Header-First C/C++ Ingestion (Interface Contract Protocol)

Overview

In systems programming codebases (C, C++, CUDA, Rust, Go), implementation files (.cpp, .c, .cu) are packed with thousands of lines of memory allocations (malloc, smart_ptr), low-level bitwise operations, cache alignments, and loop unrollings.

When an AI agent needs to integrate with a module or understand its public API, ingesting 2,000-line .cpp implementation files burns 15,000+ tokens on internal execution details.

The Header-First Ingestion Protocol directs the agent to inspect the lightweight interface header (.h, .hpp, .hxx) first. The header provides 100% of the class interfaces, struct layouts, enum constants, and method prototypes in 15% of the token cost.

Heavy .cpp Implementation vs. Lightweight .hpp Header