The Patterns
What the practice grew into.
Context Vigilance started as eight folders. Years of writing specs, explorations, and post-mortems with agents added the rest: the conventions that kept docs trustworthy, and the experiments still finding their shape. Norms, not rules: each pattern says why it exists, so you can decide whether it fits.
Canonical 11 patterns
Settled. Every repo that uses context-v should expect these, and the kit's skills assume them.
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practice
Eight folders, three modes
Every doc has one obvious home, and the folder says what kind of thinking it holds.
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practice
Frontmatter is a contract
A small block of YAML lets tools, sites, and agents read a doc without reading all of it.
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practice
Identity fields, minted by command
Two IDs per doc, generated by a command and never changed, because filenames move and models invent.
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practice
Three families of dates
When the file changed, when the thinking changed, and when the work happened are three different questions.
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practice
Status reflects reality
A folder of Draft plans, half of which shipped, is a folder nobody can trust.
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practice
A lede is a hook, written by hand
One line, 140 characters max, that makes someone want the rest. No script can write it.
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prep
Explore → spec → plan → prompt
Work climbs down a ladder of altitude, and every rung is a doc that outlives the session.
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practice
Fork early, keep the map
Split a growing doc before it hurts. The parent keeps the map; children carry the detail.
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practice
Write for three readers
The person editing it, the agent loading it tomorrow, and the stranger who lands on it cold.
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practice
Notice drift, don't fix it in passing
Inconsistencies get reported, not silently cleaned up as a side effect of other work.
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practice
Four-part versions for docs
epoch.major.minor.patch, because a doc's history has one more kind of change than code's.
Experimental 5 patterns
In active use, shape still moving. Expect variation between repos; it is surfaced, not normalized.
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journey
Handoffs between sessions
The last thing a session writes is the first thing the next one reads.
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reflection
Clarified loops
Every developer has their own process. Write it down once, and an agent runs it the same way every time.
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prep
Decisions as their own artifacts
A spec says what we intend now. A decision doc says the moment that changed, and why.
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reflection
Habits: recurring upkeep with a trigger
A reminder fires when you happen to be doing something. A habit fires whether or not anything reminded you.
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reflection
Contracts: what must never break
Not suggestions. Standing rules for agents, or exact interfaces data must follow.
Emerging 5 patterns
New with the plugin. Proven in a few places, written down so they can earn their way up.
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practice
Degrees of freedom: open, shaped, exact
Label each step by how much judgment it takes, so agents are rigid only where rigidity matters.
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practice
Checklists with go-back lines
The agent copies the checklist into its reply and ticks it off, and a failed check sends it back a step.
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practice
Name roles, bind tools in config
Skills say “file it in the tracker.” One config file says which tracker.
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practice
Hooks for the exact rules only
A rule written in capitals is followed most of the time. A hook is followed every time, so use it sparingly.
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practice
Context-v is an OKF bundle
Any tool that reads the Open Knowledge Format can read a context-v folder. It costs one frontmatter field and an index file.