Reduce & Delegate Framework Skill

Apply the R&D framework to optimize prompts, workflows, and context management.

Purpose

There are only two ways to manage context: Reduce and Delegate. This skill helps you systematically apply both strategies to any context optimization challenge.

When to Use

• Context window approaching limits
• Agent performance degrading over conversation
• Prompts growing unwieldy
• Workflows consuming too many tokens
• Need to scale agent work

The R&D Analysis Process

Step 1: Identify the Context Problem

Categorize the issue:

Problem Type	Indicator	Primary Strategy
Context Rot	Old info guiding decisions	Reduce (fresh instance)
Context Pollution	Unfocused, tangential	Reduce (remove irrelevant)
Toxic Context	Contradictory behavior	Reduce (clear conflicts)
Context Overflow	Approaching limits	Delegate (offload work)

Step 2: Apply Reduce Strategies

For each context element, ask:

1. Is this necessary for the current task?
2. Can this be loaded on-demand instead?
3. Is this information stale or outdated?
4. Does this contradict other context?

Reduction techniques:

Technique	Application
Fresh instance	New task type, reset history
Output styles	Control verbosity, reduce tokens
Focused reads	Specific files vs directories
Priming commands	Replace static memory
MCP cleanup	Remove unused servers

Step 3: Apply Delegate Strategies

For complex or parallel work, ask:

1. Does this subtask need different context?
2. Can this run independently?
3. Would a specialized agent perform better?
4. Is there parallel work opportunity?

Delegation techniques:

Technique	Application
Sub-agents	Focused tasks with isolated context
Background agents	Parallel work, async execution
Agent experts	Domain-specific knowledge
Spec files	Handoff between agents

Optimization Workflow

1. Measure current context state
   - Use /context command
   - Check token consumption

2. Analyze composition
   - What's consuming most tokens?
   - What's unnecessary?

3. Apply Reduce
   - Remove unnecessary context
   - Start fresh if needed
   - Control output verbosity

4. Apply Delegate
   - Offload subtasks
   - Use specialized agents
   - Enable parallel work

5. Verify improvement
   - Measure new state
   - Compare performance

Common Optimization Patterns

Pattern: Bloated Memory File

Before:

# CLAUDE.md (5KB+)
Contains: everything about the project

After (Reduce):

# CLAUDE.md (1KB)
Contains: only universals

# .claude/commands/prime.md
Contains: task-specific context loading

Pattern: Long Conversation

Problem: Multi-turn conversation with context rot

Solution (Reduce):

1. Start fresh instance
2. Use priming command to load current state
3. Continue with clean context

Pattern: Complex Research Task

Before:

Primary agent does research -> context polluted
Primary agent implements -> struggles with focus

After (Delegate):

Primary agent delegates research -> sub-agent
Sub-agent returns summary -> primary continues
Primary agent implements -> clean context

Pattern: Parallel Independent Tasks

Before:

Task A -> Task B -> Task C (sequential, context accumulates)

After (Delegate):

Task A (agent 1) \
Task B (agent 2)  -> Aggregate results
Task C (agent 3) /

Output Format

When optimizing, report:

{
  "analysis": {
    "current_state": "Context at 80% capacity",
    "primary_issue": "Long conversation with accumulated history",
    "secondary_issues": ["Verbose tool outputs", "Unused MCP servers"]
  },
  "reduce_recommendations": [
    {
      "action": "Start fresh instance",
      "impact": "Reset accumulated history",
      "effort": "Low"
    },
    {
      "action": "Apply concise output style",
      "impact": "50% reduction in output tokens",
      "effort": "Low"
    }
  ],
  "delegate_recommendations": [
    {
      "action": "Create research sub-agent",
      "impact": "Isolate research context",
      "effort": "Medium"
    }
  ],
  "expected_improvement": "40-60% context reduction"
}

Decision Matrix

When to Reduce vs Delegate:

Situation	Reduce	Delegate
Stale context	X
Irrelevant context	X
Conflicting context	X
Complex subtask		X
Parallel work		X
Domain expertise needed		X
Context overflow	X	X

Key Quote

"There are only two ways to manage your context window: Reduce and Delegate. Every technique fits into one or both of these buckets."

Cross-References

• @rd-framework.md - Framework reference
• @context-audit skill - Audit before optimizing
• @context-layers.md - Understanding what to optimize
• @context-rot-vs-pollution.md - Diagnosing the problem

Version History

• v1.0.0 (2025-12-26): Initial release

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Last Updated

Date: 2025-12-26 Model: claude-opus-4-5-20251101