Context Skill

Session primer. Run once at the start of a session to learn what ADE is, how we work, the tooling you can reach, and what (if anything) is in flight on this lane. Feature-aware — load only the docs relevant to the work, never a broad dump.

Invocation: /context or /context <keywords> Arguments: optional feature/domain keywords (e.g., prs, lanes rebase, tui).

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Step 1 — Determine scope

Args given: parse the feature/domain keywords; pick the product area; build the doc + perf-skill set from references/doc-map.md.

No args: auto-detect from the lane.

git diff main --name-only                       # tracked changes vs main
git status --short                              # NEW (untracked) files git diff misses
git log main..HEAD --oneline                    # commits unique to this lane

git diff main does not list untracked files — on a lane whose whole point is new files (a new service, a new skill), the changes are invisible without git status. Always fold both in. Then infer the area from the changed paths and resolve docs + the matching ade-perf-* skill via references/doc-map.md.

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Step 2 — Baseline (always read)

• AGENTS.md — how to run/build/test, working norms, gotchas, the dev loop.
• docs/README.md — the internal-docs navigation map.
• docs/PRD.md — what ADE is, who it's for, the feature index.
• docs/ARCHITECTURE.md — read the section relevant to the touched area (IPC, data plane, build/test/deploy), not the whole file. It's large.

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Step 3 — Feature docs + perf skill

Match changed paths / keywords against references/doc-map.md and load that doc set only. Each docs/features/<area>/README.md opens with a Source file map and a gotchas / fragile areas section — read those first; a flagged invariant usually deserves care (and a test later in /test).

If the area maps to a performance skill (ade-perf-boot, ade-perf-lanes, ade-perf-prs, ade-perf-work, or ade-tui-web-preview), open that skill too before editing — it records measured patterns you must preserve.

Windows parity docs

Windows parity is a default requirement for all new ADE code — Windows is part of "done", not a follow-up. If the lane touches any Windows-sensitive surface in the doc-map's Windows parity table (paths, process launch/kill, local IPC, credentials, capability gates, packaging, release), load the mapped Windows docs in this step and name them in the summary:

• WINDOWS_PORT.md (root) — port status, the readiness table, the original release-blocking findings and how each was closed.
• docs/development/windows-support.md — installed-host behavior: supervisor, pipe/channel isolation, provider/PTY matrix, uninstall residue.
• docs/development/windows-release-proof.md — what counts as Windows proof.
• docs/playbooks/windows-signed-release.md — signing/installer/updater flow.

Also open .agents/skills/quality/references/windows-quirks.md before editing — it lists the failure classes and the canonical helper for each, so you write Windows-correct code the first time instead of having /quality find it. Where parity is genuinely impossible, that is a human decision (hide / disable with a reason shown / remove), not something to work around silently.

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Step 4 — Ongoing work (the why, not just filenames)

git log main..HEAD --stat        # what the lane's commits changed
git diff main                    # committed + uncommitted tracked work
git status --short               # new/untracked work the diff omits

• Read the diff to understand the purpose of the in-flight work.
• If a commit or branch name carries a Linear ID (e.g. ADE-123), read the issue for intent (ade linear — see the ade-linear skill).
• Cross-check the feature doc's task tracking ([ ] / [x]).
• No lane commits and no diff → say "Fresh lane — no in-flight work." Don't invent context.

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Step 5 — Summarize

Emit this and nothing more (keep it scannable):

## Context Loaded

**Project:** ADE — local-first desktop env for orchestrating coding agents,
lanes, PRs, and proof/artifacts (Electron + React + TS; CLI in `apps/ade-cli`).
**Branch:** [name] · [N changed files | fresh lane]
**Area:** [feature] — [desktop / cli / tui / ios / cross-cutting]
**Docs:** [loaded list]   **Perf skill:** [ade-perf-* loaded | none for this area]
**Windows:** [Windows docs loaded — parity required for all new code | not a
Windows-sensitive surface, parity still required]

**In flight:** [what the work does + why, or "Fresh lane — no in-flight work"]
**Tracking:** [open N / done N · Linear: IDs or none · gaps if any]

**Tools (configured — use them for live state, don't ask):** `ade` CLI control
plane · app/browser/iOS-sim/macOS-VM control · Linear (via `ade`) · computer-use
+ proof drawer. Depth → the matching `ade-*` skill.
**Dev loop:** /context → work → /quality → /test → /ship. Utilities: /audit,
/finalize, /optimize, /release. Open each skill when you reach it.
**Tests:** [commands for this area — see AGENTS.md "Validation"]

Ready to assist with [feature].

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Tooling you have

ADE ships its capabilities as Agent Skills. State them briefly in the summary; open the relevant one only when a task needs it.

• ade CLI — the control plane for ADE state (lanes, chats, actions, PRs, proof, runtime/socket, project secrets via ade secrets). Ground truth is ade help <command> and ade actions list --text, not memory. → ade-cli-control-plane.
• Lanes & git → ade-lanes-git. PR workflows → ade-pr-workflows.
• App / browser / iOS-sim control → ade-app-control, ade-browser, ade-ios-simulator.
• Linear (no API key needed; routed through ADE) → ade-linear.
• Proof & computer-use (screenshots, video, traces → proof drawer) → ade-proof-artifacts. Deeplinks → ade-deeplinks.

Worktree note: ADE runs this session inside a lane worktree (.ade/worktrees/<lane>/). Every edit must target a path under that worktree, never the project-root checkout.

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Optional deepening (load only when architecture detail is needed)

docs/ARCHITECTURE.md covers IPC, the data plane, and build/test/deploy in full — read the specific section when touching preload/, shared/ipc.ts, registerIpc, or a cross-app/service boundary.