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: <detected-channel>
  threadId: <thread-id>
  limit: 50

# Then fetch parent channel for broader context
message:read
  channel: <detected-channel>
  channelId: <parent-channel-id>
  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?"