haowjy/story-context

Story Context

Every subagent handoff starts with a context decision. Get it wrong and the writer invents facts that contradict established canon, the critic misses a continuity issue because it never saw the relevant chapter, or the brainstormer explores territory the author already rejected.

A subagent only knows what you give it. This skill is the judgment: what story context to pass, when to write decisions down before handing off, and how much is enough.

Choose the Right Mechanism

Three ways to get context to a subagent, each for a different situation.

Point at files: when context already exists as files — chapters, outlines, wiki pages, style files, character state. Default choice, because files are stable, inspectable, and survive compaction. Name the specific files in the subagent's prompt and scope tightly: pass the files that matter, not everything.

Put it in the prompt: when the subagent needs decisions, reasoning, or brainstorm context that hasn't been written down yet. Capture the why behind choices directly in the prompt — why the author picked this angle, what they rejected.

Materialize first: when context is too important to be ephemeral. If critical story decisions only live in the conversation, write them to kb/ or work/ before handing off. If a writer could accidentally contradict this context, materialize it. If it's supplementary background, putting it in the prompt is fine.

What Each Agent Needs

Writers

Writers need enough to stay in voice and on-canon, not everything ever written:

• Scene brief or outline: what happens in this scene, the beats to hit
• Relevant style files: check kb/styles/ and pick the files that match. Character files for whoever appears, scene-type files for the kind of scene. Each style file is self-describing: read the top to know when it applies.
• Continuity anchors: the immediately preceding chapter or scene (for flow), plus any chapters that establish facts this scene references. Two to four files, not the entire manuscript.
• Character state: character files from kb/characters/ for characters who appear, especially if their emotional state or knowledge has changed recently
• Vocab: relevant vocab.md files when the scene uses invented terms, magic/faction names, titles, relationship labels, or genre terms with project-specific meanings

Tell the writer where to find more if it needs to explore, for example: "the full arc outline is in work/outline/; focus on the Route 1 section." Avoid passing everything preemptively.

Critics

Critics need the draft plus enough context to judge it against:

• The draft being reviewed
• The scene brief or outline: so the critic can check whether the draft achieved what it was supposed to
• Relevant style files: so voice critics can compare against the target
• Prior chapters for continuity: so continuity critics can cross-reference
• Author intent: the direction the author discussed, via materialized decision notes or directly in the prompt
• Known issues: tracked issues in kb/issues/ if the critic should watch for specific recurring problems
• Vocab: relevant vocab.md files when consistency of naming, aliases, deprecated terms, or invented language matters

Brainstormers

Brainstormers need constraints, not answers:

• The question being explored: scoped tightly in the prompt
• Established context that constrains the answer: character profiles, timeline, prior decisions that limit the design space
• What's been rejected: so they don't re-propose dead ends
• Existing vocabulary: enough vocab context to avoid minting new names for concepts the project has already named

Don't pass too much: brainstormers that receive the full project history tend to produce conservative ideas that fit neatly into existing patterns instead of exploring fresh territory.

Knowledge Maintenance

• Chronicler: the chapter(s) to extract facts from, plus existing canon files, timeline entries, and vocab files for deduplication
• Continuity-checker: the draft plus canon, timeline, character state, and vocab files for any domains the draft touches

Cross-Phase Context

Carry forward what a previous phase learned. The revision writer benefits from seeing what the first-draft writer discovered; the critic benefits from seeing prior critique rounds. When you run a multi-step loop, include the earlier phase's notes and the files it produced in the next subagent's prompt — reasoning context for the why, files for the what.

Vocab Handoffs

Treat vocabulary as operational story context. If a writer, critic, or brainstormer could choose the wrong name for a concept, pass the relevant vocab.md file or write the decision down before handing off. This matters most for magic systems, factions, recurring in-world phrases, titles, relationship labels, and terms the author corrected during conversation.

When a session settles terminology, record it before handoff: canonical name, meaning, aliases still in circulation, and boundaries that prevent likely confusion.