jlong

A context repository is a git repo of Markdown files where you store the documents your AI needs to operate with real understanding. Product vision, PRDs, feature specs, customer profiles, glossary — all versioned and reviewable, where both humans and agents can find it.

Why Markdown in git instead of Notion? Local files are instant (no MCP latency). Markdown is token-efficient — no rich-text metadata, just content. And git gives you versioning, branching, and reviewable PRs for free. When you update five documents as part of a product pivot, that's one PR you can roll back.

Then you add an AGENTS.md to the root of your project that links to the important documents. Think of it as a table of contents for your AI. When an agent picks up a task, it reads AGENTS.md first, then follows the links as needed.

Most AGENTS.md files try to do too much. Treat yours as a table of contents — link to essential docs, let your LLM know where to look, and keep the file itself short and scannable.

There are some activities that make everything else more productive. I call these sweeping activities. The idea is that these activities straighten out the work, make the goals concrete, and make it easier to get everything done.

I'm actually looking for something that allows me to teach my own courses.