# Clarify Before Acting: Context

Copy this file to CONTEXT.md next to SKILL.md (Claude Code) or next to your AGENTS.md or rules file (Codex, Cursor), and fill in every blank. The agent asks you for any blank it needs. Never put passwords, access keys or card numbers here.

## Search surfaces, in order

(List every place the agent should search before asking you anything, most useful first. Give a folder, a tool name or a URL for each.)

Example: 1. This conversation. 2. notes/ folder. 3. The task board in the project tracker. 4. docs/ folder. 5. logs/daily/ folder. 6. research/ folder. 7. The shop admin, through the connected tool.

1. ______
2. ______
3. ______
4. ______
5. ______

## Where access keys live

(Name the credential manager or vault you use, and where project config lives. Locations only, never the values.)

Example: Keys live in the 1Password vault "agent-keys", read through a service account. Project keys are in each repo's .env file, which is listed in .gitignore.

- Credential manager (for example a 1Password vault name, or the name of a separate Bitwarden account): ______
- Where project config lives (for example the path to the .env file): ______
- Setup notes for connected tools: ______

## What stays human

(Actions the agent must hand back to you. The defaults below always apply; add your own.)

- Typing passwords into sign-in forms
- MFA or one-time codes
- CAPTCHAs
- First-time consent screens
- ______

## Standing preferences the agent should never ask about

(Defaults you have already decided, so they never become questions.)

Example: Language: English. Tone: plain, friendly, no exclamation marks. Default length for emails: one short screen. Currency: EUR.

- Language: ______
- Tone and style notes (or a path to a style guide): ______
- Default output format: ______
- Other defaults: ______

## Never ask for

(Routine requests the agent should act on without clarifying.)

Example: Daily sales summary, weekly backup check, reformatting a draft I paste in.

- ______
- ______

## Decisions only you make

(Kinds of question the agent may always bring to you, because no search can answer them.)

Example: Anything that spends money, any message to a client, changes to prices, deleting data.

- ______
- ______

## Urgency words

(Phrases you use when you want a fast first pass with at most one question.)

Example: "quick", "rough", "urgent".

- ______