star-wars-wild-space/.clinerules/context-management.md

Context & Token Management Rules

File Access — Read Only What's Needed

• NEVER load or scan the entire project at the start of a task
• Only read files that are directly relevant to the current request
• If you need to understand the project structure, use list_files on specific subdirectories — do NOT recurse the whole repo
• If you've already read a file in this session, do NOT read it again — use your memory of it

Thinking — Stay Focused, Don't Over-Plan

• Do not brainstorm more than 3 approaches before picking one
• Do not re-analyze a problem you already analyzed earlier in the session
• If a task is simple (under 5 steps), start doing it — don't write a plan first
• Maximum 2 rounds of self-correction before asking the user for help
• If you are stuck, STOP and ask — do not keep retrying and do not say it's okay and move on

Context Window — Proactive Handoff

• Monitor context window usage (visible in environment_details)
• If context usage exceeds 40%, warn the user: "Context is at X%, consider starting a new task soon"
• If context usage exceeds 60%, STOP the current task and use the new_task tool to propose a clean handoff with a summary of:
  • What was accomplished
  • What files were changed
  • What the next step is
• Never let the context exceed 70% — performance degrades past that point

Response Style — Be Concise

• Do not repeat what you just did at the end of each step
• Do not summarize the whole conversation when answering a short question
• Status updates should be one sentence max
• Do not explain what you're about to do AND then do it — just do it