I built a GSD skill for Claude Code and it kinda changed how I work
Context rot is real and nobody talks about it. Here's the fix I've been running for 3 months straight.
Context rot is a real thing. You’re deep in a session, you’ve built context over 30 turns, and then Claude starts drifting. Subtly at first. Then catastrophically.
I got tired of it and built a skill.
What the skill does
It’s a markdown file that loads at the start of any Claude Code session. It tells Claude:
- What project we’re in
- What patterns we’re using
- What we’ve already decided (so we don’t re-decide)
- What’s off-limits (don’t touch the auth flow, we’ll get to it later)
That’s it. No magic. Just structured context delivered on purpose.
The actual implementation
The skill file lives in the project root as SKILL.md. When you start a session you just reference it:
@SKILL.md let's pick up where we left offClaude reads it, loads the context, and you’re back in the zone without the 10-minute re-orientation dance.
What changed
Three months in, my sessions are tighter. I’m not re-explaining decisions. Claude isn’t inventing patterns that don’t fit the codebase.
The skill is the context. The context is the work.
The failure mode, for the record: I forgot to update the skill file after a big refactor and spent two sessions fighting decisions that were already made. Update the skill when you ship.