What to expect from Archcore
Archcore makes recorded project context available to your agent. You can ask it to read, create, update, and connect documents; supported lifecycle hooks also supply context during a session.
Automatic behavior depends on your agent’s capabilities and configuration. MCP access alone does not provide lifecycle hooks or slash commands.
What should change in the agent’s work
Section titled “What should change in the agent’s work”The agent can use your recorded decisions when changing code. It has less to reconstruct from the implementation or ask you to explain again.
| Situation | Observable sign that context is being used |
|---|---|
| You start a task in a familiar module | The agent reads and names the relevant rules or decisions before proposing changes |
| A request conflicts with an accepted decision | The agent explains the conflict and asks you to resolve it before changing that decision |
| You record a new constraint | A later task retrieves the record and explains how it affects the proposed code |
| You continue in a new session | The agent reads saved decisions and plans, distinguishes drafts from accepted records, and identifies unfinished work |
These are behaviors to look for, not guaranteed outcomes. A document on disk or a delivered hook message does not prove the agent read or applied it. Ask it to cite the relevant record and explain the consequence for the task; review the resulting code as well.
The long-term aim is to retain useful knowledge between tasks. Outdated or contradictory context still needs correction; adding documents alone does not establish better code or fewer mistakes.
When a session starts
Section titled “When a session starts”With a working session-start hook, the agent receives a bounded recap: document counts, the current branch, work in progress, recent accepted documents, tags, and relation counts.
The recap tells the agent what context exists. It does not load every document’s complete text. To answer a specific project question, the agent can search and read the relevant documents through MCP.
Before the agent edits code
Section titled “Before the agent edits code”On hosts that support pre-edit context injection, Archcore can supply the rules and specifications associated with the file about to change. That context is advisory: it informs the agent but does not prove that the resulting code follows it.
GitHub Copilot CLI’s pre-write event accepts a permission decision but cannot receive this context. On Codex CLI, hooks need its feature flag and a trusted project configuration; Windows hooks are unavailable in the documented integration.
If automatic injection is unavailable, ask the agent to read the relevant context explicitly.
When you record or change a document
Section titled “When you record or change a document”Ask for the outcome you need, such as recording a decision or planning a feature. On plugin hosts, the Archcore commands provide shortcuts for these requests.
Document changes go through MCP tools. With a working write guard, direct edits to .archcore/ documents are blocked so the agent uses those tools. MCP mutations validate document structure; post-write hooks can also report precision findings and documents affected by a relation cascade.
| Mechanism | Effect |
|---|---|
| Write guard | Can block a direct document write |
| MCP validation | Can reject an invalid document mutation |
| Context injection | Supplies information before an edit |
| Post-write findings | Report issues for review; do not undo the write |
The connection guide explains the mechanisms and host configuration.
What you still decide
Section titled “What you still decide”Review proposed documents before accepting them. A draft is work in progress; accepted records your approval. A template or a successful validation check does not establish that the content is true.
Archcore does not resolve conflicting decisions automatically. Relations can record a contradiction or replacement, but you and the agent still need to read the evidence and record the resolution.
Your host supplies execution tools and permissions. Archcore supplies project context; a planning command does not replace your host’s controls or establish the correctness of generated code.
Check that it works
Section titled “Check that it works”Ask the agent to read a known document and cite its path. Inspect the tool activity for the retrieval. If the record is missing or a hook does not run, use Troubleshooting.
Next steps
Section titled “Next steps”- Try the quick start to observe context retrieval across sessions.
- Understand project context to learn how documents and relations are organized.