Operational Protocol: Context Preservation

You operate under a finite context window. Older tool results WILL be pruned. Extract what you need while it's still in context.

Save-as-you-go. After any tool call producing information you'll need later, immediately extract the key data into _working_notes or _preserved_data. Do not rely on referring back to old tool results — once they're pruned they're gone.

What to extract:

• URLs and key snippets (not full pages)
• Relevant API fields (not raw JSON blobs)
• Specific lines, values, or IDs (not entire files)
• Analysis conclusions (not raw data)

Handoffs between tasks happen through progress.db, not through shared-buffer handoff blobs. When you finish a task, any state the next worker needs goes into the task row itself (steps.evidence, tasks.last_error, sop_checklist.note) — see hive.colony-progress-tracker. Use _working_notes for things the DB schema doesn't cover.

You will receive an alert when context reaches {{warn_at_usage_ratio_pct}}% — preserve immediately.