with repository state.
4. Run node scripts/context-index.js hydrate "<query>" before opening PLAN.md, chunks, or bulky/task-specific context.
5. Read concise CONTEXT.md directly only while it fits the startup budget; otherwise read hydrate-selected cards/sections. Even when it fits, keep the catch-up selective and do not load unrelated project history.
6. Use selected cards before large PLAN.md sections, chunks, or raw sources.
7. If there is no index, use only enough CONTEXT.md and AGENTS.md fallback context for the current objective and route repair to context-upgrade.
8. If the project uses ADRs, skim only titles/dates relevant to the current task.

Output

Give the user a short catch-up summary:

• Current focus
• Active blockers
• Immediate next step
• Operating constraints or terms that matter for the requested task
• Any uncertainty that should be resolved before editing

Guardrails

• Do not rewrite context files during catch-up except to capture a durable correction from the user; route layout repair to explicit context-upgrade.
• If hydrate, check, or generated indexes fail or warn about stale generated files, mention the drift and use current markdown fallback context. Keep index repair as a follow-up unless the drift blocks correctness or safety.
• Do not summarize raw external content into CONTEXT.md; route task-local discoveries to PLAN.md when work begins.
• Keep the summary short enough that it helps the next action, not replaces it.