Context Check

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

1. Scan for risk signals (repeated premises, history restatement, scope drift, hypothesis sprawl, weak durable state, active-mode loss).
2. Assign risk: low / medium / high.
3. 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.
4. Record where to persist the result when the risk is medium/high: RECORD IN: HANDOFF.md | VERIFY.md | SPEC.md | none.
5. 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.