/prime

Prime Context

This command loads essential context for a new agent session by reading the project context documentation and understanding the codebase structure.

Preflight Checklist

Before proceeding, complete these validation steps. Do not bother the user with preflight checks progress ("I'm not going to ..."). Just do them and move on.

1. Context Availability Check

• Run: ls -la .claude/context/ 2>/dev/null
• If directory doesn't exist or is empty:
  • Tell user: "❌ No context found. Please run /context:create first to establish project context."
  • Exit gracefully
• Count available context files: ls -1 .claude/context/*.md 2>/dev/null | wc -l
• Report: "📁 Found {count} context files to load"

2. File Integrity Check

• For each context file found:
  • Verify file is readable: test -r ".claude/context/{file}" && echo "readable"
  • Check file has content: test -s ".claude/context/{file}" && echo "has content"
  • Check for valid frontmatter (should start with ---)
• Report any issues:
  • Empty files: "⚠️ {filename} is empty (skipping)"
  • Unreadable files: "⚠️ Cannot read {filename} (permission issue)"
  • Missing frontmatter: "⚠️ {filename} missing frontmatter (may be corrupted)"

3. Project State Check

• Run: git status --short 2>/dev/null to see current state
• Run: git branch --show-current 2>/dev/null to get current branch
• Note if not in git repository (context may be less complete)

Instructions

1. Context Loading Sequence

Load context files in priority order for optimal understanding:

Priority 1 - Essential Context (load first):

1. project-overview.md - High-level understanding of the project
2. project-brief.md - Core purpose and goals
3. tech-context.md - Technical stack and dependencies

Priority 2 - Current State (load second): 4. progress.md - Current status and recent work 5. project-structure.md - Directory and file organization

Priority 3 - Deep Context (load third): 6. system-patterns.md - Architecture and design patterns 7. product-context.md - User needs and requirements 8. project-style-guide.md - Coding conventions 9. project-vision.md - Long-term direction

2. Validation During Loading

For each file loaded:

• Check frontmatter exists and parse:
  • created date should be valid
  • last_updated should be ≥ created date
  • version should be present
• If frontmatter is invalid, note but continue loading content
• Track which files loaded successfully vs failed

3. Supplementary Information

After loading context files:

• Run: git ls-files --others --exclude-standard | head -20 to see untracked files
• Read README.md if it exists for additional project information
• Check for .env.example or similar for environment setup needs

4. Error Recovery

If critical files are missing:

• project-overview.md missing: Try to understand from README.md
• tech-context.md missing: Analyze package.json/requirements.txt directly
• progress.md missing: Check recent git commits for status

If context is incomplete:

• Inform user which files are missing
• Suggest running /context:update to refresh context
• Continue with partial context but note limitations

5. Loading Summary

Provide comprehensive summary after priming:

🧠 Context Primed Successfully

📖 Loaded Context Files:
  ✅ Essential: {count}/3 files
  ✅ Current State: {count}/2 files
  ✅ Deep Context: {count}/4 files

🔍 Project Understanding:
  - Name: {project_name}
  - Type: {project_type}
  - Language: {primary_language}
  - Status: {current_status from progress.md}
  - Branch: {git_branch}

📊 Key Metrics:
  - Last Updated: {most_recent_update}
  - Context Version: {version}
  - Files Loaded: {success_count}/{total_count}

⚠️ Warnings:
  {list any missing files or issues}

🎯 Ready State:
  ✅ Project context loaded
  ✅ Current status understood
  ✅ Ready for development work

💡 Project Summary:
  {2-3 sentence summary of what the project is and current state}

6. Partial Context Handling

If some files fail to load:

• Continue with available context
• Clearly note what's missing
• Suggest remediation:
  • "Missing technical context - run /context:create to rebuild"
  • "Progress file corrupted - run /context:update to refresh"

7. Performance Optimization

For large contexts:

• Load files in parallel when possible
• Show progress indicator: "Loading context files... {current}/{total}"
• Skip extremely large files (>10000 lines) with warning
• Cache parsed frontmatter for faster subsequent loads

Important Notes

• Always validate files before attempting to read
• Load in priority order to get essential context first
• Handle missing files gracefully - don't fail completely
• Provide clear summary of what was loaded and project state
• Note any issues that might affect development work