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Get Started Free →Recognize, diagnose, and mitigate patterns of context degradation in agent systems.
SkillScore100/100
Test results 100
3/3 safety checks passed
55%100%of test cases passed +45 pts
Passed 22 of 22 test cases with the skill, and 12 of 22 without it.
10 fixed12 passed either way0 still failing0 broke
One test taskWe want to pass 20 background documents into a single prompt for complete context coverage, assuming the model will simply ignore irrelevant parts. Explain why adding extra semi-relevant reference material harms performance even when the correct answer is present.
Adds every file the skill has, pinned so you can update it. No account needed.
pip install "decimalai>=0.15"
decimalai skills add aiskillstore-context-degradation
claude --plugin-dir "$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel 2>/dev/null || pwd)/.agents"The same install from Python, for a notebook or a setup script.
pip install "decimalai>=0.15"from decimalai import skillpkg
# Writes .agents/skills and .decimal/skills.toml. Safe to run twice.
result = skillpkg.add("aiskillstore-context-degradation")
if result.exit_code:
raise SystemExit(result.problems)
print("Added. Start Claude Code with the command below.")claude --plugin-dir "$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel 2>/dev/null || pwd)/.agents"Type these in a Claude Code session. No account or API key. It writes the skill and any files it bundles, and asks first when its safety rating isn't Passed.
/plugin marketplace add decimal-labs/decimalai-claude-plugins
/plugin install decimalai@decimalai/decimalai:install aiskillstore-context-degradationThe plugin needs python3 and curl on your machine.
No Python or account. Claude Code picks it up in its next session.
curl -fsSL --create-dirs -o .claude/skills/aiskillstore-context-degradation/SKILL.md https://app.decimal.ai/s/aiskillstore-context-degradation/SKILL.md.claude/skills/aiskillstore-context-degradation/SKILL.mdThis gets SKILL.md only. The skill's 3 other files are not included.
agent_config() hands your agent the skill. With no DecimalAI key it reads your project's files and sends nothing. Needs SDK 0.27 or newer.
pip install "decimalai[claude-agent-sdk]"
decimalai skills add aiskillstore-context-degradationimport asyncio
from claude_agent_sdk import ClaudeAgentOptions
from decimalai.claude_agent_sdk import agent_config
# With no DECIMAL_API_KEY this reads the skills your project lists, from disk.
support = agent_config("support", fallback="You are a helpful agent.")
async def main():
question = "Hello!"
async with support.run(question) as run: # one user message, one run
async for message in run.query(options=ClaudeAgentOptions(max_turns=6)):
print(message)
# In a notebook or async code: await main()
asyncio.run(main())Prefer its own loader? ClaudeAgentOptions(plugins=[skills_plugin()], skills="all") reads the same folder. Use one or the other: a skill delivered both ways reaches the prompt twice.
The same install from Python, for a notebook or a setup script. agent_config() hands your agent the skill. With no DecimalAI key it reads your project's files and sends nothing. Needs SDK 0.27 or newer.
pip install "decimalai[claude-agent-sdk]"from decimalai import skillpkg
# Writes .agents/skills and .decimal/skills.toml. Safe to run twice.
result = skillpkg.add("aiskillstore-context-degradation")
if result.exit_code:
raise SystemExit(result.problems)
import asyncio
from claude_agent_sdk import ClaudeAgentOptions
from decimalai.claude_agent_sdk import agent_config
# With no DECIMAL_API_KEY this reads the skills your project lists, from disk.
support = agent_config("support", fallback="You are a helpful agent.")
async def main():
question = "Hello!"
async with support.run(question) as run: # one user message, one run
async for message in run.query(options=ClaudeAgentOptions(max_turns=6)):
print(message)
# In a notebook or async code: await main()
asyncio.run(main())Prefer its own loader? ClaudeAgentOptions(plugins=[skills_plugin()], skills="all") reads the same folder. Use one or the other: a skill delivered both ways reaches the prompt twice.
No DecimalAI package. The whole skill goes in every prompt, and nothing pins or updates it.
.agents/skills/aiskillstore-context-degradation/SKILL.mdimport asyncio
from pathlib import Path
from claude_agent_sdk import ClaudeAgentOptions, query
skill = Path(".agents/skills/aiskillstore-context-degradation/SKILL.md").read_text()
options = ClaudeAgentOptions(system_prompt=f"You are a helpful agent.\n\n{skill}", max_turns=6)
async def main():
async for message in query(prompt="Hello!", options=options):
print(message)
# In a notebook or async code: await main()
asyncio.run(main())This gets SKILL.md only. The skill's 3 other files are not included.
agent_config() hands your agent the skill. With no DecimalAI key it reads your project's files and sends nothing. Needs SDK 0.27 or newer.
pip install "decimalai[openai-agents]"
decimalai skills add aiskillstore-context-degradationfrom agents import Agent, Runner
from decimalai.openai_agents import agent_config
# With no DECIMAL_API_KEY this reads the skills your project lists, from disk.
support = agent_config("support", fallback="You are a helpful agent.")
agent = Agent(
name=support.name,
instructions=support.instructions, # your prompt, then the skill list
tools=[*support.tools], # your tools, then load_skill
)
# In a notebook or async code: result = await Runner.run(agent, "Hello!")
result = Runner.run_sync(agent, "Hello!")Using SandboxAgent? capabilities=[Shell(), decimalai.openai_agents.sandbox_skills()] points its own loader at the same folder.
The same install from Python, for a notebook or a setup script. agent_config() hands your agent the skill. With no DecimalAI key it reads your project's files and sends nothing. Needs SDK 0.27 or newer.
pip install "decimalai[openai-agents]"from decimalai import skillpkg
# Writes .agents/skills and .decimal/skills.toml. Safe to run twice.
result = skillpkg.add("aiskillstore-context-degradation")
if result.exit_code:
raise SystemExit(result.problems)
from agents import Agent, Runner
from decimalai.openai_agents import agent_config
# With no DECIMAL_API_KEY this reads the skills your project lists, from disk.
support = agent_config("support", fallback="You are a helpful agent.")
agent = Agent(
name=support.name,
instructions=support.instructions, # your prompt, then the skill list
tools=[*support.tools], # your tools, then load_skill
)
# In a notebook or async code: result = await Runner.run(agent, "Hello!")
result = Runner.run_sync(agent, "Hello!")Using SandboxAgent? capabilities=[Shell(), decimalai.openai_agents.sandbox_skills()] points its own loader at the same folder.
No DecimalAI package. The whole skill goes in every prompt, and nothing pins or updates it.
.agents/skills/aiskillstore-context-degradation/SKILL.mdfrom pathlib import Path
from agents import Agent, Runner
skill = Path(".agents/skills/aiskillstore-context-degradation/SKILL.md").read_text()
agent = Agent(name="support", instructions=f"You are a helpful agent.\n\n{skill}")
# In a notebook or async code: result = await Runner.run(agent, "Hello!")
result = Runner.run_sync(agent, "Hello!")This gets SKILL.md only. The skill's 3 other files are not included.
agent_config() hands your agent the skill. With no DecimalAI key it reads your project's files and sends nothing. Needs SDK 0.27 or newer.
pip install "decimalai[openai]"
decimalai skills add aiskillstore-context-degradationimport json
from openai import OpenAI
from decimalai.openai import agent_config
client = OpenAI()
# With no DECIMAL_API_KEY this reads the skills your project lists, from disk.
support = agent_config("support", fallback="You are a helpful agent.")
def lookup_order(order_id: str) -> str:
return f"Order {order_id} shipped yesterday."
# Your tools, as Chat Completions takes them, and what answers each.
TOOLS = [{"type": "function", "function": {
"name": "lookup_order",
"description": "Look up the status of an order.",
"parameters": {"type": "object", "properties": {"order_id": {"type": "string"}},
"required": ["order_id"]},
}}]
FUNCTIONS = {"lookup_order": lookup_order}
question = "Where is order A1001?"
with support.run(question) as run: # one user message, one run
# run.system is your prompt, then the skill list.
messages = [{"role": "system", "content": run.system}, run.message]
while True:
reply = client.chat.completions.create(
model="gpt-5.4-mini",
messages=messages,
tools=[*TOOLS, *run.tools], # your tools, then load_skill
).choices[0].message
messages.append(reply)
if not reply.tool_calls:
break
for call in reply.tool_calls:
# load_skill is answered by the run; your own tools by FUNCTIONS.
function = FUNCTIONS.get(call.function.name)
messages.append(run.tool_result(call) or {
"role": "tool", "tool_call_id": call.id,
"content": function(**json.loads(call.function.arguments)) if function
else f"There is no tool named {call.function.name!r}.",
})
print(reply.content)
# The Responses API takes run.response_tools instead of run.tools.The same install from Python, for a notebook or a setup script. agent_config() hands your agent the skill. With no DecimalAI key it reads your project's files and sends nothing. Needs SDK 0.27 or newer.
pip install "decimalai[openai]"from decimalai import skillpkg
# Writes .agents/skills and .decimal/skills.toml. Safe to run twice.
result = skillpkg.add("aiskillstore-context-degradation")
if result.exit_code:
raise SystemExit(result.problems)
import json
from openai import OpenAI
from decimalai.openai import agent_config
client = OpenAI()
# With no DECIMAL_API_KEY this reads the skills your project lists, from disk.
support = agent_config("support", fallback="You are a helpful agent.")
def lookup_order(order_id: str) -> str:
return f"Order {order_id} shipped yesterday."
# Your tools, as Chat Completions takes them, and what answers each.
TOOLS = [{"type": "function", "function": {
"name": "lookup_order",
"description": "Look up the status of an order.",
"parameters": {"type": "object", "properties": {"order_id": {"type": "string"}},
"required": ["order_id"]},
}}]
FUNCTIONS = {"lookup_order": lookup_order}
question = "Where is order A1001?"
with support.run(question) as run: # one user message, one run
# run.system is your prompt, then the skill list.
messages = [{"role": "system", "content": run.system}, run.message]
while True:
reply = client.chat.completions.create(
model="gpt-5.4-mini",
messages=messages,
tools=[*TOOLS, *run.tools], # your tools, then load_skill
).choices[0].message
messages.append(reply)
if not reply.tool_calls:
break
for call in reply.tool_calls:
# load_skill is answered by the run; your own tools by FUNCTIONS.
function = FUNCTIONS.get(call.function.name)
messages.append(run.tool_result(call) or {
"role": "tool", "tool_call_id": call.id,
"content": function(**json.loads(call.function.arguments)) if function
else f"There is no tool named {call.function.name!r}.",
})
print(reply.content)
# The Responses API takes run.response_tools instead of run.tools.No DecimalAI package. The whole skill goes in every prompt, and nothing pins or updates it.
.agents/skills/aiskillstore-context-degradation/SKILL.mdfrom pathlib import Path
from openai import OpenAI
client = OpenAI()
skill = Path(".agents/skills/aiskillstore-context-degradation/SKILL.md").read_text()
reply = client.chat.completions.create(
model="gpt-5.4-mini",
messages=[
{"role": "system", "content": f"You are a helpful agent.\n\n{skill}"},
{"role": "user", "content": "Hello!"},
],
).choices[0].messageThis gets SKILL.md only. The skill's 3 other files are not included.
agent_config() hands your agent the skill. With no DecimalAI key it reads your project's files and sends nothing. Needs SDK 0.27 or newer.
pip install "decimalai[anthropic]"
decimalai skills add aiskillstore-context-degradationimport anthropic
from decimalai.anthropic import agent_config
client = anthropic.Anthropic()
# With no DECIMAL_API_KEY this reads the skills your project lists, from disk.
support = agent_config("support", fallback="You are a helpful agent.")
question = "Hello!"
with support.run(question) as run: # one user message, one run
answer = client.beta.messages.tool_runner(
model="claude-haiku-5-5",
max_tokens=4096,
system=run.system, # your prompt, then the skill list
tools=[*run.tools], # your tools, then load_skill
messages=[{"role": "user", "content": question}],
).until_done()The same install from Python, for a notebook or a setup script. agent_config() hands your agent the skill. With no DecimalAI key it reads your project's files and sends nothing. Needs SDK 0.27 or newer.
pip install "decimalai[anthropic]"from decimalai import skillpkg
# Writes .agents/skills and .decimal/skills.toml. Safe to run twice.
result = skillpkg.add("aiskillstore-context-degradation")
if result.exit_code:
raise SystemExit(result.problems)
import anthropic
from decimalai.anthropic import agent_config
client = anthropic.Anthropic()
# With no DECIMAL_API_KEY this reads the skills your project lists, from disk.
support = agent_config("support", fallback="You are a helpful agent.")
question = "Hello!"
with support.run(question) as run: # one user message, one run
answer = client.beta.messages.tool_runner(
model="claude-haiku-5-5",
max_tokens=4096,
system=run.system, # your prompt, then the skill list
tools=[*run.tools], # your tools, then load_skill
messages=[{"role": "user", "content": question}],
).until_done()No DecimalAI package. The whole skill goes in every prompt, and nothing pins or updates it.
.agents/skills/aiskillstore-context-degradation/SKILL.mdfrom pathlib import Path
import anthropic
client = anthropic.Anthropic()
skill = Path(".agents/skills/aiskillstore-context-degradation/SKILL.md").read_text()
reply = client.messages.create(
model="claude-haiku-5-5",
max_tokens=4096,
system=f"You are a helpful agent.\n\n{skill}",
messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Hello!"}],
)This gets SKILL.md only. The skill's 3 other files are not included.
agent_config() hands your agent the skill. With no DecimalAI key it reads your project's files and sends nothing. Needs SDK 0.27 or newer.
pip install "decimalai[google-genai]"
decimalai skills add aiskillstore-context-degradationfrom google import genai
from google.genai import types
from decimalai.google_genai import agent_config
client = genai.Client()
# With no DECIMAL_API_KEY this reads the skills your project lists, from disk.
support = agent_config("support", fallback="You are a helpful agent.")
def lookup_order(order_id: str) -> str:
return f"Order {order_id} shipped yesterday."
# Your functions, as declarations for the model, and what answers each.
TOOLS = [{"function_declarations": [{
"name": "lookup_order",
"description": "Look up the status of an order.",
"parameters_json_schema": {"type": "object", "properties": {"order_id": {"type": "string"}},
"required": ["order_id"]},
}]}]
FUNCTIONS = {"lookup_order": lookup_order}
question = "Where is order A1001?"
with support.run(question) as run: # one user message, one run
config = types.GenerateContentConfig(
system_instruction=run.system, # your prompt, then the skill list
tools=[*TOOLS, *run.tool_params], # your functions, then load_skill
)
contents = [{"role": "user", "parts": [{"text": run.message}]}]
while True:
response = client.models.generate_content(
model="gemini-3.5-flash", contents=contents, config=config,
)
if not response.function_calls:
break
contents.append(response.candidates[0].content)
parts = []
for call in response.function_calls:
# load_skill is answered by the run; your own functions by FUNCTIONS.
# A loop of your own rather than automatic function calling, which
# raises KeyError when the model asks for a function you did not pass.
function = FUNCTIONS.get(call.name)
parts.append(run.tool_result(call) or {"function_response": {
"name": call.name, "id": call.id,
"response": {"result": function(**(call.args or {})) if function
else f"There is no function named {call.name!r}."},
}})
contents.append({"role": "user", "parts": parts})
print(response.text)The same install from Python, for a notebook or a setup script. agent_config() hands your agent the skill. With no DecimalAI key it reads your project's files and sends nothing. Needs SDK 0.27 or newer.
pip install "decimalai[google-genai]"from decimalai import skillpkg
# Writes .agents/skills and .decimal/skills.toml. Safe to run twice.
result = skillpkg.add("aiskillstore-context-degradation")
if result.exit_code:
raise SystemExit(result.problems)
from google import genai
from google.genai import types
from decimalai.google_genai import agent_config
client = genai.Client()
# With no DECIMAL_API_KEY this reads the skills your project lists, from disk.
support = agent_config("support", fallback="You are a helpful agent.")
def lookup_order(order_id: str) -> str:
return f"Order {order_id} shipped yesterday."
# Your functions, as declarations for the model, and what answers each.
TOOLS = [{"function_declarations": [{
"name": "lookup_order",
"description": "Look up the status of an order.",
"parameters_json_schema": {"type": "object", "properties": {"order_id": {"type": "string"}},
"required": ["order_id"]},
}]}]
FUNCTIONS = {"lookup_order": lookup_order}
question = "Where is order A1001?"
with support.run(question) as run: # one user message, one run
config = types.GenerateContentConfig(
system_instruction=run.system, # your prompt, then the skill list
tools=[*TOOLS, *run.tool_params], # your functions, then load_skill
)
contents = [{"role": "user", "parts": [{"text": run.message}]}]
while True:
response = client.models.generate_content(
model="gemini-3.5-flash", contents=contents, config=config,
)
if not response.function_calls:
break
contents.append(response.candidates[0].content)
parts = []
for call in response.function_calls:
# load_skill is answered by the run; your own functions by FUNCTIONS.
# A loop of your own rather than automatic function calling, which
# raises KeyError when the model asks for a function you did not pass.
function = FUNCTIONS.get(call.name)
parts.append(run.tool_result(call) or {"function_response": {
"name": call.name, "id": call.id,
"response": {"result": function(**(call.args or {})) if function
else f"There is no function named {call.name!r}."},
}})
contents.append({"role": "user", "parts": parts})
print(response.text)No DecimalAI package. The whole skill goes in every prompt, and nothing pins or updates it.
.agents/skills/aiskillstore-context-degradation/SKILL.mdfrom pathlib import Path
from google import genai
from google.genai import types
client = genai.Client()
skill = Path(".agents/skills/aiskillstore-context-degradation/SKILL.md").read_text()
response = client.models.generate_content(
model="gemini-3.5-flash",
contents="Hello!",
config=types.GenerateContentConfig(system_instruction=f"You are a helpful agent.\n\n{skill}"),
)This gets SKILL.md only. The skill's 3 other files are not included.
agent_config() hands your agent the skill. With no DecimalAI key it reads your project's files and sends nothing. Needs SDK 0.27 or newer.
pip install "decimalai[langchain]" langchain-openai
decimalai skills add aiskillstore-context-degradationfrom langchain.agents import create_agent
from decimalai.langchain import agent_config
# With no DECIMAL_API_KEY this reads the skills your project lists, from disk.
support = agent_config("support", fallback="You are a helpful agent.")
agent = create_agent(
"openai:gpt-5.4-mini",
tools=[], # your tools; the middleware adds load_skill
middleware=[support.middleware], # your prompt, the skill list and load_skill
)
result = agent.invoke({"messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Hello!"}]})The same install from Python, for a notebook or a setup script. agent_config() hands your agent the skill. With no DecimalAI key it reads your project's files and sends nothing. Needs SDK 0.27 or newer.
pip install "decimalai[langchain]" langchain-openaifrom decimalai import skillpkg
# Writes .agents/skills and .decimal/skills.toml. Safe to run twice.
result = skillpkg.add("aiskillstore-context-degradation")
if result.exit_code:
raise SystemExit(result.problems)
from langchain.agents import create_agent
from decimalai.langchain import agent_config
# With no DECIMAL_API_KEY this reads the skills your project lists, from disk.
support = agent_config("support", fallback="You are a helpful agent.")
agent = create_agent(
"openai:gpt-5.4-mini",
tools=[], # your tools; the middleware adds load_skill
middleware=[support.middleware], # your prompt, the skill list and load_skill
)
result = agent.invoke({"messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Hello!"}]})No DecimalAI package. The whole skill goes in every prompt, and nothing pins or updates it.
.agents/skills/aiskillstore-context-degradation/SKILL.mdfrom pathlib import Path
from langchain.agents import create_agent
skill = Path(".agents/skills/aiskillstore-context-degradation/SKILL.md").read_text()
agent = create_agent("openai:gpt-5.4-mini", tools=[], system_prompt=f"You are a helpful agent.\n\n{skill}")
result = agent.invoke({"messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Hello!"}]})This gets SKILL.md only. The skill's 3 other files are not included.
CrewAI's own skill loader reads the installed folder. No DecimalAI account needed.
pip install "decimalai>=0.16" "crewai>=1.15.27"
decimalai skills add aiskillstore-context-degradationimport decimalai.crewai
from crewai import Agent, Crew, Task
agent = Agent(
role="Support", goal="Help the customer", backstory="A support agent.",
llm=llm, # your own CrewAI LLM
skills=decimalai.crewai.skills(), # the installed folder
tools=decimalai.crewai.skill_tools(), # reads a skill's files, runs its scripts
)
task = Task(description="Hello!", expected_output="an answer", agent=agent)
Crew(agents=[agent], tasks=[task]).kickoff()The same install from Python, for a notebook or a setup script. CrewAI's own skill loader reads the installed folder. No DecimalAI account needed.
pip install "decimalai>=0.16" "crewai>=1.15.27"from decimalai import skillpkg
# Writes .agents/skills and .decimal/skills.toml. Safe to run twice.
result = skillpkg.add("aiskillstore-context-degradation")
if result.exit_code:
raise SystemExit(result.problems)
import decimalai.crewai
from crewai import Agent, Crew, Task
agent = Agent(
role="Support", goal="Help the customer", backstory="A support agent.",
llm=llm, # your own CrewAI LLM
skills=decimalai.crewai.skills(), # the installed folder
tools=decimalai.crewai.skill_tools(), # reads a skill's files, runs its scripts
)
task = Task(description="Hello!", expected_output="an answer", agent=agent)
Crew(agents=[agent], tasks=[task]).kickoff()No DecimalAI package. CrewAI's own loader reads the folder, and nothing pins or updates it.
.agents/skills/aiskillstore-context-degradation/SKILL.mdfrom pathlib import Path
from crewai import Agent, Crew, Task
agent = Agent(
role="Support", goal="Help the customer", backstory="A support agent.",
llm=llm, # your own CrewAI LLM
skills=[Path(".agents/skills")],
)
task = Task(description="Hello!", expected_output="an answer", agent=agent)
Crew(agents=[agent], tasks=[task]).kickoff()This gets SKILL.md only. The skill's 3 other files are not included.
agent_config() hands your agent the skill. With no DecimalAI key it reads your project's files and sends nothing. Needs SDK 0.27 or newer.
pip install "decimalai[adk]"
decimalai skills add aiskillstore-context-degradationfrom decimalai.adk import DecimalAIPlugin, agent_config
from google.adk.agents import LlmAgent
from google.adk.apps import App
# With no DECIMAL_API_KEY this reads the skills your project lists, from disk.
support = agent_config("support", fallback="You are a helpful agent.")
agent = LlmAgent(
name="support", # ADK needs a Python identifier
model="gemini-3.5-flash",
instruction=support.instruction, # your prompt, then the skill list
tools=[*support.tools], # your tools, then load_skill
)
# DecimalAIPlugin makes each invocation of runners built from this App one trace.
app = App(name="support", root_agent=agent, plugins=[DecimalAIPlugin()])Prefer ADK's own loader? SkillToolset(skills=decimalai.adk.skills(), ...) reads the same folder. Use one or the other: a skill delivered both ways reaches the prompt twice.
The same install from Python, for a notebook or a setup script. agent_config() hands your agent the skill. With no DecimalAI key it reads your project's files and sends nothing. Needs SDK 0.27 or newer.
pip install "decimalai[adk]"from decimalai import skillpkg
# Writes .agents/skills and .decimal/skills.toml. Safe to run twice.
result = skillpkg.add("aiskillstore-context-degradation")
if result.exit_code:
raise SystemExit(result.problems)
from decimalai.adk import DecimalAIPlugin, agent_config
from google.adk.agents import LlmAgent
from google.adk.apps import App
# With no DECIMAL_API_KEY this reads the skills your project lists, from disk.
support = agent_config("support", fallback="You are a helpful agent.")
agent = LlmAgent(
name="support", # ADK needs a Python identifier
model="gemini-3.5-flash",
instruction=support.instruction, # your prompt, then the skill list
tools=[*support.tools], # your tools, then load_skill
)
# DecimalAIPlugin makes each invocation of runners built from this App one trace.
app = App(name="support", root_agent=agent, plugins=[DecimalAIPlugin()])Prefer ADK's own loader? SkillToolset(skills=decimalai.adk.skills(), ...) reads the same folder. Use one or the other: a skill delivered both ways reaches the prompt twice.
No DecimalAI package. The whole skill goes in every prompt, and nothing pins or updates it.
.agents/skills/aiskillstore-context-degradation/SKILL.mdfrom pathlib import Path
from google.adk.agents import LlmAgent
skill = Path(".agents/skills/aiskillstore-context-degradation/SKILL.md").read_text()
agent = LlmAgent(
name="support",
model="gemini-3.5-flash",
instruction=lambda context: f"You are a helpful agent.\n\n{skill}",
)This gets SKILL.md only. The skill's 3 other files are not included.
agent_config() hands your agent the skill. With no DecimalAI key it reads your project's files and sends nothing. Needs SDK 0.27 or newer.
pip install "decimalai[pydantic-ai]"
decimalai skills add aiskillstore-context-degradationfrom pydantic_ai import Agent
from decimalai.pydantic_ai import agent_config
# With no DECIMAL_API_KEY this reads the skills your project lists, from disk.
support = agent_config("support", fallback="You are a helpful agent.")
agent = Agent(
"openai:gpt-4o-mini",
name=support.name,
tools=[], # your tools; the capability adds load_skill
capabilities=[support], # your prompt, the skill list and load_skill
)
# In a notebook or async code: result = await agent.run("Hello!")
result = agent.run_sync("Hello!")On the Pydantic AI harness, decimalai.pydantic_ai_harness.skills(project) uses its own loader instead.
The same install from Python, for a notebook or a setup script. agent_config() hands your agent the skill. With no DecimalAI key it reads your project's files and sends nothing. Needs SDK 0.27 or newer.
pip install "decimalai[pydantic-ai]"from decimalai import skillpkg
# Writes .agents/skills and .decimal/skills.toml. Safe to run twice.
result = skillpkg.add("aiskillstore-context-degradation")
if result.exit_code:
raise SystemExit(result.problems)
from pydantic_ai import Agent
from decimalai.pydantic_ai import agent_config
# With no DECIMAL_API_KEY this reads the skills your project lists, from disk.
support = agent_config("support", fallback="You are a helpful agent.")
agent = Agent(
"openai:gpt-4o-mini",
name=support.name,
tools=[], # your tools; the capability adds load_skill
capabilities=[support], # your prompt, the skill list and load_skill
)
# In a notebook or async code: result = await agent.run("Hello!")
result = agent.run_sync("Hello!")On the Pydantic AI harness, decimalai.pydantic_ai_harness.skills(project) uses its own loader instead.
No DecimalAI package. The whole skill goes in every prompt, and nothing pins or updates it.
.agents/skills/aiskillstore-context-degradation/SKILL.mdfrom pathlib import Path
from pydantic_ai import Agent
skill = Path(".agents/skills/aiskillstore-context-degradation/SKILL.md").read_text()
agent = Agent("openai:gpt-4o-mini", instructions=f"You are a helpful agent.\n\n{skill}")
# In a notebook or async code: result = await agent.run("Hello!")
result = agent.run_sync("Hello!")This gets SKILL.md only. The skill's 3 other files are not included.
Deep Agents' own skill loader reads the installed folder. No DecimalAI account needed.
pip install "decimalai>=0.16" deepagents
decimalai skills add aiskillstore-context-degradationimport decimalai.deepagents
from deepagents import create_deep_agent
agent = create_deep_agent(model=model, **decimalai.deepagents.skills())
agent.invoke({"messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Hello!"}]})The default backend reads files but has no shell. To run a skill's scripts, pass skills(backend=LocalShellBackend(...)).
The same install from Python, for a notebook or a setup script. Deep Agents' own skill loader reads the installed folder. No DecimalAI account needed.
pip install "decimalai>=0.16" deepagentsfrom decimalai import skillpkg
# Writes .agents/skills and .decimal/skills.toml. Safe to run twice.
result = skillpkg.add("aiskillstore-context-degradation")
if result.exit_code:
raise SystemExit(result.problems)
import decimalai.deepagents
from deepagents import create_deep_agent
agent = create_deep_agent(model=model, **decimalai.deepagents.skills())
agent.invoke({"messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Hello!"}]})The default backend reads files but has no shell. To run a skill's scripts, pass skills(backend=LocalShellBackend(...)).
No DecimalAI package. The whole skill goes in every prompt, and nothing pins or updates it.
.agents/skills/aiskillstore-context-degradation/SKILL.mdfrom pathlib import Path
from deepagents import create_deep_agent
skill = Path(".agents/skills/aiskillstore-context-degradation/SKILL.md").read_text()
agent = create_deep_agent(model=model, system_prompt=f"You are a helpful agent.\n\n{skill}")
agent.invoke({"messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Hello!"}]})This gets SKILL.md only. The skill's 3 other files are not included.
Its own skill loader reads the installed folder. No DecimalAI account needed.
pip install "decimalai>=0.16" agent-framework
decimalai skills add aiskillstore-context-degradationimport asyncio
from agent_framework import Agent
from decimalai.agent_framework import skills
agent = Agent(client=client, instructions="You are a helpful agent.", context_providers=[skills()])
asyncio.run(agent.run("Hello!"))It caches skills by default, so restart the process after decimalai skills update.
The same install from Python, for a notebook or a setup script. Its own skill loader reads the installed folder. No DecimalAI account needed.
pip install "decimalai>=0.16" agent-frameworkfrom decimalai import skillpkg
# Writes .agents/skills and .decimal/skills.toml. Safe to run twice.
result = skillpkg.add("aiskillstore-context-degradation")
if result.exit_code:
raise SystemExit(result.problems)
import asyncio
from agent_framework import Agent
from decimalai.agent_framework import skills
agent = Agent(client=client, instructions="You are a helpful agent.", context_providers=[skills()])
asyncio.run(agent.run("Hello!"))It caches skills by default, so restart the process after decimalai skills update.
No DecimalAI package. The whole skill goes in every prompt, and nothing pins or updates it.
.agents/skills/aiskillstore-context-degradation/SKILL.mdimport asyncio
from pathlib import Path
from agent_framework import Agent
skill = Path(".agents/skills/aiskillstore-context-degradation/SKILL.md").read_text()
agent = Agent(client=client, instructions=f"You are a helpful agent.\n\n{skill}")
asyncio.run(agent.run("Hello!"))This gets SKILL.md only. The skill's 3 other files are not included.
Strands' own skill loader reads the installed folder. No DecimalAI account needed.
pip install "decimalai>=0.16" strands-agents
decimalai skills add aiskillstore-context-degradationfrom decimalai.strands import skills
from strands import Agent
from strands.vended_tools import file_editor, shell
agent = Agent(
model=model, # always pass one: the default is Amazon Bedrock
system_prompt="You are a helpful agent.",
tools=[file_editor, shell],
plugins=[skills()],
)
agent("Hello!")Strands loads an agent's skills once, so build the agent again after decimalai skills update.
The same install from Python, for a notebook or a setup script. Strands' own skill loader reads the installed folder. No DecimalAI account needed.
pip install "decimalai>=0.16" strands-agentsfrom decimalai import skillpkg
# Writes .agents/skills and .decimal/skills.toml. Safe to run twice.
result = skillpkg.add("aiskillstore-context-degradation")
if result.exit_code:
raise SystemExit(result.problems)
from decimalai.strands import skills
from strands import Agent
from strands.vended_tools import file_editor, shell
agent = Agent(
model=model, # always pass one: the default is Amazon Bedrock
system_prompt="You are a helpful agent.",
tools=[file_editor, shell],
plugins=[skills()],
)
agent("Hello!")Strands loads an agent's skills once, so build the agent again after decimalai skills update.
No DecimalAI package. The whole skill goes in every prompt, and nothing pins or updates it.
.agents/skills/aiskillstore-context-degradation/SKILL.mdfrom pathlib import Path
from strands import Agent
skill = Path(".agents/skills/aiskillstore-context-degradation/SKILL.md").read_text()
agent = Agent(model=model, system_prompt=f"You are a helpful agent.\n\n{skill}")
agent("Hello!")This gets SKILL.md only. The skill's 3 other files are not included.
Adds every file the skill has, pinned so you can update it. Cursor, Copilot, Cline and Warp read this folder by themselves.
pip install "decimalai>=0.15"
decimalai skills add aiskillstore-context-degradationNo Python or account. Cursor, Copilot, Cline and Warp read this folder by themselves.
curl -fsSL --create-dirs -o .agents/skills/aiskillstore-context-degradation/SKILL.md https://app.decimal.ai/s/aiskillstore-context-degradation/SKILL.md.agents/skills/aiskillstore-context-degradation/SKILL.mdThis gets SKILL.md only. The skill's 3 other files are not included.
Give its text to your model as instructions. No account or package needed.
This gets SKILL.md only. The skill's 3 other files are not included.
Raw files: /s/aiskillstore-context-degradation/SKILL.md · /s/aiskillstore-context-degradation.json
Fetch the file and give its text to your model as instructions. No account or package needed.
curl -fsSL https://app.decimal.ai/s/aiskillstore-context-degradation/SKILL.mdcurl -fsSL https://app.decimal.ai/s/aiskillstore-context-degradation.jsonThis gets SKILL.md only. The skill's 3 other files are not included.
You don't need a DecimalAI account.
Saved prompts and skills, pinned versions, and traces of this skill in your runs. DecimalAI does not run your agent.
Claude Code reads files from your project, so DecimalAI config does not apply there.
On Claude Agent SDK: save the skill to an agent here, set DECIMAL_API_KEY, and the same code uses it with no command to run. Changes you save reach the next run with no redeploy.
On OpenAI Agents: save the skill to an agent here, set DECIMAL_API_KEY, and the same code uses it with no command to run. Changes you save reach the next run with no redeploy.
On OpenAI SDK: save the skill to an agent here, set DECIMAL_API_KEY, and the same code uses it with no command to run. Changes you save reach the next run with no redeploy.
On Anthropic: save the skill to an agent here, set DECIMAL_API_KEY, and the same code uses it with no command to run. Changes you save reach the next run with no redeploy.
On Gemini API: save the skill to an agent here, set DECIMAL_API_KEY, and the same code uses it with no command to run. Changes you save reach the next run with no redeploy.
On LangChain: save the skill to an agent here, set DECIMAL_API_KEY, and the same code uses it with no command to run. Changes you save reach the next run with no redeploy.
On CrewAI: set DECIMAL_API_KEY and add decimalai.init(crewai=True) to record runs and skill use. The skill version stays in your repo.
On Google ADK: save the skill to an agent here, set DECIMAL_API_KEY, and the same code uses it with no command to run. Changes you save reach the next run with no redeploy.
On Pydantic AI: save the skill to an agent here, set DECIMAL_API_KEY, and the same code uses it with no command to run. Changes you save reach the next run with no redeploy.
On Deep Agents: set DECIMAL_API_KEY and add decimalai.init(langchain=True) to record runs and skill use. The skill version stays in your repo.
On Microsoft Agent Framework: set DECIMAL_API_KEY and add decimalai.init(otel=True, agent_name="support") to record runs and skill use. The skill version stays in your repo.
On Strands: set DECIMAL_API_KEY and add decimalai.init(otel=True, agent_name="support") to record runs and skill use. The skill version stays in your repo.
Editors read files from your project, so DecimalAI config does not apply there.
Anywhere else: record a use with decimalai.log_skill_activation() inside a trace.
Language models exhibit predictable degradation patterns as context length increases. Understanding these patterns is essential for diagnosing failures and designing resilient systems. Context degradation is not a binary state but a continuum of performance degradation that manifests in several distinct ways.
Activate this skill when:
Context degradation manifests through several distinct patterns. The lost-in-middle phenomenon causes information in the center of context to receive less attention. Context poisoning occurs when errors compound through repeated reference. Context distraction happens when irrelevant information overwhelms relevant content. Context confusion arises when the model cannot determine which context applies. Context clash develops when accumulated information directly conflicts.
These patterns are predictable and can be mitigated through architectural patterns like compaction, masking, partitioning, and isolation.
The most well-documented degradation pattern is the "lost-in-middle" effect, where models demonstrate U-shaped attention curves. Information at the beginning and end of context receives reliable attention, while information buried in the middle suffers from dramatically reduced recall accuracy.
Empirical Evidence Research demonstrates that relevant information placed in the middle of context experiences 10-40% lower recall accuracy compared to the same information at the beginning or end. This is not a failure of the model but a consequence of attention mechanics and training data distributions.
Models allocate massive attention to the first token (often the BOS token) to stabilize internal states. This creates an "attention sink" that soaks up attention budget. As context grows, the limited budget is stretched thinner, and middle tokens fail to garner sufficient attention weight for reliable retrieval.
Practical Implications Design context placement with attention patterns in mind. Place critical information at the beginning or end of context. Consider whether information will be queried directly or needs to support reasoning—if the latter, placement matters less but overall signal quality matters more.
For long documents or conversations, use summary structures that surface key information at attention-favored positions. Use explicit section headers and transitions to help models navigate structure.
Context poisoning occurs when hallucinations, errors, or incorrect information enters context and compounds through repeated reference. Once poisoned, context creates feedback loops that reinforce incorrect beliefs.
How Poisoning Occurs Poisoning typically enters through three pathways. First, tool outputs may contain errors or unexpected formats that models accept as ground truth. Second, retrieved documents may contain incorrect or outdated information that models incorporate into reasoning. Third, model-generated summaries or intermediate outputs may introduce hallucinations that persist in context.
The compounding effect is severe. If an agent's goals section becomes poisoned, it develops strategies that take substantial effort to undo. Each subsequent decision references the poisoned content, reinforcing incorrect assumptions.
Detection and Recovery Watch for symptoms including degraded output quality on tasks that previously succeeded, tool misalignment where agents call wrong tools or parameters, and hallucinations that persist despite correction attempts. When these symptoms appear, consider context poisoning.
Recovery requires removing or replacing poisoned content. This may involve truncating context to before the poisoning point, explicitly noting the poisoning in context and asking for re-evaluation, or restarting with clean context and preserving only verified information.
Context distraction emerges when context grows so long that models over-focus on provided information at the expense of their training knowledge. The model attends to everything in context regardless of relevance, and this creates pressure to use provided information even when internal knowledge is more accurate.
The Distractor Effect Research shows that even a single irrelevant document in context reduces performance on tasks involving relevant documents. Multiple distractors compound degradation. The effect is not about noise in absolute terms but about attention allocation—irrelevant information competes with relevant information for limited attention budget.
Models do not have a mechanism to "skip" irrelevant context. They must attend to everything provided, and this obligation creates distraction even when the irrelevant information is clearly not useful.
Mitigation Strategies Mitigate distraction through careful curation of what enters context. Apply relevance filtering before loading retrieved documents. Use namespacing and organization to make irrelevant sections easy to ignore structurally. Consider whether information truly needs to be in context or can be accessed through tool calls instead.
Context confusion arises when irrelevant information influences responses in ways that degrade quality. This is related to distraction but distinct—confusion concerns the influence of context on model behavior rather than attention allocation.
If you put something in context, the model has to pay attention to it. The model may incorporate irrelevant information, use inappropriate tool definitions, or apply constraints that came from different contexts. Confusion is especially problematic when context contains multiple task types or when switching between tasks within a single session.
Signs of Confusion Watch for responses that address the wrong aspect of a query, tool calls that seem appropriate for a different task, or outputs that mix requirements from multiple sources. These indicate confusion about what context applies to the current situation.
Architectural Solutions Architectural solutions include explicit task segmentation where different tasks get different context windows, clear transitions between task contexts, and state management that isolates context for different objectives.
Context clash develops when accumulated information directly conflicts, creating contradictory guidance that derails reasoning. This differs from poisoning where one piece of information is incorrect—in clash, multiple correct pieces of information contradict each other.
Sources of Clash Clash commonly arises from multi-source retrieval where different sources have contradictory information, version conflicts where outdated and current information both appear in context, and perspective conflicts where different viewpoints are valid but incompatible.
Resolution Approaches Resolution approaches include explicit conflict marking that identifies contradictions and requests clarification, priority rules that establish which source takes precedence, and version filtering that excludes outdated information from context.
Research provides concrete data on degradation patterns that inform design decisions.
RULER Benchmark Findings The RULER benchmark delivers sobering findings: only 50% of models claiming 32K+ context maintain satisfactory performance at 32K tokens. GPT-5.2 shows the least degradation among current models, while many still drop 30+ points at extended contexts. Near-perfect scores on simple needle-in-haystack tests do not translate to real long-context understanding.
Model-Specific Degradation Thresholds
| Model | Degradation Onset | Severe Degradation | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPT-5.2 | ~64K tokens | ~200K tokens | Best overall degradation resistance with thinking mode |
| Claude Opus 4.5 | ~100K tokens | ~180K tokens | 200K context window, strong attention management |
| Claude Sonnet 4.5 | ~80K tokens | ~150K tokens | Optimized for agents and coding tasks |
| Gemini 3 Pro | ~500K tokens | ~800K tokens | 1M context window, native multimodality |
| Gemini 3 Flash | ~300K tokens | ~600K tokens | 3x speed of Gemini 2.5, 81.2% MMMU-Pro |
Model-Specific Behavior Patterns Different models exhibit distinct failure modes under context pressure:
These patterns inform model selection for different use cases. High-stakes tasks benefit from Claude 4.5's conservative approach or GPT-5.2's thinking mode; speed-critical tasks may use instant modes.
Research reveals several counterintuitive patterns that challenge assumptions about context management.
Shuffled Haystacks Outperform Coherent Ones Studies found that shuffled (incoherent) haystacks produce better performance than logically coherent ones. This suggests that coherent context may create false associations that confuse retrieval, while incoherent context forces models to rely on exact matching.
Single Distractors Have Outsized Impact Even a single irrelevant document reduces performance significantly. The effect is not proportional to the amount of noise but follows a step function where the presence of any distractor triggers degradation.
Needle-Question Similarity Correlation Lower similarity between needle and question pairs shows faster degradation with context length. Tasks requiring inference across dissimilar content are particularly vulnerable.
Larger context windows do not uniformly improve performance. In many cases, larger contexts create new problems that outweigh benefits.
Performance Degradation Curves Models exhibit non-linear degradation with context length. Performance remains stable up to a threshold, then degrades rapidly. The threshold varies by model and task complexity. For many models, meaningful degradation begins around 8,000-16,000 tokens even when context windows support much larger sizes.
Cost Implications Processing cost grows disproportionately with context length. The cost to process a 400K token context is not double the cost of 200K—it increases exponentially in both time and computing resources. For many applications, this makes large-context processing economically impractical.
Cognitive Load Metaphor Even with an infinite context, asking a single model to maintain consistent quality across dozens of independent tasks creates a cognitive bottleneck. The model must constantly switch context between items, maintain a comparative framework, and ensure stylistic consistency. This is not a problem that more context solves.
Four strategies address different aspects of context degradation:
Write: Save context outside the window using scratchpads, file systems, or external storage. This keeps active context lean while preserving information access.
Select: Pull relevant context into the window through retrieval, filtering, and prioritization. This addresses distraction by excluding irrelevant information.
Compress: Reduce tokens while preserving information through summarization, abstraction, and observation masking. This extends effective context capacity.
Isolate: Split context across sub-agents or sessions to prevent any single context from growing large enough to degrade. This is the most aggressive strategy but often the most effective.
Implement these strategies through specific architectural patterns. Use just-in-time context loading to retrieve information only when needed. Use observation masking to replace verbose tool outputs with compact references. Use sub-agent architectures to isolate context for different tasks. Use compaction to summarize growing context before it exceeds limits.
Example 1: Detecting Degradation
# Context grows during long conversation
turn_1: 1000 tokens
turn_5: 8000 tokens
turn_10: 25000 tokens
turn_20: 60000 tokens (degradation begins)
turn_30: 90000 tokens (significant degradation)
Example 2: Mitigating Lost-in-Middle
# Organize context with critical info at edges
[CURRENT TASK] # At start
- Goal: Generate quarterly report
- Deadline: End of week
[DETAILED CONTEXT] # Middle (less attention)
- 50 pages of data
- Multiple analysis sections
- Supporting evidence
[KEY FINDINGS] # At end
- Revenue up 15%
- Costs down 8%
- Growth in Region A
This skill builds on context-fundamentals and should be studied after understanding basic context concepts. It connects to:
Internal reference:
Related skills in this collection:
External resources:
Created: 2025-12-20 Last Updated: 2025-12-20 Author: Agent Skills for Context Engineering Contributors Version: 1.0.0
Automatically, when a task matches. Use when context grows large, agent performance degrades unexpectedly, or debugging agent failures.
Published skills whose descriptions closely match this one, with their headline benchmark lift.
Skills that do similar work, with their headline benchmark lift.
From the same source and nearby in the catalogue.