--- name: alive:load-context description: "The human mentions a walnut to work on, asks about a specific venture/experiment/project, or wants to check status — not just explicit 'load X'. Load the brief pack (3 files), resolve the people involved, check the active bundle — then surface one observation and ask what to work on. Context loads in tiers: walnut and people are automatic, bundle depth is offered." user-invocable: true --- # Load Load a walnut. See where things are. Work. Default: single-walnut focus. But people involved are loaded automatically (frontmatter only) — you can't work on a venture without knowing who's in it. --- ## If No Walnut Named Show available walnuts as a numbered list grouped by domain: ``` ╭─ 🐿️ pick a walnut │ │ Life │ 1. identity active Mars visa application │ 2. health quiet Sleep study results │ │ Ventures │ 3. nova-station active Orbital test window │ 4. paper-lantern quiet Menu redesign │ │ Experiments │ 5. midnight-frequency active Episode 12 edit │ 6. glass-cathedral waiting Decide: gallery or festival │ │ ▸ Number to load, or name one. ╰─ ``` --- ## Tier 1 — Brief Pack (3 files) Read these three files. That's it — everything you need to orient. 1. `_kernel/key.md` — full file (identity, people, links, rhythm) 2. `_kernel/now.json` — full file (phase, next action, bundle statuses with task summaries, recent sessions, nested walnut state, blockers, context paragraph) 3. `_kernel/insights.md` — frontmatter only (what domain knowledge sections exist) **DO NOT read any other files at this stage.** No log.md. No bundle manifests. No tasks files. No squirrel entries. All of that data is already in now.json — the projection script aggregated it. Reading source files at load wastes context window on data you already have. **Inbox triage (background):** After reading the brief pack, check if `03_Inbox/` has items (`ls 03_Inbox/ 2>/dev/null`). If yes, dispatch a background triage agent (same spec as in the world skill — reads items, tags type/destination/priority, returns structured report). Don't wait for it — continue with people resolution and the Spark. Results arrive while you work. Show `>` reads as you go: ``` > _kernel/key.md Lock-in Lab — launching, weekly rhythm, 3 people > _kernel/now.json Phase: launching. Bundle: official-launch. Next: Draft PCM essay. Active bundles: 2 (official-launch: 1 urgent, 18 todo; research: 4 todo) Blockers: none. Recent: 3 sessions. > _kernel/insights.md 4 domain knowledge sections ``` **Backward compat fallback chain:** 1. `_kernel/now.json` (v3) 2. `_kernel/_generated/now.json` (v2) 3. `now.md` at walnut root or `_core/now.md` (v1) If a legacy format is found, surface the upgrade warning before continuing: ``` ╭─ 🐿️ this walnut is on an older version │ Found v2 state at _kernel/_generated/now.json. │ The system works but projections, tasks, and world speed are degraded. │ │ ▸ Run /alive:system-upgrade to migrate. ╰─ ``` If NOTHING is found, the walnut has no state — read `_kernel/log.md` as last resort. ### Displaying now.json Extract and display from now.json's structure: - **Phase** and **next action** — `next` is an object with `action`, `bundle`, and `why` fields - **Active bundles** — each bundle entry has task counts and flags for urgent items - **Blockers** — surface any, or say "none" - **Recent sessions** — count and brief summary - **Nested walnuts** — from the `children` field, show any child walnut state worth noting --- ## Tier 2 — People Context (automatic) After loading the brief pack, resolve `key.md` `people:` to person walnuts. For each person listed, read their person walnut's `_kernel/key.md` **frontmatter only** — name, role, tags, last updated, rhythm. This is lightweight (3-5 small reads) and always happens. ``` > people/ryn-okata/key.md engineering lead, updated 2 days ago > people/jax-stellara/key.md vendor contact, updated 22 days ago ! > people/orion-vex/key.md systems architect, updated 5 days ago ``` **If any person has relevant recent activity** — a dispatch routed from another session, a stash note tagged to this walnut, or staleness worth flagging — surface it: ``` ╭─ 🐿️ people │ Ryn Okata — engineering lead, updated 2 days ago │ Dispatch from [[heavy-revive]]: "prefers async comms" │ Jax Stellara — vendor contact, 22 days ago ! │ Last interaction was pre-testing phase — context may be stale │ Orion Vex — systems architect, updated 5 days ago │ 3 stash items routed here from session c2f8e7f2 │ │ ▸ Deep load anyone? │ 1. Load Orion's routed stash │ 2. Load all people context (now.json + recent log) │ 3. Just the summary above ╰─ ``` **If no relevant activity:** Show the summary inline with the brief pack reads. No separate prompt — keep it lightweight. **Resolving people to walnuts:** Match `people:` names against `02_Life/people/` folder names (kebab-case). Legacy person walnuts at `02_Life/people/` are still recognized. If no walnut exists for a person, note it but don't flag — not everyone needs a person walnut. --- ## Tier 3 — Bundle Deep-Load (on demand) If `now.json` has a `bundle:` field pointing to an active bundle, offer to deep-load it. The brief pack already told you the bundle name, status, task counts, and urgency — this tier gives you the full working context. ``` ╭─ 🐿️ active bundle: shielding-review │ Status: draft (v0.3) │ Goal: Evaluate radiation shielding vendors │ 2 active sessions: squirrel:a8c95e9 (working on v0.3) │ 3 tasks open, 1 in progress │ │ ▸ Load bundle context? │ 1. Deep load (manifest + live tasks) │ 2. Just the summary above │ 3. Switch to a different bundle ╰─ ``` **Deep load reads:** 1. **`{walnut}/{name}/context.manifest.yaml`** — full file (context, changelog, work log, session history). In v3 bundles are flat at the walnut root; for legacy v2 worlds fall back to `bundles/{name}/context.manifest.yaml`. 2. **`tasks.py list --walnut {path} --bundle {name}`** — call the script for the detailed task view. Do NOT read `tasks.json` directly; the script is the interface. 3. **Write `active_sessions:` entry** to the bundle's `context.manifest.yaml` — claim this session so other agents know you're here. If `active_sessions:` shows another agent is working on this bundle, warn: ``` ╭─ 🐿️ heads up │ squirrel:a8c95e9 is currently working on v0.3 of this bundle. │ Coordinate or work on something else to avoid conflicts. ╰─ ``` --- ## Spotted One observation before asking what to work on. Fires after the load sequence, grounded in the context just loaded. The brief pack gives you everything: phase, bundles, tasks, blockers, recent sessions, nested walnuts. Find something worth noticing — a blocker that's been sitting, a bundle with no recent sessions, a next action that's overdue, a pattern across task counts. ``` ╭─ 🐿️ spotted │ The official-launch bundle has 1 urgent task but no sessions │ in 4 days. The PCM essay draft might be blocking everything else. ╰─ ``` If there's not enough context for a genuine observation, skip it. An obvious one is worse than none. --- ## Bundle Prompt After the Spotted observation, prompt with bundle awareness: ``` ╭─ 🐿️ nova-station │ Goal: Build the first civilian orbital tourism platform │ Phase: testing │ Next: Review telemetry from test window │ Bundle: shielding-review (draft, draft-02) │ │ ▸ What are you working on? │ 1. Continue from next (review telemetry) │ 2. Continue bundle (shielding-review) │ 3. Start something new (creates bundle) │ 4. Go deeper (log history, linked walnuts, full insights) │ 5. Just chat ``` If the human picks "start something new" -> invoke `alive:bundle` (create operation). If no active bundle exists, show options 1, 3, 4, 5 only (skip option 2). --- ## Then Ask (legacy — replaced by Bundle Prompt above) If the Bundle Prompt section is used, skip this. This section remains for backward compatibility with walnuts that don't use bundles. ``` ╭─ 🐿️ nova-station │ Goal: Build the first civilian orbital tourism platform │ Phase: testing │ Next: Review telemetry from test window │ │ ▸ What to work on? │ 1. Continue from next (review telemetry) │ 2. Load full context (log entries, linked walnuts) │ 3. Just chat ╰─ ``` "Continue from next" — jump straight into the next action. "Load full context" — reads log frontmatter, recent entries, expands linked walnuts. "Just chat" — freestyle, the squirrel loads more later if needed. --- ## During Work - Stash in conversation (see squirrels.md). No file writes except capture + bundle work. - Always watching: people updates, bundle progress, capturable content. - People frontmatter is already loaded — use it. If someone mentioned matches a loaded person, connect the dots. - When a bundle reaches prototype -> offer to promote to published. --- ## Cross-Loading If another walnut becomes relevant during work ("this references [[glass-cathedral]]"), ask before loading it. The primary walnut stays focused. ``` ╭─ 🐿️ cross-reference │ This mentions [[glass-cathedral]]. Load its context? │ │ ▸ How much? │ 1. Frontmatter only (quick scan) │ 2. Full brief pack │ 3. Skip ╰─ ``` --- ## Multi-Walnut Loading The default is single-walnut focus. But `alive:load-context walnut-a walnut-b` is valid for cross-walnut sessions: - **First walnut** = primary. Full brief pack + people + bundle offer. - **Additional walnuts** = secondary. Read `_kernel/key.md` frontmatter + `_kernel/now.json` only. Enough to reference, not enough to distract. This is rare. Most cross-walnut context comes naturally from the people tier (Tier 2) — loading a venture automatically gives you lightweight context on everyone involved.