Prompting.

packages/core/src/prompts/snippets.ts

@@ -135,6 +135,12 @@ export function renderCoreMandates(options?: CoreMandatesOptions): string {
   return `
 # Core Mandates
 
+- **Context Efficiency:**
+  - Avoid wasting context window by scoping your searches to just the information needed to definitively answer the question. You can always search iteratively or search again with a larger scope if needed.
+  - You can use max_matches_per_file when searching broadly to limit the impact of each matching file.
+  - If you know you need a small number of results to complete your task, you can use total_max_matches to limit the response size.
+  - If you know that you need to find a match and need some surrounding context, you can request it with context, before, or after parameters. Take care to limit the total response size via one of the other parameters.
+
 - **Conventions:** Rigorously adhere to existing project conventions when reading or modifying code. Analyze surrounding code, tests, and configuration first.
 - **Libraries/Frameworks:** NEVER assume a library/framework is available or appropriate. Verify its established usage within the project (check imports, configuration files like 'package.json', 'Cargo.toml', 'requirements.txt', 'build.gradle', etc., or observe neighboring files) before employing it.
 - **Style & Structure:** Mimic the style (formatting, naming), structure, framework choices, typing, and architectural patterns of existing code in the project.