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Building Context Skill — March 27, 2026

Overview

First session of the day. Built the context-manager skill from scratch — a persistent memory system that maintains context across Claude/Cowork conversations via a local markdown folder structure. Also built the LLM Triangulator skill in the same session (or closely related session). This chat bundle was created retroactively during a reconciliation pass, so it captures the known outcomes rather than a play-by-play.

What Was Built

Context Manager Skill

  • SKILL.md written and installed at ~/.claude/skills/context-manager/
  • Defines the full context folder structure: GLOBAL.md, _index.md, chats/ bundles, projects/
  • Session lifecycle: load context at start, track during session, auto-save at end
  • File versioning system (current/ and previous/ directories)
  • Tagging and pruning system
  • On-demand commands: "save this", "what do you know about me?", "find [topic]", etc.

Context Folder Structure Created

  • ~/Documents/claude-context/ — the persistent context directory
  • GLOBAL.md — Brian's master profile (preferences, projects, people, terminology)
  • _index.md — Master chat catalog
  • SETUP-GUIDE.md — Disaster recovery documentation
  • index.md — MkDocs homepage

LLM Triangulator Skill (same day)

  • Full multi-provider triangulation system — documented separately in 2026-03-27_triangulator-skill-build/

Key Decisions

  • Local-first architecture: Mac is source of truth, everything else is backup/display
  • Markdown-based: no database, no proprietary format, portable and human-readable
  • Append-only philosophy for critical files (GLOBAL.md, _index.md) — edit carefully, never overwrite
  • Skill triggers on conversation start/end and on-demand commands

Action Items

  • [done] Context-manager SKILL.md written and installed
  • [done] Context folder structure created on Brian's Mac
  • [done] GLOBAL.md populated with Brian's profile and active projects
  • [done] _index.md initialized with chat catalog format

Note

This chat bundle was created retroactively (during the context-manager-infrastructure session) because the context-manager skill was not yet operational when this session occurred. The actual session predates the context system itself.

Tags: context-manager, skill-creator, productivity, meta, first-session