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Manual Context Save (Compact Workaround)

compact

Manually trigger context save when auto-compact fails in VSCode/Cursor extensions. Use when context is high and you need to preserve state before starting fresh.

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SKILL.md

Full skill instructions

Manual Context Save (Compact Workaround)

Why This Exists

VSCode and Cursor extensions have limited hook support (GitHub issue #15021). The PreCompact hook may not trigger automatically, leading to lost context. This skill provides manual control to save state before context overflow.

When to Use

  • Context warning shows 80%+ usage
  • Working in VSCode or Cursor extension
  • Before starting a new conversation
  • When auto-compact doesn't seem to work

Execution Steps

Step 1: Detect Environment

# Check current environment
source ~/​.claude/​hooks/​detect-environment.sh 2>/​dev/​null && print_env_info || echo "Environment detection unavailable"

Step 2: Get Current Session ID

The session ID is needed to save context properly:

# Try to get session ID from state
SESSION_ID=$(cat ~/​.ralph/​state/​current-session 2>/​dev/​null || echo "manual-$(date +%Y%m%d-%H%M%S)")
echo "Session: $SESSION_ID"

Step 3: Extract and Save Context

# Run the pre-compact hook manually
export SESSION_ID="${SESSION_ID:-manual-$(date +%Y%m%d-%H%M%S)}"

# Create input JSON for the hook
echo "{\"hook_event_name\":\"PreCompact\",\"session_id\":\"$SESSION_ID\",\"transcript_path\":\"\"}" | \
    ~/​.claude/​hooks/​pre-compact-handoff.sh

echo ""
echo "✅ Context saved to:"
echo "   Ledger: ~/​.ralph/​ledgers/​CONTINUITY_RALPH-$SESSION_ID.md"
echo "   Handoff: ~/​.ralph/​handoffs/​$SESSION_ID/"

Step 4: Verify Save

# Show the saved ledger
echo "=== SAVED LEDGER ==="
head -30 ~/​.ralph/​ledgers/​CONTINUITY_RALPH-$SESSION_ID.md 2>/​dev/​null || echo "Ledger not found"

Alternative: Use Ralph CLI

If the above doesn't work, use the Ralph CLI directly:

ralph compact

This wrapper command handles all the complexity automatically.

Post-Compact Actions

After saving context:

  1. Start fresh: Use /​clear or start a new conversation
  2. Restore context: The SessionStart hook will auto-load the saved ledger
  3. Verify restoration: Check that your objective is loaded

Recovery

If context was lost without saving:

# List recent ledgers
ralph ledger list

# Load a specific ledger
ralph ledger load <session-id>

# Search handoffs
ralph handoff search "keyword"

Troubleshooting

Hook not found

# Verify hooks exist
ls -la ~/​.claude/​hooks/​pre-compact-handoff.sh
ls -la ~/​.claude/​hooks/​detect-environment.sh

# If missing, sync from repo
ralph sync-global

Permission denied

# Make hooks executable
chmod +x ~/​.claude/​hooks/​*.sh
chmod +x ~/​.claude/​scripts/​*.py

Context extractor fails

# Test context extractor directly
python3 ~/​.claude/​scripts/​context-extractor.py --project . --pretty