NALU/CLAUDE.md

Project instructions

ctx — use before reading files

This project has ctx available in PATH. Use it to understand the codebase before reading files directly. It produces compact markdown summaries that cost far fewer tokens than raw file content.

When to use

Always use ctx first when you need to:

• Understand project structure → ctx csharp project
• Understand a file's structure → ctx csharp outline <file>
• Check build errors → ctx csharp errors
• Understand git state → ctx git
• Detect what stack this project uses → ctx auto detect

Workflow

1. Start of session: run ctx auto detect to see what's here, then ctx csharp project for an overview.
2. Before reading a file: run ctx csharp outline <file> first. Only read the full file if the outline isn't enough (e.g., you need to see method body logic).
3. After making changes: run ctx csharp errors instead of dotnet build — the output is pre-filtered to only relevant diagnostics.
4. Before committing: run ctx git for a compact diff summary.

Available commands

ctx auto detect              # detect stack(s) in current directory
ctx auto project             # run project summary for all detected stacks

ctx csharp project           # .NET solution overview (projects, refs, packages)
ctx csharp outline <file.cs> # file structure without method bodies
ctx csharp errors            # filtered dotnet build output (errors + top warnings)

ctx git                      # branch, status, recent commits, diff summary

Important

• ctx output is a summary, not the full picture. If you need implementation details (method bodies, exact logic, specific lines), read the file directly.
• Do not run ctx commands that don't match the project stack. Use ctx auto detect if unsure.
• ctx csharp errors assumes dotnet restore was already run. If you get restore errors, run dotnet restore first, then ctx csharp errors.