Smart compaction

Skill mjmorales/claude-prove/skills/smart-compaction

Anchor session context into prove primitives before compaction and rehydrate from them after. Built-in compaction summarizes by recency and drops the claude-prove state an agent needs to reorient; this skill externalizes volatile context into durable anchors (scrum tasks, decisions, run-state, a compact-anchors pointer file) pre-compact, then runs a deterministic reorientation sequence post-compact. Use before a manual /compact, when context is about to auto-compact, or immediately after a compaction. Triggers on "smart compact", "prepare for compaction", "anchor before compact", "context is getting long", "rehydrate", "reorient after compact".From its SKILL.md

Install

npx -y skills add mjmorales/claude-prove --skill smart-compaction

Assembled from the repository path, not quoted from the project. Check it against their README if it does not work.

One thing to look at

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SKILL.md

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Smart Compaction: $ARGUMENTS

Dispatch on the first token of $ARGUMENTS:

Subcommand	Purpose
`anchor`	Externalize volatile context into prove anchors, emit /compact instructions
`rehydrate`	Reorient from anchors after a compaction
(none)	Auto-detect: `.prove/compact-anchors.md` exists → `rehydrate`; otherwise → `anchor`

Remaining tokens are a free-form note (extra context for the anchor sweep).

Boundary with /prove:task handoff: handoff serializes full context for a fresh session or different agent. Smart compaction serves the same session surviving an in-place context squeeze — the post-compact agent still has the summary and CLAUDE.md, so anchors are pointers, never serialized content. Ending the session? Use /prove:task handoff instead.

The SessionStart hooks (matcher compact) inject a mechanical run/scrum digest automatically after compaction. Treat that digest as the cue to run rehydrate, not as a replacement for it — the digest reports state; rehydrate re-reads the working set and resumes.

`anchor` — Externalize Before Compaction

The conversation holds knowledge the store does not. Move it into durable anchors so the compaction summary can lose it safely. Consult references/anchor-map.md for the full context-kind → anchor mapping.

Step 1: Capture Sweep (judgment)

Compare what this session knows against what the store records. Persist every gap:

Actionable work, follow-ups not yet tracked → claude-prove scrum task create --title "..." [--milestone <m>] [--tag <t>]
Decisions with rationale (what, why, alternatives rejected) → claude-prove scrum decision record ...
Blockers on in-flight tasks → claude-prove scrum task status <id> blocked (note the blocker in the description)
Stale task statuses — anything started but still showing ready → claude-prove scrum task status <id> in_progress

Skip anything already derivable from git history, the scrum store, or run artifacts — anchors point, they do not duplicate.

Step 2: Snapshot Mechanical State (read-only)

claude-prove scrum status --human
claude-prove run-state current
git status --porcelain && git log --oneline -3

Note the active run (branch/slug/current step), in-progress task IDs, and uncommitted paths.

Step 3: Write `.prove/compact-anchors.md`

Pointers only — no file content, no store duplication. Target under 40 lines:

# Compact Anchors
<!-- Written by smart-compaction anchor. Read + deleted by rehydrate. -->

## Identity
- Branch: <branch> · Run: .prove/runs/<branch>/<slug>/ (step <n>) — omit if no run
- Active scrum tasks: <id> (<status>), ...

## Now
- Immediate next action: <one concrete sentence — "fix the failing assertion in
  store.test.ts:214 caused by the new ULID format", not "continue the store work">

## In-Flight Files
- <path> — <one-line why it is mid-change>

## Gotchas
- <max 3 bullets: non-obvious session knowledge a reorienting agent would trip on>

## Rehydrate
Run `/prove:compact rehydrate` (or follow skills/smart-compaction/SKILL.md).

Step 4: Report + Emit Compact Instructions

Report what was anchored (task IDs created/updated, decisions recorded, anchor file path). Then emit a paste-ready instruction line — do not run compaction yourself; the operator triggers it (or auto-compact fires):

/compact Preserve: active task IDs <ids>, run <branch>/<slug> step <n>, paths
under change, and that .prove/compact-anchors.md holds rehydration anchors.
Drop: resolved explorations, raw tool output, superseded approaches.

Rules

Never inline file content into the anchor file — paths and one-line whys only.
Never duplicate what scrum status / run-state show / git log can answer — point at the source instead so rehydrate re-derives it.
Do not ask the user questions; anchor what is capturable and report.
Re-running anchor overwrites the anchor file — each run is a fresh snapshot.

`rehydrate` — Reorient After Compaction

Step 1: Read Anchors

Read .prove/compact-anchors.md. Missing → proceed with Step 2 anyway (mechanical-only rehydration) and note that no anchor file was found.

Step 2: Mechanical Reorientation (read-only, in order)

claude-prove scrum status --human
claude-prove scrum next-ready
claude-prove scrum alerts
claude-prove run-state current
git status && git log --oneline -5

Active run → also claude-prove run-state show --branch <b> --slug <s> --format md. Recent decision context → claude-prove scrum decision list --limit 5. Navigating unfamiliar code next → claude-prove cafi context before any Glob/Grep.

Step 3: Reload the Working Set

Re-read every path under "In-Flight Files", then any task plan / run artifacts the anchors reference. Priority: run plan > in-flight files > recent decisions.

Step 4: Delete and Resume

rm .prove/compact-anchors.md

Confirm reorientation in one short block — what was in flight, the immediate next action, the branch — then resume immediately. Do not ask the user to repeat the task; the anchors and store carry it.