Use when starting a session on a project, returning after time away, or before making significant changes. Essential for building comprehensive understanding of project state through total recall and oracle-driven exploration.
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---
name: ctx
description: Use when starting a session on a project, returning after time away, or before making significant changes. Essential for building comprehensive understanding of project state through total recall and oracle-driven exploration.
---
# Contextualize
You need to fully contextualize yourself in this repository before doing any work.
## Step 1: Search Total Recall
First, search Total Recall for relevant context about this project:
```
mcp__plugin_totalrecall_memory-total-recall__synthesis_search({
query: "project name/key terms recent work decisions made",
max_results: 15
})
```
Look for:
- Recent conversations about this project
- Decisions that were made
- Problems that were solved
- Patterns established
- Gotchas discovered
## Step 2: Dispatch the Oracle for Deep Context
Use the Oracle to gather comprehensive context:
```
Task(
subagent_type: "general-purpose",
model: "opus",
prompt: """
You are The Oracle - contextualize yourself deeply in this repository.
MISSION: Build comprehensive understanding of the current project state.
INVESTIGATE:
1. **Project Identity**
- Read CLAUDE.md, README.md, package.json (or equivalent)
- What is this project? What does it do?
- What are the core technologies and patterns?
- What are the established conventions?
2. **Current Work Status**
- Check .plans/ directory for active plans
- Check .tasks/ or TODO files for pending work
- Check git status and recent commits (git log -10 --oneline)
- What was being worked on? What's in progress?
3. **Decision History**
- Check .plans/DECISIONS.md or .plans/decisions/
- What major decisions have been made?
- What constraints exist from past choices?
4. **Architecture Overview**
- Map the key directories and their purposes
- Identify core modules/services
- Understand the data flow
5. **Pain Points & Context**
- Look for TODOs, FIXMEs, HACKs in code
- Check for any KNOWN_ISSUES or TROUBLESHOOTING docs
- Identify technical debt markers
DELIVERABLE:
Provide a structured context report:
## Project Summary
[What this is, in 2-3 sentences]
## Current Status
- Active work: [what's in progress]
- Blocked items: [if any]
- Recent changes: [last few commits summary]
## Key Decisions to Remember
- [Decision 1]
- [Decision 2]
## Established Patterns
- [Pattern 1]: [where/how used]
- [Pattern 2]: [where/how used]
## Conventions & Constraints
- [Convention from CLAUDE.md]
- [Technical constraint]
## Recommended Next Steps
Based on current state, suggest what to focus on.
Be thorough. This context will guide all subsequent work.
"""
)
```
## Step 3: Synthesize and Report
After gathering context from memory and Oracle:
1. **Summarize** the key findings for the user
2. **Highlight** anything that seems urgent or blocked
3. **Confirm** understanding of current priorities
4. **Ask** if there's specific context you're missing
## When to Use This Command
- Starting a new session on a project
- Returning to a project after time away
- Before making significant changes
- When feeling uncertain about project state
- After another developer has made changes
**Remember**: Context prevents mistakes. Take the time to understand before acting.