Context: what a seat knows when it arrives

Documented against OpenRig 0.5.14. Help text uses "node" where these pages say seat, for a seat's position in the running rig.

What it is for

A seat that arrives cold needs more than a prompt. Context packs are operator-authored bundles of files with a manifest; the daemon can assemble one and serve it to an agent on demand, address a single section of it by ref, or compose a situation-shaped profile from a pack's declared atoms for a fresh seat, a handover or a return from compaction. Skills are packaged, repeatable procedures loaded by name; the loadout for one working directory is inspected and reconciled with one verb. Plugins carry skills, hooks and MCP server declarations across machines and harnesses, and are inspected read-only.

The three commands you will use first

Find what context exists, then pull exactly what you need.get serves an assembled bundle or one addressed section; the file component is required even in a one-file pack.

rig context list
rig context get world-public
rig context get world-public/boundaries.md#this-pack-does-not-cover

Compose a profile for a situation. The piece set comes from the pack's manifest, never hand-authored; the token total is reported, and overage is reported rather than truncated.

rig context profile world-public --situation fresh --runtime claude-code

Inspect the skill loadout for a directory. Read-only by default; --apply writes only the managed set.

rig skill loadout --runtime claude-code
rig skill loadout --runtime codex --apply
rig skill audit

The rest of the family

rig context work-install resolves the ordered system world, topology and project world plan for a project, mission and slice, and can deliver it. rig context add selects a pack while retaining its Git source; rig context source inspect and source update manage that relationship explicitly. rig context trace walks the topology tree for one chain filename from instance to seat. rig context recap-write writes a durable seat-scoped recap beside the seat's learned file at a handover or compaction boundary. rig plugin list, show, used-by and validate inspect plugins on disk; there is no install verb in this build, and installation is an explicit copy.

The context, skill and plugin families

Command	What it does (from help)	Help source
rig context	Browse, preview, compose, and manage operator-authored context packs	context.txt
rig context add	Install a pack; --git discovers a pack in a Git repository and retains its update relationship	context.add.txt
rig context compose	Compose ordered files into a durable context-pack ref (never delivers)	context.compose.txt
rig context get	Serve the assembled bundle for an agent to load on demand (the pull verb)	context.get.txt
rig context list	List all context packs in the library	context.list.txt
rig context preview	Show the assembled bundle without delivering it	context.preview.txt
rig context profile		context.profile.txt
rig context recap-write	Write this seat's authored RECAP (decisions-with-rationale) at the handover boundary; supersedes the previous recap into the seat's chain	context.recap-write.txt
rig context rm	Remove a context pack from the library by its path-like ref	context.rm.txt
rig context show	Show pack manifest + per-file metadata	context.show.txt
rig context source	Inspect Git checkout vs served context, or explicitly fetch/merge and select an update	context.source.txt
rig context source inspect	Read local revision, edits, conflicts and selection; no fetch or consumption claim	context.source.inspect.txt
rig context source update	Explicitly fetch/merge the upstream, then select the clean pack; refuse local selection edits	context.source.update.txt
rig context sync	Re-walk discovery roots and refresh the library index	context.sync.txt
rig context trace	Walk the topology tree for one chain filename (instance -> rig -> optional pod -> optional seat), keyed off topology.root	context.trace.txt
rig context work-install	Resolve System World plus project work context and the managed skill loadout	context.work-install.txt
rig plugin	Inspect plugins (read-only)	plugin.txt
rig plugin list	List discoverable plugins (aggregated across vendored + runtime caches)	plugin.list.txt
rig plugin show	Show plugin manifest + skills + hooks + mcp servers	plugin.show.txt
rig plugin used-by	List agents referencing this plugin in their profile.uses.plugins[]	plugin.used-by.txt
rig plugin validate	Validate plugin manifest + skill frontmatter against agentskills.io spec	plugin.validate.txt
rig skill	Skill management and audit	skill.txt
rig skill audit	Read-only skill provenance and freshness audit	skill.audit.txt
rig skill loadout	Inspect or reconcile the composed managed skill loadout for one Claude/Codex working directory	skill.loadout.txt

What it does not do

• Serving a pack does not prove an agent read it. Delivery and comprehension are separate facts; look at what the agent opened.
• rig context add and source update are explicit; nothing synchronises libraries or running seats automatically.
• Pasting library content into a seat or mission file makes a second copy that drifts. Compose by ref.
• rig plugin is read-only. There is no plugin install on 0.5.14.

Where it goes next

• Continuity: the recap and restore packets a seat carries across a handover.
• Specs: where a seat's declared skills and guidance are wired into its AgentSpec.

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