amirfish1/watchtower/compact-to-queue

Compact to queue

A compaction summary is lossy memory; a queue ticket is durable state. When a long session is about to compact — or is ending with work still open — file the remaining work as WatchTower tickets so any future session (human, agent, or drain worker) can pick it up cold.

REQUIRED BACKGROUND: the watchtower skill covers filing, claiming, and closing tickets. This skill is the discipline of what to extract and when.

When to fire

• Context is ~70%+ full, or the user asks "when should we compact?"
• The user says "don't forget X", "put this on the list", "file it".
• A session ends with known open items, limitations, or deferred work.

1. Pick the queue

• Prefer the repo's existing queue (wt ls / wt status to see what's in use).
• For a workstream that spans sessions, a dedicated queue reads better

(e.g. KIMI-FIXES for the kimi-engine workstream). Ask if unclear.

• Check for dupes first: wt ls -q <QUEUE> --status all --json.

2. Extract only what's NOT done

File: remaining work, known limitations, deferred fixes, ideas the user approved but aren't built. Never file completed work — the ticket is a promise of future effort, not a log.

One item per ticket. If a note needs "and also", that's two tickets.

3. File each item self-contained

The reader has zero context. Every note must stand alone: the why, any measured numbers, and file:line pointers to where the work lives.

wt add -q <QUEUE> \
  --type feature \
  --priority p2 \
  --readiness needs-shaping \
  --title "Short imperative title" \
  --note "Why this matters + measured evidence + file:line pointers. \
Must be fully understandable with zero prior context."

Field limits (hard clips, so don't fight them): title 200 chars, note 4000, text 24000, comments 24000. Title = preview, note = brief, text = full body.

Honest priorities: p1 = next thing to do, p2 = should do, p3 = icebox. --readiness ready only when the work is fully specified; otherwise needs-shaping.

4. Verify and report

wt ls -q <QUEUE>

Show the user the refs you filed. Those refs — not the session, not the compact summary — are now the source of truth for what's next.

After filing

Compacting is safe: everything of value now lives in the queue. The session can end. The next session resumes from wt ls -q <QUEUE>, not from memory.