Agent skill · operations · wshobson
session-guard
Use when working on complex multi-step tasks, when a session is getting long (40+ tool calls), when the agent starts ignoring rules it followed earlier, when conventions drift, when output quality seems to degrade, or after any context compaction event. Prevents long-session corruption AND context compaction amnesia through behavioral self-enforcement.
Why this skill is useful
Provides a structured protocol for managing long sessions and preventing context loss, which the AI wouldn't reliably generate on its own.
What it needs
About 2k tokens when loaded. Last updated 2026-08-05. 38,570 stars on the source repository.
What this skill does
Session Guard Overview Long sessions corrupt silently. Context compaction drops instructions unannounced. Hooks don't fix it (confirmed by multiple developers on GitHub issues #19471, #9796, #64171). This skill prevents both through behavioral self-enforcement: monitor health, anchor critical rules through compaction, split before damage occurs. No packages, no databases - pure behavioral enforcement that works in every harness. When to Use Session exceeds 40 tool calls Agent contradicts earlier decisions Style/naming conventions start drifting After any context compaction event Task scope growing unbounded Health Signals Signal Threshold Action -------- ----------- -------- Tool call count >40 YELLOW: checkpoint + recite critical rules Tool call count >60 RED: split or compact with anchor Agent contradicts earlier decision Any VERIFY: re-read source of truth Style/naming drift Any RECITE: state the active rules aloud File read returns unexpected content Any RE-READ: don't trust cached state Task scope growing unbounded Continuous SPLIT: one task per session Protocol Green Zone (0-40 tool calls) Normal operation. No intervention needed. Yellow Zone (40-60 tool calls) 1. CHECKPOINT - summarize progress in one paragraph 2. RECITE - state the 3-5 most critical active rules aloud: "Active rules: [naming convention], [file structure], [error handling pattern], [testing requirement]" 3. ASSESS - almost done? Push through. Not done? Prepare split. 4. REDUCE - no exploratory reads. Only targeted operations. Red Zone (60+ tool calls OR drift signal) 1. STOP - do not make more tool calls 2. VERIFY - re-read project rules (don't trust memory) 3. CHECKPOINT - write state to handoff document 4. SPLIT - create handoff, suggest fresh session Context Anchoring (anti-compaction) When compaction has occurred (sudden loss of earlier context, or after /compact): 1. RE-READ the project's rules file immediately 2. RECITE the 3-5 critical rules aloud in your response 3. …
How to use it
Reference it in AdaL, Claude Code, Cursor or any coding agent — nothing to install:
@skills wshobson/session-guard