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:
Tracks tool calls - Counts tool invocations in session Threshold detection - Suggests at configurable threshold (default: 50 calls) 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 Compact after planning - Once plan is finalized, compact to start fresh Compact after debugging - Clear error-resolution context before continuing Don't compact mid-implementation - Preserve context for related changes 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