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Agent skill

Session Guard

by wshobson in wshobson/agents

A skill your agent uses 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…

MITAuto-check passedAgent Workflows

Install Session Guard

skills CLI
$ npx skills add wshobson/agents --skill session-guard -a claude-code

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

GitHub CLI
$ gh skill install wshobson/agents session-guard --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/wshobson/agents.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/plugins/skill-forge-essentials/skills/session-guard .claude/skills/session-guard && 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
session-guard
GitHub stars
40k
Token cost
~993 tokens
SKILL.md length
480 words
Files
1
Skills in repo
142
Repo updated
First seen
Licence
MIT

At a glance

A skill your agent uses 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…

  • Works in 4 steps: CHECKPOINT - summarize progress in one… → RECITE - state the 3-5 most critical… → ASSESS - almost done? Push through. Not… → …
  • Working on complex multi-step tasks
  • SKILL.md covers Overview, When to Use, Health Signals and Protocol, plus 3 more sections
  • Instructions only: no scripts, shell commands, URLs or credentials in SKILL.md

What it does

Session Guard is an agent skill from wshobson/agents. 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.

Its SKILL.md is about 990 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. The repository describes itself as: Multi-harness agentic plugin marketplace for Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, OpenCode, GitHub Copilot, Google Antigravity, and Pi. The licence is MIT.

When your agent uses it

  • Working on complex multi-step tasks
  • A session is getting long (40+ tool calls)
  • The agent starts ignoring rules it followed earlier
  • Conventions drift

Example prompts

  • “/session-guard”

Workflow steps

4 steps, taken from the first numbered list in SKILL.md.

  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]…
  3. ASSESS - almost done? Push through. Not done? Prepare split.
  4. REDUCE - no exploratory reads. Only targeted operations.

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 46891e7. 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

Session Guard loads about 993 tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 92 tokens; SKILL.md has 480 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it
~92
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches
~993

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 wshobson/agents at commit 46891e7, republished under its MIT licence (© wshobson). 480 words, ~993 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/session-guard/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder).
name
session-guard
description
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.

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

SignalThresholdAction
Tool call count>40YELLOW: checkpoint + recite critical rules
Tool call count>60RED: split or compact with anchor
Agent contradicts earlier decisionAnyVERIFY: re-read source of truth
Style/naming driftAnyRECITE: state the active rules aloud
File read returns unexpected contentAnyRE-READ: don't trust cached state
Task scope growing unboundedContinuousSPLIT: 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. VERIFY your planned next action matches those rules before executing
  4. If uncertain about ANY prior decision, RE-READ the source file - don't guess
Show full SKILL.md (179 more words)Show less
What survives compaction:
  • Most recent user messages (high priority)
  • Currently-invoked skill body (capped at 5K tokens, oldest dropped first)
  • Git status and project structure
  • File contents read AFTER compaction
What gets LOST in compaction:
  • Decisions made early in conversation
  • Architectural rules stated only verbally (not in files)
  • Context from tool outputs (file reads, command outputs)
Compaction-Safe Pattern

Keep critical instructions in FILES (CLAUDE.md, CONTEXT.md), NOT in conversation. If a rule matters, it must live in a file the agent can re-read - not in something agreed on earlier.

Common Mistakes

  • Trusting that you remember the rules after 50+ tool calls (you don't - re-read)
  • Re-reading EVERYTHING to be safe (wastes tool calls - be targeted)
  • Feeling fine therefore assuming context is fine (compaction is SILENT)
  • Splitting AFTER noticing problems (split BEFORE - prevention, not recovery)

Why This Matters

Context compaction is the #1 unsolved platform problem in 2026. Hooks don't fix it (confirmed: the agent ignores post-compaction injections because the compaction summary creates narrative momentum). This skill is the lightweight behavioral countermeasure: no infrastructure, no packages - disciplined self-monitoring that works in every harness.

© wshobson, 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 plugins/skill-forge-essentials/skills/session-guard of wshobson/agents.

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 46891e7

Compare with similar skills

Session Guard 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.

Session Guard compared with similar skills
SkillStarsUsed inTokensAuto-checkLicenceRepo updated
Session Guard this skillwshobson/agents40k—~993Automated safety check: PassMIT
Context Mode Output Sandboxmksglu/context-mode26k—~4.1kAutomated safety check: PassCustom licence
Memori Long-Term MemoryMemoriLabs/Memori17k—~2kAutomated safety check: NotesCustom licence
Picoclaw Skill Creatorsipeed/picoclaw30k—~4.4kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
ccc Semantic Code Searchcocoindex-io/cocoindex-code2.7k—~938Automated safety check: PassApache-2.0
Context Mode for Antigravity CLImksglu/context-mode26k—~850Automated safety check: PassCustom licence

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Categories

Questions about Session Guard

What does Session Guard do?

A skill your agent uses 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…. Session Guard is an agent skill from wshobson/agents. 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.

When should I use Session Guard?

Session Guard fits situations like: working on complex multi-step tasks; A session is getting long (40+ tool calls); the agent starts ignoring rules it followed earlier; conventions drift.

How do I install Session Guard in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add wshobson/agents --skill session-guard -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (plugins/skill-forge-essentials/skills/session-guard in wshobson/agents) into .claude/skills/session-guard in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install Session Guard in Codex?

Run `npx skills add wshobson/agents --skill session-guard -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (plugins/skill-forge-essentials/skills/session-guard in wshobson/agents) into .agents/skills/session-guard in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use Session Guard 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 wshobson/agents --skill session-guard -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/session-guard, .gemini/skills/session-guard, .github/skills/session-guard and .opencode/skills/session-guard in your project.

What does Session Guard need to run?

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

Does Session Guard 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 Session Guard 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 Session Guard use?

Session Guard 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 Session Guard use?

About 993 tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 4k 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 Session Guard?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Session Guard: Context Mode Output Sandbox (mksglu/context-mode, 26k stars), Memori Long-Term Memory (MemoriLabs/Memori, 17k stars), Picoclaw Skill Creator (sipeed/picoclaw, 30k stars) and ccc Semantic Code Search (cocoindex-io/cocoindex-code, 2.7k stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Session Guard?

wshobson (a GitHub user) maintains it in wshobson/agents, which has 40,287 GitHub stars. The repository holds 142 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on October 5, 2026.

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