# Strategic Compact

> Suggests manual context compaction at logical intervals to preserve context through task phases rather than arbitrary auto-compaction.

- Skill: `dangquangse/strategic-compact` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 2 files)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds add dangquangse/strategic-compact`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/dangquangse/strategic-compact/raw
- Safety review: CAUTION (external: skill-scanner PASS, skillspector PASS)
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Productivity
- Tags: Claude Code, Context Compaction, Session Management, Token Optimization
- Author: DangQuangSE (https://skillmd.com/u/dangquangse)
- Updated: 2026-08-22
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/dangquangse/strategic-compact

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# Strategic Compact Skill

Suggests manual `/compact` at strategic points in your workflow rather than relying on arbitrary auto-compaction.

## When to Activate

- Running long sessions that approach context limits (200K+ tokens)
- Working on multi-phase tasks (research → plan → implement → test)
- Switching between unrelated tasks within the same session
- After completing a major milestone and starting new work
- When responses slow down or become less coherent (context pressure)

## Why Strategic Compaction?

Auto-compaction triggers at arbitrary points:

- Often mid-task, losing important context
- No awareness of logical task boundaries
- Can interrupt complex multi-step operations

Strategic compaction at logical boundaries:

- **After exploration, before execution** — Compact research context, keep implementation plan
- **After completing a milestone** — Fresh start for next phase
- **Before major context shifts** — Clear exploration context before different task

## How It Works

The `suggest-compact.js` script runs on PreToolUse (Edit/Write) and:

1. **Tracks tool calls** — Counts tool invocations in session
2. **Threshold detection** — Suggests at configurable threshold (default: 50 calls)
3. **Periodic reminders** — Reminds every 25 calls after threshold

## Configuration

Environment variables:

- `COMPACT_THRESHOLD` — Tool calls before first suggestion (default: 50)

## Compaction Decision Guide

Use this table to decide when to compact:

| Phase Transition          | Compact? | Why                                                             |
| ------------------------- | -------- | --------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Research → Planning       | Yes      | Research context is bulky; plan is the distilled output         |
| Planning → Implementation | Yes      | Plan is in TodoWrite or a file; free up context for code        |
| Implementation → Testing  | Maybe    | Keep if tests reference recent code; compact if switching focus |
| Debugging → Next feature  | Yes      | Debug traces pollute context for unrelated work                 |
| Mid-implementation        | No       | Losing variable names, file paths, and partial state is costly  |
| After a failed approach   | Yes      | Clear the dead-end reasoning before trying a new approach       |

## What Survives Compaction

Understanding what persists helps you compact with confidence:

| Persists                           | Lost                                     |
| ---------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------- |
| CLAUDE.md instructions             | Intermediate reasoning and analysis      |
| TodoWrite task list                | File contents you previously read        |
| Memory files (`~/.claude/memory/`) | Multi-step conversation context          |
| Git state (commits, branches)      | Tool call history and counts             |
| Files on disk                      | Nuanced user preferences stated verbally |

## Best Practices

1. **Compact after planning** — Once plan is finalized in TodoWrite, compact to start fresh
2. **Compact after debugging** — Clear error-resolution context before continuing
3. **Don't compact mid-implementation** — Preserve context for related changes
4. **Read the suggestion** — The hook tells you _when_, you decide _if_
5. **Write before compacting** — Save important context to files or memory before compacting
6. **Use `/compact` with a summary** — Add a custom message: `/compact Focus on implementing auth middleware next`

## Token Optimization Patterns

### Trigger-Table Lazy Loading

Instead of loading full skill content at session start, use a trigger table that maps keywords to skill paths. Skills load only when triggered, reducing baseline context by 50%+:

| Trigger                   | Skill               | Load When             |
| ------------------------- | ------------------- | --------------------- |
| "test", "tdd", "coverage" | tdd-workflow        | User mentions testing |
| "security", "auth", "xss" | security-review     | Security-related work |
| "deploy", "ci/cd"         | deployment-patterns | Deployment context    |

### Context Composition Awareness

Monitor what's consuming your context window:

- **CLAUDE.md files** — Always loaded, keep lean
- **Loaded skills** — Each skill adds 1-5K tokens
- **Conversation history** — Grows with each exchange
- **Tool results** — File reads, search results add bulk

### Duplicate Instruction Detection

Common sources of duplicate context:

- Same rules in both `~/.claude/rules/` and project `.claude/rules/`
- Skills that repeat CLAUDE.md instructions
- Multiple skills covering overlapping domains

### Context Optimization Tools

- `token-optimizer` MCP — Automated 95%+ token reduction via content deduplication
- `context-mode` — Context virtualization (315KB to 5.4KB demonstrated)

## Related

- [The Longform Guide](https://x.com/affaanmustafa/status/2014040193557471352) — Token optimization section
- Memory persistence hooks — For state that survives compaction
- `continuous-learning` skill — Extracts patterns before session ends