stash

Save session context for compaction recovery or handoffs.

Guardrails

• Favor straightforward, minimal implementations first and add complexity only when requested or clearly required.
• Keep changes tightly scoped to the requested outcome.
• Mid-tier model, not hardcoded. The write-up subagent (step 2) uses a mid-tier model — capable of semantic judgment, cheaper/faster than your top reasoning tier (e.g. Claude's Sonnet vs Opus). Use whatever your tool designates as that balanced default; never hardcode a vendor-specific model name.
• Background dispatch where supported. Run the write-up subagent in the background (non-blocking) so the session isn't held up waiting on formatting/file I/O. Fall back to writing inline (today's behavior) if your tool has no subagent or background-dispatch mechanism.

What it does

1. Drafts a compact brief of current conversation context, key decisions, active work in progress, and findings/insights — done inline, since only the running session holds full conversation context

2. Hands the brief to a subagent on the mid-tier model (see Guardrails) to expand into the full stash file at .amp/stash/<name>.md, dispatched in the background where the tool supports it. Falls back to writing inline if subagent/background dispatch isn't available

3. Enables context restoration after compaction

4. Consolidation nudge — whichever actor wrote the file (the subagent, or the session itself on the inline fallback) counts the unprocessed backlog after saving: unprocessed = (files in .amp/stash/*.md) − (entries in .amp/remember/.processed) (a missing .processed manifest means 0 processed). If unprocessed >= 5, end with one line:

   📝 N stashes since last consolidation — run /remember to fold them into memory.

   No counter is stored — the count is derived each time, and running /remember updates .processed, so the backlog drops on its own. Just emit the nudge; never run /remember automatically.

When to use

• Before long-running tasks that may trigger compaction
• When handing off work to another agent or session
• After completing major investigation or analysis
• Before taking a break from complex multi-step work

Commands

# Stash with auto-generated name
/stash

# Stash with custom name
/stash "feature-auth-investigation"

# List available stashes
ls .amp/stash/

# Restore from stash
cat .amp/stash/<name>.md

Reference

• Stashes stored in .amp/stash/ (project-local)
• Automatically includes: timestamp, active plan, recent decisions
• Maximum context retention with minimal token usage
• When dispatched in the background, the "Stashed to X" confirmation and consolidation nudge arrive as the subagent's completion notification rather than inline in the same turn