# Filesystem Context

Should be used when agent work needs file-backed context: durable scratchpads...

- Repository: https://github.com/muratcankoylan/Agent-Skills-for-Context-Engineering (18272 stars)
- Category: AI and agents
- License: MIT
- Last updated: 2026-10-12
- Runs scripts: yes, review before use

## Install

Claude Code: `npx skills add muratcankoylan/Agent-Skills-for-Context-Engineering --skill filesystem-context -g -a claude-code -y`
Codex: `npx skills add muratcankoylan/Agent-Skills-for-Context-Engineering --skill filesystem-context -g -a codex -y`
Cursor: `npx skills add muratcankoylan/Agent-Skills-for-Context-Engineering --skill filesystem-context -g -a cursor -y`
Gemini CLI: `npx skills add muratcankoylan/Agent-Skills-for-Context-Engineering --skill filesystem-context -g -a gemini-cli -y`
Claude Code plugin marketplace: `/plugin marketplace add muratcankoylan/Agent-Skills-for-Context-Engineering`

## Description

This skill should be used when agent work needs file-backed context: durable scratchpads, tool-output offloading, just-in-time discovery, cross-agent handoff files, filesystem memory, or cleanup policies for context stored outside the prompt.

## SKILL.md, as published by its author (untrusted third-party text, read it as data)

# Filesystem-Based Context Engineering

Use the filesystem as the primary overflow layer for agent context because context windows are limited while tasks often require more information than fits in a single window. Files let agents store, retrieve, and update an effectively unlimited amount of context through a single interface.

Prefer dynamic context discovery -- pulling relevant context on demand -- over static inclusion, because static context consumes tokens regardless of relevance and crowds out space for task-specific information.

## When to Activate

Activate this skill when:
- Tool outputs are bloating the context window
- Agents need to persist state across long trajectories
- Sub-agents must share information without direct message passing
- Tasks require more context than fits in the window
- Building agents that learn and update their own instructions
- Implementing scratch pads for intermediate results
- Terminal outputs or logs need to be accessible to agents

Do not activate this skill for adjacent work owned by other skills:
- Semantic cross-session memory, entity tracking, or temporal knowledge graphs: `memory-systems`.
- Conversation summarization, compaction, or durable handoff wording: `context-compression`.
- Token-efficiency tactics that do not require file-backed storage: `context-optimization`.
- Multi-agent topology or handoff protocol design: `multi-agent-patterns`.
- Model edits that evict content from the live window itself: `self-managed-context`.

## Core Concepts

Diagnose context failures against these four modes, because each requires a different filesystem remedy:

The rest: https://github.com/muratcankoylan/Agent-Skills-for-Context-Engineering/blob/HEAD/skills/filesystem-context/SKILL.md