Context Audit

zuvo:context-audit — Context Health Monitor

Tracks what fills your context window over time and flags waste. Two data sources:

1. Auto-collected — ~/.zuvo/runs.log field 12 (name:bytes pairs, populated by track-includes.sh hook on every Read)
2. Manual — /context output (optional, for full system-level audit)

Argument Parsing

Mandatory File Loading

Read these files:

CORE FILES LOADED:
  1. ../../shared/includes/run-logger.md       -- READ
  2. ../../shared/includes/retrospective.md    -- READ

Phase 0: Collect Data

Metrics data (from runs.log)

Read ~/.zuvo/runs.log — the single source of truth for all skill run data:

RUNS_LOG="$HOME/.zuvo/runs.log"

Filter entries that have INCLUDES data (field 12 contains :). These are v3+ entries with name:bytes format.

# Extract v3 entries (field 12 has name:bytes pairs)
awk -F'\t' 'NF>=12 && $12 ~ /:/' "$RUNS_LOG"

If fewer than 3 entries with INCLUDES data: print "Not enough data yet. Run a few zuvo skills first — the track-includes.sh hook captures include sizes automatically." and exit.

Parse field 12 as name:bytes|name:bytes pairs. Calculate per-include sizes and cumulative costs directly from this field. No separate metrics file needed.

/context data (--full mode only)

Check conversation history for /context output. If not found:

"Run /context in this session and let me know when you're done. I need the token breakdown to audit your full setup."

STOP HERE in --full mode. Do not proceed until the user provides /context data.

In default trend mode: skip this step entirely, proceed with metrics data.

Phase 1: Trend Analysis (default mode)

Parse context-metrics.log for the --since period (default 7 days).

1.1 Include Loading Frequency

Count how many times each include was loaded across all skill runs:

TOP INCLUDES (last 7 days, N skill runs)

  # INCLUDE              LOADS   AVG_SIZE   CUMULATIVE
  1 env-compat.md        N/N     1.5K       NK
  2 codesift-setup.md    N/N     1.5K       NK
  3 run-logger.md        N/N     4.4K       NK
  4 cq-patterns.md       N/N     27.0K      NK
  ...

Flag includes with cumulative >100K as ⚠ HIGH CUMULATIVE COST.

1.2 Heaviest Runs

Find the top 3 skill runs by INCLUDES_BYTES:

HEAVIEST RUNS

  1. refactor @ project — 14 includes / 82K
  2. review @ project — 10 includes / 58K
  3. execute @ project — 12 includes / 71K

1.3 Tier Distribution

Per-skill breakdown of tier usage (from TIER field):

TIER DISTRIBUTION

  review:      tier-0: 5  tier-1: 3  tier-2: 8  tier-3: 2
  write-tests: LIGHT: 4  STANDARD: 8  HEAVY: 2
  build:       LIGHT: 3  STANDARD: 5  DEEP: 1

1.4 Week-over-Week Delta

If enough data exists (>14 days), compare this week vs last week:

TREND (this week vs last)

  Avg includes/run:  7.2 → 6.8  ↓ 6%
  Avg bytes/run:     42K → 38K  ↓ 10%
  Total skill runs:  23 → 19    ↓ 17%

1.5 Recommendations

Based on the data, generate actionable recommendations:

Phase 2: Full Audit (--full mode only)

Only runs when --full flag is provided AND /context data is available.

2.1 MCP Servers

From /context output, count MCP servers and their tool counts. Flag:

• Servers with >30 tools (high token cost per definition)
• Servers with CLI alternatives (playwright → npx playwright, github → gh)

2.2 Memory Files

Read all files listed in /context Memory section. For each, apply 5 filters:

Count total lines. Flag if >200 lines combined.

2.3 Skills

From /context Skills section, for each skill >120 tokens:

• Flag as "consider trimming description"
• Check for restated goals or synonymous instructions

2.4 Settings

Check the global and project settings files (e.g., settings.json):

2.5 File Permissions

Check settings.json for permissions.deny rules. If missing, check whether bloat directories exist:

2.6 Retro-gate bypass check

Surface every ZUVO_SKIP_RETRO_GATE=1 use recorded by append-runlog to $ZUVO_HOME/skip-retro-gate.log (default ~/.zuvo/skip-retro-gate.log). Schema: # v1 SKIP\tDATE\tSKILL\tPROJECT\tNOTE. Run this and fold the count into the report (each bypass skipped a durability gate = an unverified run):

# >>> zuvo:skip-audit  (plan Task 9 — surface retro-gate bypasses)
_SL="${ZUVO_HOME:-$HOME/.zuvo}/skip-retro-gate.log"
if [ -f "$_SL" ]; then
  _n=$(grep -c '^SKIP:' "$_SL" 2>/dev/null) || true; _n=${_n:-0}
  echo "Retro-gate bypasses (ZUVO_SKIP_RETRO_GATE): $_n"
  if [ "$_n" -gt 0 ]; then
    echo "  recent (skill / project / date):"
    grep '^SKIP:' "$_SL" | tail -5 | awk -F'\t' '{printf "  - %s / %s / %s\n",$3,$4,$2}'
  fi
else
  echo "Retro-gate bypasses: 0 (no skip-retro-gate.log)"
fi
# <<< zuvo:skip-audit

Cross-reference any nonzero skill/project against missing retros in retros.log.

Phase 3: Score and Report

Scoring (--full mode)

Score starts at 100. Deduct per issue:

Floor at 0. Labels: 90-100 CLEAN, 70-89 NEEDS WORK, 50-69 BLOATED, 0-49 CRITICAL.

Scoring (trend mode)

Score based on metrics data:

Base 50 + adjustments. Same labels.

Output Format

# Context Audit

Score: {N}/100 [{CLEAN|NEEDS WORK|BLOATED|CRITICAL}]
Mode: {trend|full}
Period: {last N days} ({M skill runs})

## Include Loading

{Phase 1.1 table}

## Heaviest Runs

{Phase 1.2 table}

## Tier Distribution

{Phase 1.3 table}

## Trend

{Phase 1.4 delta, or "Not enough data for trend"}

## Issues Found

### [{CRITICAL|WARNING|INFO}] {Category}
{What's wrong}
Fix: {One-line actionable fix}

## Recommendations

{Phase 1.5 or Phase 2 recommendations, ranked by impact}

## Top 3 Fixes

1. {Highest-impact fix}
2. {Second}
3. {Third}

Phase 4: Baseline (--baseline mode)

Save current metrics snapshot to ~/.zuvo/context-baseline.json:

{
  "date": "2026-04-12",
  "avg_includes_per_run": 7.2,
  "avg_bytes_per_run": 38000,
  "total_runs": 23,
  "top_includes": {
    "env-compat": {"loads": 23, "size": 1500},
    "cq-patterns": {"loads": 8, "size": 27000}
  },
  "include_sizes": {
    "env-compat.md": 1500,
    "codesift-setup.md": 1500,
    "cq-patterns.md": 27000
  }
}

Print: "Baseline saved. Run zuvo:context-audit again after your next changes to see the delta."

Phase 5: Offer to Fix (--full mode only)

After the report:

"Want me to fix any of these? I can:

• Show you a cleaned-up CLAUDE.md with the flagged rules removed
• Add the missing settings.json configs
• Add permissions.deny rules for build artifacts"

Auto-apply settings.json and permissions.deny (safe, reversible). Show diffs for CLAUDE.md — let the user confirm before modifying instruction files.

Retrospective (REQUIRED)

Follow the retrospective protocol from retrospective.md. Gate check → structured questions → TSV emit → markdown append. If gate check skips: print "RETRO: skipped (trivial session)" and proceed.

Output

Run: <ISO-8601-Z>	context-audit	<project>	-	-	<VERDICT>	-	<mode>	<NOTES>	<BRANCH>	<SHA7>	<INCLUDES>	<TIER>

Append via wrapper (REQUIRED). Never >> directly to ~/.zuvo/runs.log — the wrapper is the gate that verifies a retro entry exists for this run. Order: retro bash executed → wrapper invoked → completion claimed.

printf '%b\n' "$RUN_LINE" | ~/.zuvo/append-runlog

Expected stdout: OK: appended to runs.log (retro verified for <skill> on <project>). If exit 2 with RETRO_REQUIRED — go execute the retro bash from retrospective.md first; never bypass with ZUVO_SKIP_RETRO_GATE=1. After the wrapper succeeds, print a Logs: evidence line (tail -1 ~/.zuvo/retros.log, grep -c "^<!-- RETRO -->" ~/.zuvo/retros.md, tail -1 ~/.zuvo/runs.log) before claiming completion. Printing the markdown retro section without executing the bash leaves all three log files empty.

Include sizes are captured automatically by the track-includes.sh PostToolUse hook and written to runs.log field 12 as name:bytes pairs. No separate metrics file or manual collection needed.