3 steps to infinite context in agentic loops. Engineering timely context.

Step 1 — Proof of Work enums: verification at the moment of action

Add a required enum to any tool with preconditions: VERIFIED_SAFE_TO_PROCEED / NOT_VERIFIED_UNSAFE_TO_PROCEED. To honestly pick the good one, the assistant has to have actually done the work — right then, before the call. Hard stop if negative. The right guardrail, at the right time. Assistants naturally want to choose the positive outcome and do whats required to make a ‘honest’ selection. A surgical guardrail for agent behaviors.

Step 2 — Scratchpad decorator: extraction at the moment of transition

A new twist on an old pattern: Decorate every tool with a required task_scratchpad param. Description: “Record facts from previous tool responses. Don’t re-record what’s already noted. Raw responses will be pruned next turn.” The assistant saves signal before it disappears — at the right moment, not whenever it remembers to. multiplies time to first compression.

Step 3 — Progressive disclosure: depth on demand, when needed

A general pattern to apply. Don’t front-load everything. Summary at the top, tools to drill down, apply recursively. Example:list_servers → get_server_info → get_endpoint_info served via code execution. The assistant pulls only what the current task needs, right when it needs it. Context stays clean. Depth is always one step away.