Principle Guard The Context Window

---
name: principle-guard-the-context-window
description: "Guard the context window. Apply when the context fills up: large outputs, long files, repeated reads or planning a fan-out."
license: MIT
metadata:
  source: "pstack principle-guard-the-context-window, MIT, Copyright (c) 2026 Lauren Tan, github.com/cursor/plugins, adapted; checked against pstack 0.15.36 at commit 0bb6f37"
---

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# Guard the context window

The context window is finite, and you cannot renew it within a session. Each token must be worth its cost.

**Why.** When the context overflows, reasoning gets worse, compression loses detail, and progress stops.

**What to do.**
- **Isolate large payloads.** Send long outputs, screenshots and large documents to subagents. The main context gets summaries, not the raw data.
- **Keep content that you use often inline.** A template or reference that each use needs belongs in the skill file, not in a separate file that costs a read each time.
- **Size the phases and limit the scope.** Limit the files in each phase, set turn budgets, and count the cost of each mechanism.