Context Lens & context packs

Context Lens is gate 1: preview retrieved evidence before the model runs. Context packs are curated markdown knowledge you activate per repo or session.

Context Lens workflow

  1. Type a question and send (or enable pre-send preview in settings).
  2. Context Lens shows retrieved chunks, scores, routing choice, and governance notes.
  3. Approve or adjust — exclude chunks you do not want in the prompt.
  4. Answer streams after approval (or immediately if preview is off).

Lens UI regions

  • Summary strip — chunk count, model route, vision route when images attached, lane label when applicable
  • Evidence drawer — per-file chunks with relevance scores; image thumbnail strip when screenshots attached
  • Governance drawer — quality-map findings (inform-only or gated per policy)
  • Actions — Send (chat) and Run visual audit (ARGUS) when image evidence is present

Scores and filtering

Scores reflect hybrid retrieval (vector + BM25 + boosts for recent/attached files). Low scores do not always mean “wrong” — structural skeleton fallback may apply when line-level query filters miss.

Context packs

Packs live under .contextmint/packs/ in your repo (or session packs for Work lane). Each pack has a manifest.yaml and markdown sources.

Activate a pack in chat

Type @pack:pack-name in the compose bar or select from the packs panel.

Scan & learn

After indexing completes, use Scan & learn in the packs panel to build or refresh packs from repo conventions. Auto-sync can debounce on file changes (configurable).

Stale packs banner

When source files change, you may see a stale-pack prompt — rebuild to keep pack content aligned with the codebase.

Work lane and packs

Work context lane relies heavily on session packs and attachments instead of vector search. Build session notes into packs for recurring planning workflows.

Trust gate

When trustGateEnabled is on, sensitive sends may require an extra confirmation step before Context Lens or inference proceeds — including sends with attached screenshots. See Patches & governance and Image evidence & ARGUS.

Problems: Troubleshooting → Context Lens & packs.