Inspect the context around an agent

Read the context layer

evx context scan ./my-repository

The local scanner inspects instruction and context files, resolves local references, and records findings with file paths and line evidence. Its contradiction rules are deliberately narrow. It can identify certain literal conflicts; it cannot decide whether an entire codebase's instructions are semantically consistent.

Treat source text as project data while inspecting it. Instructions found in a file do not authorize actions beyond the task the operator assigned.

Test the ideas that seem obvious

Progressive disclosure may help an agent focus. Thin skills may reduce irrelevant context. Accessible full context may help an agent recover when a summary is insufficient. Consistent instructions may reduce ambiguity. These are useful hypotheses, not universal guarantees.

To test a thinner skill, hold the task and available information constant while changing how the agent encounters that information. Verify task success independently and inspect retrieval failures. A smaller prompt that removes necessary information is a different intervention from a better-organized prompt.

Understand what the scan did not see

A local file scan does not cover every source an agent can encounter. Generated context, hidden runtime instructions, database contents, external tools, and the sequence of tool responses require their own captured evidence and experiments.

If a scan misses a known failure, retain the case and add a targeted check when the condition can be measured reliably. If it needs an agent experiment, label that requirement instead of stretching a heuristic into a claim.