reduce-delegate-framework

# 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 Is this information stale or outdated?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