# Context Vigilance Kit

> A neurotic model of Human + AI Product Development.

Treat context with the same vigilance as code: versioned, reviewed, cross-linked. The Context Vigilance Kit is a plugin for coding agents (Claude Code natively; any Agent Skills tool by copying the skills) that gives a repo a `context-v/` folder of living docs and seven workflow skills: init, new, kickoff, prep, implement, loop, reflect. MPL-2.0; what users make with it is theirs.

## Start here

- [Getting started](https://context-v.dev/getting-started/): install in two commands, then run a first cycle.
- [Home](https://context-v.dev/): the practice in one page: eight folders, three modes, the cycle.
- [Source repository](https://github.com/lossless-group/context-vigilance-kit): skills, templates, starters, the hook.
- [Full-text search](https://context-v.dev/search/)
- [Everything as one file](https://context-v.dev/llms-full.txt): patterns, changelog, and the kit's own docs, concatenated.

## Patterns (21)

Conventions that emerged from years of context-v files, marked Canonical, Experimental, or Emerging.

- [Eight folders, three modes (Canonical)](https://context-v.dev/patterns/folders-and-modes/): Every doc has one obvious home, and the folder says what kind of thinking it holds.
- [Frontmatter is a contract (Canonical)](https://context-v.dev/patterns/frontmatter-as-contract/): A small block of YAML lets tools, sites, and agents read a doc without reading all of it.
- [Identity fields, minted by command (Canonical)](https://context-v.dev/patterns/identity-by-command/): Two IDs per doc, generated by a command and never changed, because filenames move and models invent.
- [Three families of dates (Canonical)](https://context-v.dev/patterns/three-date-families/): When the file changed, when the thinking changed, and when the work happened are three different questions.
- [Status reflects reality (Canonical)](https://context-v.dev/patterns/status-reflects-reality/): A folder of Draft plans, half of which shipped, is a folder nobody can trust.
- [A lede is a hook, written by hand (Canonical)](https://context-v.dev/patterns/lede-discipline/): One line, 140 characters max, that makes someone want the rest. No script can write it.
- [Explore → spec → plan → prompt (Canonical)](https://context-v.dev/patterns/prep-arc/): Work climbs down a ladder of altitude, and every rung is a doc that outlives the session.
- [Fork early, keep the map (Canonical)](https://context-v.dev/patterns/fork-early/): Split a growing doc before it hurts. The parent keeps the map; children carry the detail.
- [Write for three readers (Canonical)](https://context-v.dev/patterns/three-readers/): The person editing it, the agent loading it tomorrow, and the stranger who lands on it cold.
- [Notice drift, don't fix it in passing (Canonical)](https://context-v.dev/patterns/drift-policy/): Inconsistencies get reported, not silently cleaned up as a side effect of other work.
- [Four-part versions for docs (Canonical)](https://context-v.dev/patterns/four-part-versions/): epoch.major.minor.patch, because a doc's history has one more kind of change than code's.
- [Handoffs between sessions (Experimental)](https://context-v.dev/patterns/handoffs/): The last thing a session writes is the first thing the next one reads.
- [Clarified loops (Experimental)](https://context-v.dev/patterns/clarified-loops/): Every developer has their own process. Write it down once, and an agent runs it the same way every time.
- [Decisions as their own artifacts (Experimental)](https://context-v.dev/patterns/decisions/): A spec says what we intend now. A decision doc says the moment that changed, and why.
- [Habits: recurring upkeep with a trigger (Experimental)](https://context-v.dev/patterns/habits/): A reminder fires when you happen to be doing something. A habit fires whether or not anything reminded you.
- [Contracts: what must never break (Experimental)](https://context-v.dev/patterns/contracts/): Not suggestions. Standing rules for agents, or exact interfaces data must follow.
- [Degrees of freedom: open, shaped, exact (Emerging)](https://context-v.dev/patterns/freedom-labels/): Label each step by how much judgment it takes, so agents are rigid only where rigidity matters.
- [Checklists with go-back lines (Emerging)](https://context-v.dev/patterns/checklists-with-go-back/): The agent copies the checklist into its reply and ticks it off, and a failed check sends it back a step.
- [Name roles, bind tools in config (Emerging)](https://context-v.dev/patterns/roles-not-tools/): Skills say “file it in the tracker.” One config file says which tracker.
- [Hooks for the exact rules only (Emerging)](https://context-v.dev/patterns/hooks-for-exact-rules/): A rule written in capitals is followed most of the time. A hook is followed every time, so use it sparingly.
- [Context-v is an OKF bundle (Emerging)](https://context-v.dev/patterns/okf-profile/): Any tool that reads the Open Knowledge Format can read a context-v folder. It costs one frontmatter field and an index file.

## Changelog

- [The Kit Leaves the Corpus Behind](https://context-v.dev/changelog/2026-10-01_01/): Installing the context-v plugin would have cloned 55 MB of our private history. So the kit got a fresh repo, and the corpus got a new name.
- [The Kit Becomes a Plugin](https://context-v.dev/changelog/2026-10-05_01/): Context Vigilance now installs into Claude Code from GitHub in two commands: the practice, seven workflow skills, and a frontmatter check.
- [The Kit Gets Its Own Front Door](https://context-v.dev/changelog/2026-10-05_02/): A site for people adopting the kit: getting started in two commands, and twenty patterns explaining why context-v works the way it does.
- [Context-V Speaks the Open Knowledge Format](https://context-v.dev/changelog/2026-10-05_03/): A decision, the kit's first: every context-v folder is an Open Knowledge Format bundle, and every doc's type is its folder's name.
- [Every Doc Knows Its Type, and Every Folder Has an Index](https://context-v.dev/changelog/2026-10-05_04/): The OKF decision, built: every new doc carries its folder's type, every folder lists its docs, and /cv:upgrade pulls the latest kit.
- [Wikilinks Stay, and Your Config Says So](https://context-v.dev/changelog/2026-10-06_01/): OKF never required a link style. Wikilinks stay the default, and context-v/config.md now declares the syntax a repo uses.
- [The Recommended Flow, Drawn](https://context-v.dev/changelog/2026-10-06_02/): The landing page now shows the whole cycle in one picture: explore through reflect, then what the cycle taught you.

## The kit's own context-v

- [Context-V Is an OKF Profile](https://context-v.dev/context-v/decisions/context-v-is-an-okf-profile/): Any tool that reads Open Knowledge Format can read a context-v folder. The price is one frontmatter field and an index file.
- [Context-V as a Claude Code Plugin](https://context-v.dev/context-v/explorations/context-v-as-a-claude-code-plugin/): The conventions are good and the agent still forgets them. A plugin turns context-v's workflows into commands and its frontmatter into queries — so a loop's preconditions get checked instead of remembered.
- [Context-V as a Portable Plugin Any Agent Can Install](https://context-v.dev/context-v/explorations/context-v-as-a-portable-plugin-any-agent-can-install/): A human pastes one line, and their agent does the rest. The last mile of the cv plugin is an install contract written for agents, with Claude Code as the first harness, not the only one.
- [Commands and Agent Skills for context-v](https://context-v.dev/context-v/specs/commands-and-agent-skills-for-context-v/): Catalog of every command, slash command, and agent skill the kit ships — surfaced natively via `.claude/commands/` and `.claude/skills/`.
- [MVP: context-v as a Claude Code Plugin](https://context-v.dev/context-v/specs/mvp-to-claude-code-plugin/): The kit's MVP is not the Chroma memory system the June specs planned — it's a plugin where `/plugin install` is the whole onboarding.

## Optional

- [The corpus](https://lossless-group.github.io/context-v-corpus/): 1,000+ context-v docs from the Lossless Group's own projects.