Tao Context Mode

tao-context-mode

The build/expand pattern: callers consume the compact CodebaseIndex (path + summary + symbols) as their working context, and only expand() files actually needed for the current task.

When to trigger

• TAO session starts and the planner needs codebase awareness without flooding the model context window.
• A new tao-loop iteration is about to start and the autoresearch lens flags rising tokens/turn.
• An agent is asked "where does X live?" and needs a low-cost lookup before reading.

Public API

from app.server.tao_context_mode import build_index, expand, stats

index = build_index(Path("/repo"))
content = expand(index, "app/server/main.py")
print(stats(index))   # files_indexed, bytes_indexed, expansions, hit_rate

Validation harness

python scripts/validate_tao_context_mode.py --repo-root . compares context-mode against the vcc baseline (RA-1967 deterministic compactor) — NOT against the raw harness. The board memo threshold is median ≥40% additional reduction over vcc. Per the 2026-05-05 board verdict, falling short is WATCH not REJECT — the infrastructure ships, the experiment log gates merge.

Out of scope

• Semantic summarisation / LLM-based file synopsis (kept algorithmic on purpose).
• Cross-repo or cross-session indexing (one CodebaseIndex per repo, in-memory).
• Runtime invalidation — sha256 drift logs a warning; re-run build_index to refresh.