a-fig/accordion/accordion-context-folding

Accordion, an external desktop app, may be folding parts of your context to keep token usage within a budget. This is opt-in and controlled by the human — you cannot disable it, but you can always pull specific blocks back.

What folding looks like

A folded block appears as:

{#3f9a2c FOLDED} Assistant analyzed the test failures: three imports were missing…

The 3f9a2c is a short fold code — an opaque handle for that block. The part after FOLDED} is a short summary. The original content is preserved and retrievable — nothing is lost.

Restoring folded content

Call the unfold tool with one or more codes copied from the markers:

unfold({codes: ["3f9a2c"]})
unfold({codes: ["3f9a2c", "00a2cd"]})

(Pass the codes exactly as shown, as strings — a code may have leading zeros.)

The tool returns a confirmation. The restored content appears in your context on your next turn — not immediately. If you need the content now, call unfold and then take another step (e.g. re-read, continue the task) so the next turn picks it up.

Reading folded content right now (recall)

If you need the full content of a folded block for the current step but do not want to change your standing context, call recall instead of unfold:

recall({codes: ["3f9a2c"]})
recall({codes: ["3f9a2c", "00a2cd"]})

recall returns the block's full original content as this tool's result, immediately — like reading a file. It does not force the block open: your standing context is unchanged (the block stays folded), so it costs nothing beyond this one result.

Choose between them:

• recall — read it once, now. Content comes back as the tool result this turn; your context is untouched.
• unfold — keep it open. The block returns to your context on your next turn and stays open until the human re-folds it.

Prefer recall when you just need to glance at a value or quote; use unfold when you will keep referring to the block over several turns.

What to unfold

Only unfold what you genuinely need. Agent unfolds are sticky — the human can see and re-fold them in the GUI, but they will not be auto-refolded while you work. Unfolding costs tokens; if the budget is tight, Accordion may fold other blocks to compensate.

If a block looks irrelevant to your current task, leave it folded. If you need the exact content (code, a specific value, a previous decision), unfold it. If a code matches more than one block (rare), all matching blocks are restored.