qi-layer

/creative-writing-skills:qi-maintenance owns when colocated knowledge must move with the changes it describes. This skill owns how to write and structure that knowledge.

Load /creative-writing-skills:knowledge-layers for where each layer lives and what it holds. Load /creative-writing-skills:llm-writing if it isn't already loaded.

This skill is about how to write and maintain the directory-local pair: AGENTS.md and .context/CONTEXT.md. The pair governs any tree agents work in, code, the KB, docs, work directories. AGENTS.md loads into an agent's bounded context as standing instructions: write it like a prompt, minimal, every line load-bearing.

The Four Principles

1. Fractal Compression: leaf AGENTS.md summarizes its directory's content; parent AGENTS.md summarizes its children. Each level is a compression of the level below.
2. Hierarchical Summarization: root provides broad architectural frame. Leaves provide local working knowledge. Agents accumulate understanding as they descend.
3. LCA Deduplication: shared knowledge appears once at the shallowest node covering all relevant paths.
4. Progressive Disclosure: give just enough to work correctly at this level. Link to .context/CONTEXT.md for depth.

Writing AGENTS.md

Agents read AGENTS.md before opening anything else in the tree, write for that moment. Ask: what must someone understand before working here? That's what AGENTS.md captures.

Keep AGENTS.md as short as the directory allows, rarely past 200 lines. Include only what has substance:

• Purpose: what this area IS and what it ISN'T (1, 3 sentences)
• Mental model: how to think about this area, key abstractions
• Key rules: constraints, what breaks if you get it wrong
• Anti-patterns: what NOT to do here
• Downlinks: to .context/ for depth, to related areas