Official agent skill

Principle Guard The Context Window

by cursor in cursor/plugins

Apply when context is filling up: large outputs, long files, repeated reads, fan-out planning.

OfficialNo licenceAuto-check passedAgent Workflows

Install Principle Guard The Context Window

skills CLI
$ npx skills add cursor/plugins --skill principle-guard-the-context-window -a claude-code

Project install by default; add -g for ~/.claude/skills/.

GitHub CLI
$ gh skill install cursor/plugins principle-guard-the-context-window --agent claude-code

Project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).

Manual copy
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/cursor/plugins.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/pstack/skills/principle-guard-the-context-window .claude/skills/principle-guard-the-context-window && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.claude/skills/ instead of .claude/skills for a personal install. The folder must contain SKILL.md.

Claude Code skills documentation · loads skills from .claude/skills/

Facts

Skill name
principle-guard-the-context-window
GitHub stars
10k
Used in
8 other repos
Token cost
~235 tokens
SKILL.md length
97 words
Files
1
Skills in repo
99
Repo updated
First seen
Licence
None found

At a glance

Apply when context is filling up: large outputs, long files, repeated reads, fan-out planning.

  • Tasks that involve Context engineering
  • Instructions only: no scripts, shell commands, URLs or credentials in SKILL.md
  • Tasks that involve Subagents

What it does

Principle Guard The Context Window is an agent skill from cursor/plugins, published by the product's own GitHub organization. Apply when context is filling up: large outputs, long files, repeated reads, fan-out planning. Route bulk to subagents; keep summaries in the main thread, not raw payloads.

Its SKILL.md is about 240 tokens, which your agent loads only when the skill is triggered. It is a single SKILL.md file with no bundled scripts.

It sits in Agent Workflows, covering Context engineering and Subagents. The repository describes itself as: Cursor plugin specification and official plugins.

When your agent uses it

  • Tasks that involve Context engineering
  • Tasks that involve Subagents

Example prompts

  • “/principle-guard-the-context-window”

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit ccb5507. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.

  • Tool permissions

    Pre-approves nothing: there is no allowed-tools line, so your agent's usual permission prompts apply.

    From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

  • Runs code

    No scripts in the folder and no shell commands in SKILL.md.

    From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.

  • Network

    No URLs in SKILL.md.

    From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.

  • Credentials

    Names no API keys, tokens, secrets or passwords.

    From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.

Context cost

Principle Guard The Context Window loads about 235 tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 52 tokens; SKILL.md has 97 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it
~52
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches
~235

Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.

Safety

Auto-check passed

The automated check found no risky patterns in SKILL.md.

Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); files beside SKILL.md are not scanned.

SKILL.md

Without a licence we can't republish the file, so here is its outline and opening line. It has 97 words (~235 tokens).

“The context window is finite and non-renewable within a session. Every token should be worth its cost.”

— opening of SKILL.md by cursor
name
principle-guard-the-context-window
disable-model-invocation
true

Read the full SKILL.md on GitHub

Files

Just SKILL.md in pstack/skills/principle-guard-the-context-window of cursor/plugins.

Open the folder on GitHubat commit ccb5507

Used in 8 other repositories

We found 8 copies of this SKILL.md (exact, near-identical or edited) in other folders, from 8 other GitHub owners. This page covers the copy in cursor/plugins, which our catalogue first saw on October 7, 2026.

Compare with similar skills

Principle Guard The Context Window next to the 5 skills that share the most tags, products or categories with it. Stars are the repository's; “used in” counts other GitHub owners with a copy.

Principle Guard The Context Window compared with similar skills
SkillStarsUsed inTokensAuto-checkLicenceRepo updated
Principle Guard The Context Window this skillcursor/plugins10k8 repos~235Automated safety check: PassNone
Claude Statusbarleeguooooo/claude-code-usage-bar377—~2.5kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Badstephenleo/bmad-autonomous-development107—~7.7kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Analyze Trajectoryyologdev/yoyo-evolve1.9k—~3.6kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Code Context Slicingtrailofbits/skills7.4k—~2.1kAutomated safety check: PassCC-BY-SA-4.0
MoAI Foundation Coremodu-ai/moai-adk1.2k—~5kAutomated safety check: PassApache-2.0

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Categories

Questions about Principle Guard The Context Window

What does Principle Guard The Context Window do?

Apply when context is filling up: large outputs, long files, repeated reads, fan-out planning. Principle Guard The Context Window is an agent skill from cursor/plugins, published by the product's own GitHub organization. Apply when context is filling up: large outputs, long files, repeated reads, fan-out planning.

When should I use Principle Guard The Context Window?

Principle Guard The Context Window fits situations like: tasks that involve Context engineering; tasks that involve Subagents.

How do I install Principle Guard The Context Window in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add cursor/plugins --skill principle-guard-the-context-window -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (pstack/skills/principle-guard-the-context-window in cursor/plugins) into .claude/skills/principle-guard-the-context-window in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install Principle Guard The Context Window in Codex?

Run `npx skills add cursor/plugins --skill principle-guard-the-context-window -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (pstack/skills/principle-guard-the-context-window in cursor/plugins) into .agents/skills/principle-guard-the-context-window in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use Principle Guard The Context Window in Cursor, Gemini CLI or GitHub Copilot?

Cursor, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot and OpenCode also load SKILL.md folders. With the skills CLI, run `npx skills add cursor/plugins --skill principle-guard-the-context-window -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/principle-guard-the-context-window, .gemini/skills/principle-guard-the-context-window, .github/skills/principle-guard-the-context-window and .opencode/skills/principle-guard-the-context-window in your project.

What does Principle Guard The Context Window need to run?

SKILL.md names no scripts, command-line tools or credentials: Principle Guard The Context Window is instructions for the agent only.

Does Principle Guard The Context Window access the network?

SKILL.md contains no URLs. Any network use would come from the scripts or tools the agent runs. This is read from the text; nothing was executed.

Is Principle Guard The Context Window safe to install?

Our automated static check of SKILL.md found no risky patterns, such as piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files or hidden Unicode. It is not a guarantee. Review the folder before installing.

What licence does Principle Guard The Context Window use?

No licence was found for Principle Guard The Context Window or its repository. Without one, default copyright applies: ask the author before reusing or redistributing it.

How many tokens does Principle Guard The Context Window use?

About 235 tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 940 characters). Agents keep only the skill's name and description in context until a task matches; then they load SKILL.md in full.

What are the alternatives to Principle Guard The Context Window?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Principle Guard The Context Window: Claude Statusbar (leeguooooo/claude-code-usage-bar, 377 stars), Bad (stephenleo/bmad-autonomous-development, 107 stars), Analyze Trajectory (yologdev/yoyo-evolve, 1.9k stars) and Code Context Slicing (trailofbits/skills, 7.4k stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Principle Guard The Context Window?

cursor (a GitHub organization, an official publisher) maintains it in cursor/plugins, which has 10,278 GitHub stars. The repository holds 99 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on October 8, 2026.

Source: cursor/plugins on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.