Context Recovery

Context Recovery

• Author: Daniel Li
• Copyright © Daniel Li. All rights reserved.

Automatically recover working context after session compaction or when continuation is implied but context is missing. Works across Discord, Slack, Telegram, Signal, and other supported channels.

Use when: Session starts with truncated context, user references prior work without specifying details, or compaction indicators appear.

Triggers

Automatic Triggers

• Session begins with a <summary> tag (compaction detected)
• User message contains compaction indicators: "Summary unavailable", "context limits", "truncated"

Manual Triggers

• User says "continue", "did this happen?", "where were we?", "what was I working on?"
• User references "the project", "the PR", "the branch", "the issue" without specifying which
• User implies prior work exists but context is unclear
• User asks "do you remember...?" or "we were working on..."

Execution Protocol

Step 1: Detect Active Channel

Extract from runtime context:

• channel — discord | slack | telegram | signal | etc.
• channelId — the specific channel/conversation ID
• threadId — for threaded conversations (Slack, Discord threads)

Step 2: Fetch Channel History (Adaptive Depth)

Initial fetch:

message:read
  channel: <detected-channel>
  channelId: <detected-channel-id>
  limit: 50

Adaptive expansion logic:

1. Parse timestamps from returned messages
2. Calculate time span: newest_timestamp - oldest_timestamp
3. If time span < 2 hours AND message count == limit:
   • Fetch additional 50 messages (using before parameter if supported)
   • Repeat until time span ≥ 2 hours OR total messages ≥ 100
4. Hard cap: 100 messages maximum (token budget constraint)

Thread-aware recovery (Slack/Discord):

# If threadId is present, fetch thread messages first
message:read
  channel: <detected-channel>
  threadId: <thread-id>
  limit: 50

# Then fetch parent channel for broader context
message:read
  channel: <detected-channel>
  channelId: <parent-channel-id>
  limit: 30

Parse for:

• Recent user requests (what was asked)
• Recent assistant responses (what was done)
• URLs, file paths, branch names, PR numbers
• Incomplete actions (promises made but not fulfilled)
• Project identifiers and working directories

Step 3: Fetch Session Logs (if available)

# Find most recent session files for this agent
SESSION_DIR=$(ls -d ~/.clawdbot-*/agents/*/sessions 2>/dev/null | head -1)
SESSIONS=$(ls -t "$SESSION_DIR"/*.jsonl 2>/dev/null | head -3)

for SESSION in $SESSIONS; do
  echo "=== Session: $SESSION ==="
  
  # Extract user requests
  jq -r 'select(.message.role == "user") | .message.content[0].text // empty' "$SESSION" | tail -20
  
  # Extract assistant actions (look for tool calls and responses)
  jq -r 'select(.message.role == "assistant") | .message.content[]? | select(.type == "text") | .text // empty' "$SESSION" | tail -50
done

Step 4: Check Shared Memory

# Extract keywords from channel history (project names, PR numbers, branch names)
# Search memory for relevant entries
grep -ri "<keyword>" ~/clawd-*/memory/ 2>/dev/null | head -10

# Check for recent daily logs
ls -t ~/clawd-*/memory/202*.md 2>/dev/null | head -3 | xargs grep -l "<keyword>" 2>/dev/null

Step 5: Synthesize Context

Compile a structured summary:

## Recovered Context

**Channel:** #<channel-name> (<platform>)
**Time Range:** <oldest-message> to <newest-message>
**Messages Analyzed:** <count>

### Active Project/Task
- **Repository:** <repo-name>
- **Branch:** <branch-name>
- **PR:** #<number> — <title>

### Recent Work Timeline
1. [<timestamp>] <action/request>
2. [<timestamp>] <action/request>
3. [<timestamp>] <action/request>

### Pending/Incomplete Actions
- ⏳ "<quoted incomplete action>"
- ⏳ "<another incomplete item>"

### Key References
| Type | Value |
|------|-------|
| PR | #<number> |
| Branch | <name> |
| Files | <paths> |
| URLs | <links> |

### Last User Request
> "<quoted request that may not have been completed>"

### Confidence Level
- Channel context: <high/medium/low>
- Session logs: <available/partial/unavailable>
- Memory entries: <found/none>

Step 6: Cache Recovered Context

Persist to memory for future reference:

# Write to daily memory file
MEMORY_FILE=~/clawd-*/memory/$(date +%Y-%m-%d).md

cat >> "$MEMORY_FILE" << EOF

## Context Recovery — $(date +%H:%M)

**Channel:** #<channel-name>
**Recovered context for:** <project/task summary>

### Key State
- <bullet points of critical context>

### Pending Items
- <incomplete actions>

EOF

This ensures context survives future compactions.

Step 7: Respond with Context

Present the recovered context, then prompt:

"Context recovered. Your last request was [X]. This action [completed/did not complete]. Shall I [continue/retry/clarify]?"

Channel-Specific Notes

Discord

• Use channelId from the incoming message metadata
• Guild channels have full history access
• Thread recovery: check for threadId in message metadata
• DMs may have limited history

Slack

• Use channel parameter with Slack channel ID
• Thread context requires threadId — always check for thread context first
• Parent channel fetch provides surrounding conversation context
• May need workspace-level permissions for full history