Context check

Skill tmusser/ai-engineering-skills/skills/context-check

Portable AI-engineering skills for Claude Code, Codex, and coding agents: bounded scope, mini-specs, vertical slices, verification, ship gates, and handoff.

Install

npx -y skills add tmusser/ai-engineering-skills --skill context-check

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

3 stars3 stars. Stars are a popularity signal and not a quality one, but at this level it is likely that nobody has read this closely except its author, and you would be relying on your own review.

What its author says it does

Copied from the file, not written here

Detect context drift, rehydration loops, hypothesis sprawl, scope creep, active-mode loss, and durable-state gaps. Recommend the smallest corrective action.

SKILL.md

2.8 KB, as published. Nobody here has run it

Context Check

Purpose

Keep sessions cheap, bounded, and durable. Detect distortion early and recommend minimal correction.

When to use

Passive guardrail. Speak only on medium/high risk (or when explicitly invoked).

Low risk: stay silent unless explicitly invoked. If explicitly invoked on low risk, output one line: CONTEXT RISK: low — continue.

Trigger on repeated facts, scope/hypothesis changes, multiple debug hypotheses, handoff pressure, or active modes that may need to persist.

Inputs

Current conversation
Durable state files if present
Current task, phase, loop, and active modes if known
Current debugging hypothesis if debugging
Where to record the result when the check is medium/high risk

Workflow

Scan for risk signals (repeated premises, history restatement, scope drift, hypothesis sprawl, weak durable state, active-mode loss).
Assign risk: low / medium / high.
Recommend exactly one best move. For medium/high risk, prefer: scope-freeze | update durable state | handoff | diagnose-loop | restart. Use continue only for explicit low-risk checks.
Record where to persist the result when the risk is medium/high: RECORD IN: HANDOFF.md | VERIFY.md | SPEC.md | none.
On medium/high risk, output the structured block. Recommend restart only when context is actively corrupting decisions.

Output format (medium/high only):

CONTEXT RISK: medium
TRIGGER: repeated premise repair on X
BEST MOVE: handoff | scope-freeze | update PLAN.md | etc.
FREEZE NOW: [key facts/decisions/modes/hypothesis]
NEXT ACTION: ...
RECORD IN: HANDOFF.md | VERIFY.md | SPEC.md | none

Keep FREEZE NOW limited to facts, decisions, assumptions, IDs, files, tests, active modes, current hypothesis, and next verification that must survive.

Outputs

Concise risk assessment
One recommended action
Minimal freeze list when needed

Success looks like

Low risk → no output (unless explicitly invoked), work continues cleanly.
Medium risk → quick state update prevents drift.
High risk → handoff or restart before more damage.

Example (medium risk):

CONTEXT RISK: medium
TRIGGER: scope subtly expanding
BEST MOVE: scope-freeze
FREEZE NOW: only modify files in /src/featureX

Stop conditions

Next action is clear.
Durable state holds necessary facts.
One active hypothesis (if debugging).
Active modes captured for persistence.

Anti-patterns

Triggering on normal long conversations.
Producing checklists instead of one action.
Full thread summaries.
Letting multiple debug hypotheses coexist.
Assuming modes survive without writing them down.