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About ctx

ctx

ctx

ctx (Context) is a file-based system that enables AI coding assistants to persist project knowledge across sessions. Instead of re-explaining your codebase every time, context files let AI tools remember decisions, conventions, and learnings:

  • A session is interactive.
  • ctx enables cognitive continuity.
  • Cognitive continuity enables durable, symbiotic-like human–AI workflows.

The ctx Manifesto

Creation, not code. Context, not prompts. Verification, not vibes.

Without durable context, intelligence resets. With ctx, creation compounds.

Read the Manifesto →

Community

Open source is better together.

Help ctx Change How AI Remembers

If the idea behind ctx resonates, a star helps it reach engineers who run into context drift every day.

→ https://github.com/ActiveMemory/ctx

ctx is free and open source software, and contributions are always welcome and appreciated.

Join the community to ask questions, share feedback, and connect with other users:

  • IRC: join #ctx on irc.libera.chat
  • GitHub: Star the repo, report issues, contribute

Why? — I Keep Re-Explaining My Codebase

You open a new AI session. The first thing you do is re-explain your project.

Again.

The architecture, the database choice, the naming conventions, the thing you tried last week that didn't work. You've said all of this before — maybe yesterday, maybe an hour ago — but the AI doesn't know that.

  • You explain the same architecture every session
  • The AI suggests an approach you already rejected — again
  • A decision you made three sessions ago gets relitigated from scratch
  • You spend more time setting context than building features

This isn't an AI problem. It's a context problem. Without persistent memory, every session starts at zero.

Before & After

Session 12 — Monday morning

You:  "We use PostgreSQL, not MySQL. I explained this on Thursday."
AI:   "Got it! Let me adjust the schema for PostgreSQL..."

You:  "Also, we decided to use JWT for auth, not sessions."
AI:   "Understood! Here's the updated approach..."

You:  "And the API uses snake_case, not camelCase."
AI:   "I'll fix the naming..."

20 minutes spent re-explaining before any real work starts.

Session 12 — Monday morning

You:  "Let's continue the auth implementation."
AI:   "Based on your context: the project uses PostgreSQL with JWT
       authentication. The API follows snake_case conventions.
       Last session you completed the login endpoint — the
       registration endpoint is next on TASKS.md. Want me to
       start there?"

0 minutes re-explaining. Straight to building.

The difference: ctx gives your AI a memory that persists across sessions.

How ctx Solves This

ctx creates a .context/ directory in your project that stores structured knowledge files:

File What It Remembers
TASKS.md What you're working on and what's next
DECISIONS.md Architectural choices and why you made them
LEARNINGS.md Gotchas, bugs, things that didn't work
CONVENTIONS.md Naming patterns, code style, project rules
CONSTITUTION.md Hard rules the AI must never violate

These files version with your code in git. They load automatically at session start (via hooks in Claude Code, or manually with ctx agent for other tools). The AI reads them, cites them, and builds on them — instead of asking you to start over.

Context accumulates. Every decision you record, every lesson you capture, makes the next session smarter than the last.

Ready to get started?