OutlineDriven Context engineering
Contract
| Field | Bound contract |
|---|---|
| Trigger | Long session has accumulated stale or conflicting context, or the user asks to refresh or recheck context before continuing. |
| Authority | Reversible local: writes only an optional scratch state note; rollback is undo. No remote mutation. |
| Side effect | Optional scratch state note only; no project files touched. |
| Done | Acting context is provably current and minimal; stale items are dropped with the user informed. |
Inputs
- The current acting context present in the session: stated facts, assumptions, inferred file state, and prior decisions.
- The source of truth for each item being rechecked: repository files, tool output, or user-stated ground truth.
- Optional: a user-named subset to recheck. If omitted, recheck the full acting context.
Procedure
- Enumerate every item in the acting context: stated facts, assumptions, inferred file state, and prior decisions. Done when: every acting-context item is enumerated.
- For each item, recheck it against its source of truth by the narrowest action that settles it: read the file, re-run the tool, or ask the user. Classify the item as current, stale, or contradicted. Done when: every item is classified current, stale, or contradicted.
- Drop stale and contradicted items from the acting context. Replace a dropped item with the corrected value only when the source of truth supplies one. Done when: stale and contradicted items are dropped and replaced where a corrected value exists.
- Remove redundant or duplicate items so the acting context holds only items that are provably current and needed for the remaining work. Done when: no redundant or duplicate items remain.
- Tell the user which items were dropped and why, and identify any item that could not be settled because its source of truth was unreachable. Done when: dropped items and reasons are reported and unsettled items are identified.
- Optionally write a scratch state note recording the settled context and the dropped items. Do not touch any project file. Done when: the scratch note is written or skipped, and no project file is touched.
Failure and recovery
- Unreachable source of truth: leave the dependent item flagged as unsettled, do not drop or replace it, and report it to the user. Never assert an item is current without a settled source.
- Contradiction between sources: report both sources and ask the user which to keep. Do not silently pick one.
- Partial result: deliver the subset that was settled and explicitly list the unsettled remainder. Never present a partial refresh as complete.
- Non-mutation boundary: if any step would require touching a project file or remote state, stop and report the boundary rather than widening authority.
Output
Refreshed acting context (only provably current, minimal items) → user-facing list of dropped items with reasons → optional scratch state note. Unsettled items listed separately and remain flagged.