Context Recovery

Automatically recover working context after session compaction or when continuation is implied but context is missing. Works across Discord, Slack, Telegram, Signal, and other supported channels.

Use when: Session starts with truncated context, user references prior work without specifying details, or compaction indicators appear.

Safety Boundaries

• This skill prioritizes channel/session API history to recover context.
• It does NOT perform broad filesystem scans or shell glob searches by default.
• It does NOT send recovered context to external services.
• It does NOT write to disk unless the user explicitly asks to persist recovered state. ## Triggers

Automatic Triggers

• Session begins with a <summary> tag (compaction detected)
• User message contains compaction indicators: "Summary unavailable", "context limits", "truncated"

Manual Triggers

• User says "continue", "did this happen?", "where were we?", "what was I working on?"
• User references "the project", "the PR", "the branch", "the issue" without specifying which
• User implies prior work exists but context is unclear
• User asks "do you remember...?" or "we were working on..."

Execution Protocol

Step 1: Detect Active Channel

Extract from runtime context: - channel — discord | slack | telegram | signal | etc. - channelId — the specific channel/conversation ID - threadId — for threaded conversations (Slack, Discord threads)

Step 2: Fetch Channel History (Adaptive Depth)

Initial fetch: message:read channel: <detected-channel> channelId: <detected-channel-id> limit: 50

Adaptive expansion logic: 1. Parse timestamps from returned messages 2. Calculate time span: newest_timestamp - oldest_timestamp 3. If time span < 2 hours AND message count == limit: - Fetch additional 50 messages (using before parameter if supported) - Repeat until time span ≥ 2 hours OR total messages ≥ 100 4. Hard cap: 100 messages maximum (token budget constraint)

Thread-aware recovery (Slack/Discord): ```

If threadId is present, fetch thread messages first

message:read channel: threadId: limit: 50

Then fetch parent channel for broader context

message:read channel: channelId: limit: 30 ```

Parse for: - Recent user requests (what was asked) - Recent assistant responses (what was done) - URLs, file paths, branch names, PR numbers - Incomplete actions (promises made but not fulfilled) - Project identifiers and working directories

Step 3: Fetch Session Context (safe mode)

Use platform/session APIs only (no shell filesystem scans):

# List recent sessions (if tool exists)
sessions_list:
  limit: 5

# Pull last messages from likely matching session
sessions_history:
  sessionKey: <candidate-session-key>
  limit: 80
  includeTools: true

If session APIs are unavailable, skip this step and proceed with channel-only evidence.

Step 4: Optional Memory Check (explicitly scoped)

Only inspect memory if the agent runtime already provides a scoped memory tool/path. Do not run shell glob scans across home directories.

Step 5: Synthesize Context

Compile a structured summary:

## Recovered Context

**Channel:** #<channel-name> (<platform>)
**Time Range:** <oldest-message> to <newest-message>
**Messages Analyzed:** <count>

### Active Project/Task
- **Repository:** <repo-name>
- **Branch:** <branch-name>
- **PR:** #<number> — <title>

### Recent Work Timeline
1. [<timestamp>] <action/request>
2. [<timestamp>] <action/request>
3. [<timestamp>] <action/request>

### Pending/Incomplete Actions
- ⏳ "<quoted incomplete action>"
- ⏳ "<another incomplete item>"

### Last User Request
> "<quoted request that may not have been completed>"

Step 6: Optional Persistence (consent-first)

Do not write to disk by default. If persistence is useful, ask first:

"I can cache this recovered context to memory for later continuity. Should I save it?"

Step 7: Respond with Context

Present the recovered context, then prompt:

"Context recovered. Your last request was [X]. This action [completed/did not complete]. Shall I [continue/retry/clarify]?"

Channel-Specific Notes

Discord

• Use channelId from the incoming message metadata
• Guild channels have full history access
• Thread recovery: check for threadId in message metadata
• DMs may have limited history

Slack

• Use channel parameter with Slack channel ID
• Thread context requires threadId — always check for thread context first
• Parent channel fetch provides surrounding conversation context
• May need workspace-level permissions for full history

Telegram / Signal / Others

• Same message:read interface
• History depth may vary by platform
• Group vs. DM context may differ

Constraints

• Prefer this protocol before declaring "insufficient data" when context appears missing
• Adaptive depth: start with 50, expand to 100 max
• Time-based goal: capture at least 2 hours of context when possible
• If recovery fails, state what was attempted and what data sources were unavailable
• Avoid broad filesystem scans or writes without explicit user consent

Auto-Trigger Detection

At session start, scan for compaction indicators:

# Pseudocode for trigger detection
if message contains "<summary>":
    trigger_context_recovery()
elif message contains any of ["Summary unavailable", "context limits", "truncated", "compacted"]:
    trigger_context_recovery()
elif message matches continuation_patterns:
    # "continue", "where were we", "did this happen", etc.
    trigger_context_recovery()

Do not wait for user to ask — if compaction is detected, proactively recover and present context.

Example

Scenario: Session starts with compaction summary

User message: "<summary>Summary unavailable due to context limits...</summary>"
User message: "did this happen?"

Agent executes: 1. Detects compaction via <summary> tag 2. message:read channel=discord channelId=1460342116516364533 limit=50 3. Calculates time span: 2.5 hours — sufficient, no expansion needed 4. Parses messages, finds last action: "Now let me extract the key orchestration decisions..." 5. Checks session context APIs — extracts recent user requests 6. Responds:

"Context recovered. Your last request was to extract orchestration decisions from Nexus archived sessions for PR #137 (Skills & Agents System). This action did not complete before context was truncated.

Recovered state: - PR #137: 15,053 additions, 91 files, CONFLICTING merge state - Spec location: content/spec-skills-agents-system.md (2,067 lines)

Shall I proceed with the extraction?"