Project Context Migration

Project Context Migration

Purpose

Audit scattered repository docs and notes before moving the right working context into project-context. This companion skill assumes the main project-context skill is installed alongside it. If the repo is effectively empty and there is nothing to migrate, use project-context instead.

Use / Do Not Use

• Use this skill when a repo already has scattered docs or partial working-context material that needs to be sorted into the project-context layout.
• Use it when you need to classify source docs into TASK, REFERENCE, LEAVE, or ARCHIVE.
• Do not use it for empty or nearly empty repos with nothing meaningful to migrate.
• Do not treat migration as a blind move-everything operation.

Core Bias

• Audit first, move second.
• Shipped authority stays shipped.
• Keep only agent working context inside project-context.
• When unsure, start in TASK rather than over-promoting into REFERENCE.
• Migration correctness depends on explicit mapping and spot review, not on destination shape alone.

Classification

• TASK: task-local, historical, exploratory, uncertain, or migration-audit material. Start here when unsure.
• REFERENCE: current trusted project-domain context by topic. Rewrite to current state, strip timeline noise, and keep only principles, rules, and recently reliable facts another task can directly use.
• LEAVE: product/user/team docs, human-facing top-level notes, and origin/about/repository narrative that do not belong in agent working context.
• ARCHIVE: stale duplicates or superseded docs if the user wants cleanup; it is a migration decision, not a core project-context destination.
• Common mappings: runbook -> reference; task note -> task; ADR -> current conclusion to reference / superseded to archive; repo-root instruction notes and origin/about/repository docs usually stay LEAVE unless they clearly remain repo-local agent guidance.

Operating Model

1. Read [../project-context/SKILL.md](../project-context/SKILL.md) to review the target layout.
2. Create one dated migration task under docs/tasks/... first and use it as the audit surface for the whole move.
3. Inventory likely source roots with rg --files across common context directories and repo-root instruction files when present.
4. Before mapping, ask whether each source belongs in agent working context at all.
5. Build an audit map before editing: path | kind | current-or-stale | scope | target | note. Add extra columns only if they materially lower confusion for this repo.
6. Apply in order: TASK -> REFERENCE -> LEAVE/ARCHIVE.
7. Once the target tree exists, run the main project-context runtime-shape check.
8. Treat that check as destination-shape confirmation only; migration correctness still depends on the audit map and spot review.

Rules

• Record audit decisions in the migration task before rewriting global files.
• Follow the main project-context skill and bundled scripts by reference instead of summarizing them in repo-local migration docs.
• Merge overlapping sources into one preferred destination reference file or one dated task.
• When migration creates or updates REFERENCE, keep canonical content in the reference file and record mapping, rationale, and change trace in the migration task.
• Normalize saved doc paths to repo-relative paths or stable placeholders.
• Before promoting anything into REFERENCE, ask whether another task would reuse it as agent working context. If not, prefer TASK, LEAVE, or ARCHIVE.
• Keep source inventories, comparison detail, and rewrite rationale in the audit map or task-local docs rather than thickening the migration brief.
• If a task item has no trustworthy date, use the migration date and record the uncertainty in that task.
• When unsure between REFERENCE and LEAVE for a human-facing top-level doc, bias toward LEAVE unless the current move clearly makes it canonical agent working context.
• When cleanup is about duplication, remove duplicated repo-local summaries before touching task outputs.

Anti-Patterns

• Rewriting repo-local docs into a second copy of the shipped skill contract or bundled script behavior.
• Moving docs into REFERENCE just because they are technical, even when they are not reusable working context.
• Using the runtime-shape check as proof that the migration itself is correct.
• Rewriting or deleting global docs before the migration task has an explicit audit map.
• Promoting uncertain or stale material into REFERENCE instead of starting in TASK.
• Treating LEAVE as failure; many docs should remain outside the agent working-context surface.

Final Gates

• Does the migration task explain why each moved source became TASK, REFERENCE, LEAVE, or ARCHIVE?
• Is current trusted reference context rewritten into current-state reference docs instead of copied over with stale timeline noise?
• Are uncertain, exploratory, or historical materials kept in tasks instead of over-promoted?
• Did the destination tree pass the main project-context runtime-shape check?
• Did the rollout preserve human-facing docs that do not belong in agent working context?

Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: perhapsspy
• Source: perhapsspy/project-context
• License: MIT

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.