kill-context-bloat

Shrink always-on payload so more of the window stays in the smart zone. Motive is quality of attention, not min-maxing spend.

Lab loop (do not skip remeasure)

1. Fresh session. Measure starting context (your harness's slash command — see <harness>-habits; or a request logger).

2. Trivial Hello; record baseline tokens (demos often start ~68k — shockingly high).

3. Edit harness settings. First locate the settings file for your harness and back it up. Named flags below are examples for one harness/version — not universal law:

   • disable unused connectors/integrations — demo drop ~68k→~47k
   • disable unused workflows — further toward ~39k
   • disable bundled skills you don't use — toward ~37k (also disables those skills entirely)
   • disable artifacts/media generation when unused
   • deny unused tools — denied tools drop definitions from the system prompt, not just runtime blocks

   "Unused" test: if nothing in your last ~20 sessions referenced it, it's unused. When unsure, disable one thing at a time and remeasure.

4. [human step — the agent cannot do this] Fully quit and relaunch — edits often change nothing until restart (deny without relaunch is a common false "fix").

5. Hello → measure → remeasure. Repeat until the floor is honest (demos often land near ~20k after cuts).

Cut categories

Unused MCP/connectors, workflows, bundled skills, artifacts, always-on essay instructions (move behind pointers/skills), unused tools via deny lists.