Skills

Skills¶

Skills are slash commands that run inside your AI assistant (e.g., /ctx-next), as opposed to CLI commands that run in your terminal (e.g., ctx status).

Skills give your agent structured workflows: It knows what to read, what to run, and when to ask. Most wrap one or more ctx CLI commands with opinionated behavior on top.

All Skills¶

Session Lifecycle¶

Skills for starting, running, and ending a productive session.

/ctx-remember¶

Recall project context and present a structured readback. Ceremony skill: invoke explicitly at session start.

Wraps: ctx agent --budget 4000, ctx recall list --limit 3, reads TASKS.md, DECISIONS.md, LEARNINGS.md

See also: Session Ceremonies, The Complete Session

/ctx-status¶

Show context summary (files, token budget, tasks, recent activity) with interpreted suggestions.

Wraps: ctx status [--verbose] [--json]

See also: The Complete Session, ctx status CLI

/ctx-agent¶

Load the full context packet optimized for AI consumption. Also runs automatically via the PreToolUse hook with cooldown.

Wraps: ctx agent [--budget] [--format] [--cooldown] [--session]

See also: The Complete Session, ctx agent CLI

/ctx-next¶

Suggest 1-3 concrete next actions ranked by priority, momentum, and unblocked status.

Wraps: reads TASKS.md, ctx recall list --limit 3

See also: The Complete Session, Tracking Work Across Sessions

/ctx-commit¶

Commit code with integrated context persistence: pre-commit checks, staged files, Co-Authored-By trailer, and a post-commit prompt to capture decisions and learnings.

Wraps: git add, git commit, optionally chains to /ctx-add-decision and /ctx-add-learning

See also: The Complete Session

/ctx-reflect¶

Pause and reflect on session progress. Walks through a checklist of learnings, decisions, task completions, and session notes to persist.

Wraps: chains to ctx add learning, ctx add decision, manual TASKS.md updates

See also: The Complete Session, Persisting Decisions, Learnings, and Conventions

/ctx-wrap-up¶

End-of-session context persistence ceremony. Gathers signal from git diff, recent commits, and conversation themes. Proposes candidates (learnings, decisions, conventions, tasks) with complete structured fields for user approval, then persists via ctx add. Offers /ctx-commit if uncommitted changes remain. Ceremony skill: invoke explicitly at session end.

Wraps: git diff --stat, git log, ctx add learning, ctx add decision, ctx add convention, ctx add task, chains to /ctx-commit

See also: Session Ceremonies, The Complete Session

Context Persistence¶

Skills for recording work artifacts: tasks, decisions, learnings, conventions: into .context/ files.

/ctx-add-task¶

Add an actionable task with optional priority and phase section.

Wraps: ctx add task "description" [--priority high|medium|low]

See also: Tracking Work Across Sessions

/ctx-add-decision¶

Record an architectural decision with context, rationale, and consequences. Supports Y-statement (lightweight) and full ADR formats.

Wraps: ctx add decision "title" --context "..." --rationale "..." --consequences "..."

See also: Persisting Decisions, Learnings, and Conventions

/ctx-add-learning¶

Record a project-specific gotcha, bug, or unexpected behavior. Filters for insights that are searchable, project-specific, and required real effort to discover.

Wraps: ctx add learning "title" --context "..." --lesson "..." --application "..."

See also: Persisting Decisions, Learnings, and Conventions

/ctx-add-convention¶

Record a coding convention that should be standardized across sessions. Targets patterns seen 2-3+ times.

Wraps: ctx add convention "rule" --section "Name"

See also: Persisting Decisions, Learnings, and Conventions

/ctx-archive¶

Archive completed tasks from TASKS.md to a timestamped file in .context/archive/. Preserves phase headers for traceability.

Wraps: ctx tasks archive [--dry-run]

See also: Tracking Work Across Sessions

Scratchpad¶

/ctx-pad¶

Manage the encrypted scratchpad: add, remove, edit, and reorder one-liner notes. Encrypted at rest with AES-256-GCM.

Wraps: ctx pad, ctx pad add, ctx pad rm, ctx pad edit, ctx pad mv, ctx pad import, ctx pad export, ctx pad merge

See also: Scratchpad, Using the Scratchpad

Journal & History¶

Skills for browsing, exporting, and enriching your AI session history into a structured journal.

/ctx-recall¶

Browse, inspect, and export AI session history. List recent sessions, show details by slug or ID, and export to .context/journal/.

Wraps: ctx recall list, ctx recall show, ctx recall export

See also: Browsing and Enriching Past Sessions

/ctx-journal-enrich¶

Enrich a single journal entry with YAML frontmatter: title, type, outcome, topics, technologies, and summary. Shows diff before writing.

Wraps: reads and edits .context/journal/*.md files

See also: Browsing and Enriching Past Sessions, Turning Activity into Content

/ctx-journal-enrich-all¶

Full journal pipeline: exports unexported sessions first, then batch-enriches all unenriched entries. Filters out short sessions and continuations. Can spawn subagents for large backlogs.

Wraps: ctx recall export --all + iterates /ctx-journal-enrich

See also: Browsing and Enriching Past Sessions

/ctx-journal-normalize¶

Normalize journal markdown for clean rendering: fix fence nesting, metadata formatting, list indentation, and collapse large tool outputs.

Wraps: reads and edits .context/journal/*.md files

See also: Browsing and Enriching Past Sessions, Turning Activity into Content

Content Creation¶

Skills for turning project activity into publishable content.

/ctx-blog¶

Generate a blog post draft from recent project activity: git history, decisions, learnings, tasks, and journal entries. Requires a narrative arc (problem, approach, outcome).

Wraps: reads git log, DECISIONS.md, LEARNINGS.md, TASKS.md, journal entries; writes to docs/blog/

See also: Turning Activity into Content

/ctx-blog-changelog¶

Generate a themed blog post from a commit range. Takes a starting commit and unifying theme, analyzes diffs and journal entries from that period.

Wraps: git log, git diff --stat; writes to docs/blog/

See also: Turning Activity into Content

Auditing & Health¶

Skills for detecting drift, auditing alignment, and improving prompt quality.

/ctx-consolidate¶

Consolidate redundant entries in LEARNINGS.md or DECISIONS.md. Groups overlapping entries by keyword similarity, presents candidates, and (with user approval) merges groups into denser combined entries. Originals are archived, not deleted.

Wraps: reads LEARNINGS.md and DECISIONS.md, writes consolidated entries, archives originals, runs ctx reindex

See also: Detecting and Fixing Drift

/ctx-drift¶

Detect and fix context drift: stale paths, missing files, file age staleness, task accumulation, entry count warnings, and constitution violations via ctx drift. Also detects skill drift against canonical templates.

Wraps: ctx drift [--fix]

See also: Detecting and Fixing Drift

/ctx-alignment-audit¶

Audit behavioral claims in docs and recipes against actual agent instructions. Traces each claim to its backing instruction and reports coverage as Covered, Partial, or Gap.

Wraps: reads AGENT_PLAYBOOK.md, plugin skill definitions, CLAUDE.md, and docs/recipes

See also: Detecting and Fixing Drift

/ctx-prompt-audit¶

Analyze recent prompting patterns to identify vague or ineffective prompts. Reviews 3-5 journal entries and suggests rewrites with positive observations.

Wraps: reads .context/journal/ entries

See also: Detecting and Fixing Drift

/ctx-doctor¶

Troubleshoot ctx behavior. Runs structural health checks via ctx doctor, analyzes event log patterns via ctx system events, and presents findings with suggested actions. The CLI provides the structural baseline; the agent adds semantic analysis of event patterns and correlations.

Wraps: ctx doctor --json, ctx system events --json --last 100, ctx remind list, ctx system message list, reads .ctxrc

Trigger phrases: "diagnose", "troubleshoot", "doctor", "health check", "why didn't my hook fire?", "hooks seem broken", "something seems off"

Graceful degradation: If event_log is not enabled, the skill still works but with reduced capability. It runs structural checks and notes: "Enable event_log: true in .ctxrc for hook-level diagnostics."

See also: Troubleshooting, ctx doctor CLI, ctx system events CLI

/ctx-check-links¶

Scan all markdown files under docs/ for broken links. Three passes: internal links (verify file targets exist on disk), external links (HTTP HEAD with timeout, report failures as warnings), and image references. Resolves relative paths, strips anchors before checking, and skips localhost/example URLs.

Wraps: Glob + Grep to scan, curl for external checks

Trigger phrases: "check links", "audit links", "any broken links?", "dead links"

See also: Detecting and Fixing Drift

/ctx-sanitize-permissions¶

Audit .claude/settings.local.json for dangerous permissions across four risk categories: hook bypass (Critical), destructive commands (High), config injection vectors (High), and overly broad patterns (Medium). Reports findings by severity and offers specific fix actions with user confirmation.

Wraps: reads .claude/settings.local.json, edits with confirmation

Trigger phrases: "audit permissions", "are my permissions safe?", "sanitize permissions", "check settings"

See also: Claude Code Permission Hygiene

/ctx-verify¶

Run the relevant verification command before claiming a result. Maps claims to required evidence ("tests pass" needs test output, "build succeeds" needs exit 0) and includes self-audit questions to surface gaps before reporting done.

Wraps: runs the verification command appropriate to the claim (go test, make audit, go build, diff, etc.)

Trigger phrases: "verify this", "does it work?", "prove it passes", "is it done?"

See also: Detecting and Fixing Drift

/ctx-context-monitor¶

Respond to context checkpoint signals when usage hits high thresholds. Fires at adaptive intervals and offers context persistence before the session ends.

Type: Automatic: Triggered by the check-context-size hook, not user-invocable

Wraps: hook-driven; suggests /ctx-reflect

See also: Running an Unattended AI Agent

Planning & Execution¶

Skills for structured design, implementation, and parallel agent workflows.

/ctx-brainstorm¶

Transform raw ideas into clear, validated designs through structured dialogue before any implementation begins. Follows a gated process: understand context, clarify the idea (one question at a time), surface non-functional requirements, lock understanding with user confirmation, explore 2-3 design approaches with trade-offs, stress-test the chosen approach, and present the detailed design.

Wraps: reads DECISIONS.md, relevant source files; chains to /ctx-add-decision for recording design choices

Trigger phrases: "let's brainstorm", "design this", "think through", "before we build", "what approach should we take?"

See also: /ctx-spec

/ctx-spec¶

Scaffold a feature spec from the project template and walk through each section with the user. Covers: problem, approach, happy path, edge cases, validation rules, error handling, interface, implementation, configuration, testing, and non-goals. Spends extra time on edge cases and error handling.

Wraps: reads specs/tpl/spec-template.md, writes to specs/, optionally chains to /ctx-add-task

Trigger phrases: "spec this out", "write a spec", "create a spec", "design document"

See also: /ctx-brainstorm, /ctx-import-plans

/ctx-import-plans¶

Import Claude Code plan files (~/.claude/plans/*.md) into the project's specs/ directory. Lists plans with dates and H1 titles, supports filtering (--today, --since, --all), slugifies headings for filenames, and optionally creates tasks referencing each imported spec.

Wraps: reads ~/.claude/plans/*.md, writes to specs/, optionally chains to /ctx-add-task

See also: Importing Claude Code Plans, Tracking Work Across Sessions

/ctx-implement¶

Execute a multi-step plan with build and test verification at each step. Loads a plan from a file or conversation context, breaks it into atomic steps, and checkpoints after every 3-5 steps.

Wraps: reads plan file, runs verification commands (go build, go test, etc.)

See also: Running an Unattended AI Agent

/ctx-loop¶

Generate a ready-to-run shell script for autonomous AI iteration. Supports Claude Code, Aider, and generic tool templates with configurable completion signals.

Wraps: ctx loop [--tool] [--prompt] [--max-iterations] [--completion] [--output]

See also: Autonomous Loops, Running an Unattended AI Agent

/ctx-worktree¶

Manage git worktrees for parallel agent development. Create sibling worktrees on dedicated branches, analyze task blast radius for grouping, and tear down with merge.

Wraps: git worktree add, git worktree list, git worktree remove, git merge

See also: Parallel Agent Development with Git Worktrees

/ctx-map¶

Build and maintain architecture maps incrementally. Creates or refreshes ARCHITECTURE.md (succinct project map, loaded at session start) and DETAILED_DESIGN.md (deep per-module reference, consulted on-demand). Coverage is tracked in map-tracking.json so each run extends the map rather than re-analyzing everything.

Wraps: ctx status, git log, reads source files; writes ARCHITECTURE.md, DETAILED_DESIGN.md, map-tracking.json

See also: Detecting and Fixing Drift

/ctx-remind¶

Manage session-scoped reminders via natural language. Translates user intent ("remind me to refactor swagger") into the corresponding ctx remind command. Handles date conversion for --after flags.

Wraps: ctx remind, ctx remind list, ctx remind dismiss

See also: Session Reminders

Skill Authoring¶

/ctx-skill-creator¶

Create, improve, and test skills. Guides the full lifecycle: capture intent, interview for edge cases, draft the SKILL.md, test with realistic prompts, review results with the user, and iterate. Applies core principles: the agent is already smart (only add what it does not know), the description is the trigger (make it specific and "pushy"), and explain the why instead of rigid directives.

Wraps: reads/writes .claude/skills/ and internal/assets/claude/skills/

Trigger phrases: "create a skill", "turn this into a skill", "make a slash command", "this should be a skill", "improve this skill", "the skill isn't triggering"

See also: Contributing

Session Control¶

Skills for controlling hook behavior during a session.

/ctx-pause¶

Pause all context nudge and reminder hooks for the current session. Security hooks still fire. Use for quick investigations or tasks that don't need ceremony overhead.

Wraps: ctx pause

Trigger phrases: "pause ctx", "pause context", "stop the nudges", "quiet mode"

See also: Pausing Context Hooks

/ctx-resume¶

Resume context hooks after a pause. Restores normal nudge, reminder, and ceremony behavior. Silent no-op if not paused.

Wraps: ctx resume

Trigger phrases: "resume ctx", "resume context", "turn nudges back on", "unpause"

See also: Pausing Context Hooks

Project-Specific Skills¶

The ctx plugin ships the skills listed above. Teams can add their own project-specific skills to .claude/skills/ in the project root: These are separate from plugin-shipped skills and are scoped to the project.

Project-specific skills follow the same format and are invoked the same way.

Custom skills are not covered in this reference.