Agent skill

Context Os Basics

by jacob-dietle in jacob-dietle/context-os

Foundation patterns for building context operating systems. An agent skill from jacob-dietle/context-os.

MITAuto-check passedKnowledge Management

Install Context Os Basics

skills CLI
$ npx skills add jacob-dietle/context-os --skill context-os-basics -a claude-code

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

GitHub CLI
$ gh skill install jacob-dietle/context-os context-os-basics --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/jacob-dietle/context-os.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/.claude/skills/context-os-basics .claude/skills/context-os-basics && 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
context-os-basics
GitHub stars
111
Token cost
~745 tokens
SKILL.md length
352 words
Files
1
Skills in repo
11
Repo updated
First seen
Licence
MIT

At a glance

Foundation patterns for building context operating systems. An agent skill from jacob-dietle/context-os.

  • Works in 3 steps: One Continuous Thread → Context Explosion → Vague Attribution
  • Knowledge Management work in your project
  • SKILL.md covers What is a Context OS?, The Two-Layer Architecture, Constitutional Documents and Evidence-Based Attribution, plus 4 more sections
  • Instructions only: no scripts, shell commands, URLs or credentials in SKILL.md

What it does

Context Os Basics is an agent skill from jacob-dietle/context-os. Foundation patterns for building context operating systems

Its SKILL.md is about 750 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 Knowledge Management. The licence is MIT.

When your agent uses it

  • Knowledge Management work in your project

Example prompts

  • “/context-os-basics”

Workflow steps

3 steps, taken from the step headings in SKILL.md.

  1. One Continuous Thread
  2. Context Explosion
  3. Vague Attribution

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 1027e3f. 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

    Links to these hosts (documentation or services it may open):

    • taste.systems

    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

Context Os Basics loads about 745 tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 19 tokens; SKILL.md has 352 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it
~19
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches
~745

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

The full file from jacob-dietle/context-os at commit 1027e3f, republished under its MIT licence (© jacob-dietle). 352 words, ~745 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/context-os-basics/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder).
name
context-os-basics
description
Foundation patterns for building context operating systems
model
inherit

Context OS Basics

What is a Context OS?

A context operating system is a structured knowledge system where:

  • AI compounds intelligence over time (never re-teach)
  • Knowledge persists across sessions
  • Concepts link to each other (graph, not files)
  • Two layers separate reusable knowledge from operational docs

The Two-Layer Architecture

Layer 1: Atomic Knowledge Graph (knowledge_base/)

Individual reusable concepts:

  • Technical knowledge
  • Business insights
  • Methodologies and patterns

Each node:

  • Has structured frontmatter (metadata)
  • Links to related concepts via [[wiki-links]]
  • Follows lifecycle: emergent → validated → canonical
Layer 2: Operational Documents (00_foundation/)

Strategic artifacts that COMPOSE Layer 1:

  • Positioning documents
  • Messaging frameworks
  • Process documentation

Key principle: Operational docs REFERENCE atomic concepts, they don't redefine them.

Constitutional Documents

taxonomy.yaml

Defines blessed tags for your system:

  • Domains (technical, business, methodology)
  • Node types (concept, pattern, case-study)
  • Status values (emergent, validated, canonical)
  • Your custom topic library

Start small. Add tags only after 3+ nodes demonstrate need.

ontology.yaml

Defines how concepts relate:

  • Relationship types (enables, supports, implements)
  • Linking requirements (minimum links per node)
  • Quality thresholds

Evidence-Based Attribution

Every claim needs a source:

  • [VERIFIED: file:line] - Direct evidence
  • [INFERRED: logic] - Deduced from evidence
  • [UNVERIFIABLE] - Cannot confirm (be honest)

Quality standard: If you can't cite a source, don't claim it.

The 4-Phase Framework (Summary)

  1. Reconnaissance - Understand domain and requirements
  2. Architecture - Design two-layer structure
  3. Construction - Build knowledge graph and ops docs
  4. Validation - Test and document system
Show full SKILL.md (127 more words)Show less

Key Anti-Patterns

1. One Continuous Thread

Problem: Single long conversation without writing to files Fix: Write intermediate results to files, preserve attribution chains

2. Context Explosion

Problem: "Need to read all files to answer this" Fix: Use synthesis docs (5% of content answers 95% of questions)

3. Vague Attribution

Problem: "Many customers want this" (no source) Fix: Quantify everything: "14 of 166 (8.4%)" not "many"

The 3-5 Sample Rule

Never automate without sampling first:

  1. Run broad search
  2. Sample 3-5 results with context
  3. Validate patterns are accurate
  4. Refine and scale

Advanced Patterns (Not Covered Here)

For complex implementations:

  • Chief of Staff orchestration
  • Forcing functions and calibration
  • Team governance patterns
  • Enterprise taxonomy design
  • Multi-agent coordination

These require customization for your specific context. Learn more: https://taste.systems

© jacob-dietle, MIT. Rendered from Markdown: HTML in the file is shown as text, images as links, and headings moved down two levels. Raw file

Files

Just SKILL.md in .claude/skills/context-os-basics of jacob-dietle/context-os.

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 1027e3f

Compare with similar skills

Context Os Basics 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.

Context Os Basics compared with similar skills
SkillStarsUsed inTokensAuto-checkLicenceRepo updated
Context Os Basics this skilljacob-dietle/context-os111—~745Automated safety check: PassMIT
Logseq Review Workflow Evallogseq/logseq45k—~1kAutomated safety check: PassAGPL-3.0
Baoyu URL To Markdownsdyckjq-lab/llm-wiki-skill2.5k2 repos~3.2kAutomated safety check: PassNone
Obsidian CLIAtmosphere/atmosphere3.8k13 repos~795Automated safety check: PassApache-2.0
Esm Cjs Risk Scanlogseq/logseq45k—~3.3kAutomated safety check: PassAGPL-3.0
Knowledge Searchdataelement/bisheng12k—~1.1kAutomated safety check: PassApache-2.0

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More from jacob-dietle/context-os

All 11 skills in this repo
  • Bottleneck Attack

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    A skill your agent uses when deciding what to work on next, when progress is stuck, or when the reflex is to build or automate before proving the current bottleneck.

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  • Code Service Defrag

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    This skill should be used to periodically defragment a multi-app/multi-service codebase — both CODE (duplicate deploy targets, colliding bindings, stale forks) and CONTEXT (parallel spec…

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  • Content Strategy And Assembly

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    This skill should be used when producing content (newsletter posts, blog posts, LinkedIn posts) from existing corpus material.

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  • Context Os CLI

    jacob-dietle/context-os

    This skill should be used when users ask about their work context, what they're working on, recent activity, file relationships, or knowledge graph structure.

    111 GitHub stars~4.1k tokensUpdated 1 mo ago
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  • Decision Accountability

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    This skill should be used when making architectural decisions, writing specs, or reviewing decisions that contain "future work", "v2", "simpler for now", "out of scope", or complexity claims.

    111 GitHub stars~1.9k tokensUpdated 1 mo ago
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  • Coordinated Agent Teams

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    This skill should be used when decomposing a spec into a multi-agent implementation plan with dependency ordering, parallelism decisions, contract testing, and verification strategy.

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Questions about Context Os Basics

What does Context Os Basics do?

Foundation patterns for building context operating systems. An agent skill from jacob-dietle/context-os. Context Os Basics is an agent skill from jacob-dietle/context-os.

When should I use Context Os Basics?

Context Os Basics fits situations like: knowledge Management work in your project.

How do I install Context Os Basics in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add jacob-dietle/context-os --skill context-os-basics -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (.claude/skills/context-os-basics in jacob-dietle/context-os) into .claude/skills/context-os-basics in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install Context Os Basics in Codex?

Run `npx skills add jacob-dietle/context-os --skill context-os-basics -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (.claude/skills/context-os-basics in jacob-dietle/context-os) into .agents/skills/context-os-basics in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use Context Os Basics 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 jacob-dietle/context-os --skill context-os-basics -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/context-os-basics, .gemini/skills/context-os-basics, .github/skills/context-os-basics and .opencode/skills/context-os-basics in your project.

What does Context Os Basics need to run?

SKILL.md names no scripts, command-line tools or credentials: Context Os Basics is instructions for the agent only.

Does Context Os Basics access the network?

SKILL.md names 1 domain. As links in the text: taste.systems. This is read from the text; nothing was executed.

Is Context Os Basics 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 Context Os Basics use?

Context Os Basics is published under the MIT licence (the repository's licence). It allows redistribution, so the full SKILL.md is shown on this page.

How many tokens does Context Os Basics use?

About 745 tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 3k 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 Context Os Basics?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Context Os Basics: Logseq Review Workflow Eval (logseq/logseq, 45k stars), Baoyu URL To Markdown (sdyckjq-lab/llm-wiki-skill, 2.5k stars), Obsidian CLI (Atmosphere/atmosphere, 3.8k stars) and Esm Cjs Risk Scan (logseq/logseq, 45k stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Context Os Basics?

jacob-dietle (a GitHub user) maintains it in jacob-dietle/context-os, which has 111 GitHub stars. The repository holds 11 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on August 13, 2026.

Source: jacob-dietle/context-os on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.