context-loading

A method for giving a coding agent only the files, documentation, and history needed for its current task.

In plain words
What is it for?
Use it to choose required files, summarize long sources, and set limits on how much context an agent should load.
Why use it?
It reduces irrelevant information, saves context space and cost, and keeps the agent focused.

Skill for Claude CodeCodex

Install

Getting it into your agent

One page per mod, every tool's command on it. A separate URL per tool would split the same page into five that compete with each other.

agentmods
npx agentmods add skills/developersglobal/ai-agent-skills/context-loading
Any agent
npx skills add DevelopersGlobal/ai-agent-skills --skill context-loading
Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/DevelopersGlobal/ai-agent-skills

Made for: Claude Code, Codex.

Per session 33 Skills are progressive disclosure: only the name and description are preloaded; the body loads when the skill is used.
When invoked 552 The whole file, excluding the scripts and references it only reads on demand.
Security scan A 0 findings. Scan, not verified.
Origin original No closer match found in the catalogue.
Token cost

What it costs to keep this loaded

Counted locally with the o200k_base tokenizer, which is exact for GPT models; Claude uses its own tokenizer and its counts differ. Treat this as one consistent yardstick across the catalogue rather than a bill. Prices are per million input tokens.

ModelPer sessionOnce invoked
Fable 5 $0.00033 $0.00552
Opus 5 $0.00016 $0.00276
Sonnet 5 $0.00007 $0.00110
Haiku 4.5 $0.00003 $0.00055

Measured 3d ago against content hash c6ad5c3428d5, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-08-30, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

context-loading scanned grade A with 0 findings against 26 rules in 11 categories — prompt injection, anti-refusal, data exfiltration, privilege escalation, supply chain, agent snooping, system-prompt leakage, SSRF and excessive agency — measured 3d ago.

A static scan of the body, not an audit. Every finding is printed with the line that produced it so you can judge whether it matters here. A mod is markdown that instructs an agent; that is exactly why what it instructs is worth reading.

Nothing flagged

None of the 26 patterns this scan looks for appear in this file: no shell pipes, no recursive deletes, no credential paths, no hidden text, no instruction-override or anti-refusal phrasing, no agent-config snooping. That is not a guarantee, it is the absence of the things that are checkable.

skills/context-loading/SKILL.md · 66 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 66 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

Overview

More context is not better context. Irrelevant context dilutes attention, increases cost, and slows inference. This skill enforces disciplined context loading: only the files, docs, and history that the current task requires.

When to Use

  • Before starting any complex agent task
  • When designing system prompts for production agents
  • When context windows are filling up

Process

Step 1: Identify Required Context

  1. List the files/docs the agent needs to read to complete THIS specific task.
  2. For each item, ask: "Can the agent complete the task without this?" If yes, don't include it.
  3. Prioritize: system prompt → task definition → directly relevant code → supporting references.

Verify: Every item in context is directly necessary for the current task.

Step 2: Summarize, Don't Dump

  1. Long conversation history → summarize to key decisions and current state.
  2. Large files → extract only the relevant functions/sections.
  3. Entire docs → extract only the relevant sections.
  4. Previous agent output → extract only the conclusions and next steps.

Verify: No item in context exceeds what's needed from that source.

Step 3: Set Context Budgets

  1. Define token allocation for each context section:
    • System prompt: ≤ 2,000 tokens
    • Task definition: ≤ 500 tokens
    • Code context: ≤ 4,000 tokens
    • Conversation history (summarized): ≤ 1,000 tokens
  2. Stay well within model context limits (leave 30% buffer for output).

Verify: Total prompt fits within 70% of model context limit.

Step 4: Refresh Context for New Tasks

  1. Don't carry over context from a completed task to a new task.
  2. Start each distinct task with a fresh, minimal context.
  3. Re-introduce only what the new task genuinely needs.

Verification

  • Context items limited to task-required items only
  • Long content summarized before inclusion
  • Token budget defined and respected
  • Context window at ≤70% capacity

References

Read the full file on GitHub · 66 lines

Changes

What this file has done since we first saw it

Hashed on every crawl. A supply-chain change to an agent config is a question of when, not whether, so the history is kept rather than the latest state alone.

  1. 3d ago First seen · 66 lines · 33 tokens per session scan A c6ad5c3428d5

Subscribe to this mod's changes

context-loading is a skill published in the GitHub repository DevelopersGlobal/ai-agent-skills (65 stars, last pushed 4mo ago), licensed MIT. It adds 33 tokens to every session and 552 once invoked, about $0.0002 per session on Opus 5. A static security scan graded it A with 0 findings. No closer match exists in the catalogue, so it is treated as the original; first seen 2026-08-30.

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