Strategic Compact Skill

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

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.sh 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

Hook Setup

Add to your ~/.claude/settings.json:

{
  "hooks": {
    "PreToolUse": [{
      "matcher": "tool == \"Edit\" || tool == \"Write\"",
      "hooks": [{
        "type": "command",
        "command": "~/.claude/skills/strategic-compact/suggest-compact.sh"
      }]
    }]
  }
}

Configuration

Environment variables:

• COMPACT_THRESHOLD – Tool calls before first suggestion (default: 50)

Best Practices

1. Compact after planning – Once plan is finalized, 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

Related

• The Longform Guide – Token optimization section
• Memory persistence hooks – For state that survives compaction