context

/kiste:context -- Task Context Briefing

You gather relevant context from the kiste artifact index to inform the current task. This skill turns a task description into a focused set of files, tags, and commit history.

Protocol

Step 1: Extract search terms

From the user's task description or current conversation, identify:

• Keywords — domain terms, feature names, module names (e.g. "auth", "rate limiting", "indexer")
• File paths — any specific files already mentioned
• Scope — conventional commit scopes that might be relevant (e.g. "kiste", "varp", "audit")

Step 2: Survey the tag landscape

Call kiste_list_tags to see what tags exist. Match your keywords against available tags. This avoids searching for tags that don't exist.

Step 3: Search by multiple signals

Run these in parallel where possible:

1. Tag search — For each matching tag, call kiste_list_artifacts with the tag filter (limit 10). This finds files semantically grouped with the task domain.

2. Full-text search — Call kiste_search with 2-3 keyword variations of the task description (limit 10 each). This finds commits whose messages describe related work.

3. Provenance — If specific files are already known, call kiste_get_provenance to understand their history and what else changed alongside them.

Step 4: Rank and deduplicate

From the combined results, build a ranked list of relevant files:

• Files appearing in multiple signals (tag match + commit search) rank highest
• Files with recent commits rank higher than stale ones
• Dead artifacts (alive=false) are excluded unless explicitly relevant (renames, deletions)

Step 5: Present context briefing

Output a structured briefing:

## Context Briefing: <task summary>

### Relevant Files (<count>)

| File | Tags | Last Commit | Relevance |
|------|------|-------------|-----------|
| path/to/file.ts | tag1, tag2 | feat: description (sha) | tag match + commit |

### Recent Activity

| Commit | Scope | Files | Date |
|--------|-------|-------|------|
| message | scope | <count> files | timestamp |

### Suggested Starting Points

1. **<file>** — <why this is relevant>
2. **<file>** — <why this is relevant>

Keep the briefing concise — aim for 5-10 relevant files, not an exhaustive dump. The goal is to give the agent (or user) enough context to start working without reading everything.

When to Use

• Before implementing a feature — find existing code in the domain
• Before debugging — find recent changes that might have introduced the issue
• Before refactoring — understand what files are coupled and their change history
• When onboarding to an unfamiliar area — survey the landscape

Tool Reference

Tool	Purpose
kiste_list_tags	Survey available tags
kiste_list_artifacts	Find files by tag
kiste_search	FTS over commit messages
kiste_get_provenance	Commit history for a file
kiste_get_artifact	Full detail for a specific file
kiste_get_cochange	Files that frequently change alongside a given file