context-distill

Analyze the user's Copilot session history and the documentation sources discovered in Phase 3 (Docs) to extract actionable intent and constraints that flow into Phase 9 (Instructions).

This is the Intent layer of the ISEE framework — turning implicit organisational knowledge into explicit, machine-readable guardrails. It uses two complementary signals: what the team documents (docs) and what the team actually does (history).

Process

0. Analyze session history

Invoke skill: context-history

Before reading any documentation, analyze the user's Copilot session history. This surfaces behavioural patterns — recurring tasks, file hotspots, cross-repo topology, workflow chains — that reveal implicit intent. History-based observations are presented to the user for confirmation before proceeding.

If history consent is denied or history returns empty:

• Tell the user: "Session history analysis was skipped — I'll work from your documentation sources instead."
• This is a valid choice, not a failure. Continue to step 1 normally.
• If doc sources are also unavailable (Phase 3 was skipped), the Fallback section at the end of this skill will activate.

1. Gather tagged sources from Phase 3

Review the doc sources discovered earlier, grouped by content tag:

• [intent] — team priorities, values, strategy
• [constraint] — security policies, compliance rules, approval requirements
• [process] — ceremonies, workflows, decision flows, escalation paths
• [reference] — API specs, guides (lower priority for distillation)

Retrieve tagged sources from the session store:

SELECT value FROM session_state WHERE key = 'tagged_doc_sources';

If no state exists, check conversation context for Phase 3 output. If neither is available, inform the user: "No documentation sources found from Phase 3. Run /context-docs first, or I'll ask you directly about your team's intent."

2. Read and analyze documents

For each [intent], [constraint], and [process] source:

• Use the appropriate MCP server to read the content (e.g., workiq for SharePoint, atlassian-jira for Confluence, file tools for repo docs)
• Extract statements that express:
  • What the team values — priorities, quality bars, what "done" means
  • What is not allowed — security boundaries, compliance rules, forbidden patterns
  • What requires approval — deployment gates, merge policies, access escalation
  • How work flows — ceremonies, handoff points, escalation paths