Skip to main content
**Screenshot: The Context view in ADE’s left sidebar showing the Pack tree — a Project Pack at the top, then lane packs listed for each active lane with freshness timestamps (e.g., “Updated 4 min ago”). One lane pack should show an amber “Stale” badge. A “Refresh All” button is visible in the top-right.

​
Overview

When an AI agent starts working on your codebase, it has no idea what it is looking at. Packs solve this. A Pack is a durable, structured context bundle that captures project or lane knowledge in a machine-readable format. Packs give agents instant orientation — architecture conventions, current intent, touched files, recent checkpoints, and risk signals — without requiring the agent to re-derive this context from scratch every session. Packs are always synthesized exports, never primary storage. The authoritative source of truth is ADE’s SQLite database and your live filesystem. If a pack seems stale or incorrect, a force-refresh will derive a fresh one from the live state.

Auto-Generated

ADE generates and refreshes packs automatically on commits, PR merges, and significant file changes. No manual maintenance required.

Stable API for Agents

Packs use stable section markers that agents can rely on across regenerations. The structure never changes unexpectedly.

Layered Priority

Agents receive context in priority order: Lane Pack first, then Feature Pack, then Project Pack. More specific context always wins.

Mission & PR Integration

Packs are automatically embedded in mission planning, conflict resolution, and PR descriptions. Reviewers see context without asking for it.

​
Pack Types

The Project Pack is generated for the entire repository and serves as the foundational context layer included in every agent session.Contents:
  • Architecture overview (system components, their responsibilities, and how they interact)
  • Technology stack and dependency summary
  • Project-wide coding conventions and style guidelines
  • Key architectural decisions and their rationale
  • Risk signals (known unstable areas, files with high churn, deprecated patterns)
  • Top-level file structure with purpose annotations
Used by: CTO agent, Mission planning phase, new Lane initializations, all automationsLocation: .ade/artifacts/packs/project/current.md
A Lane Pack captures everything relevant to a specific lane’s current work. It is the most specific and highest-priority context an agent receives.Contents:
  • Lane intent (what is this lane trying to accomplish?)
  • Coding criteria (definition of done for this lane)
  • Touched files since lane creation
  • Recent checkpoint summaries
  • Current diff summary (what has changed since last commit)
  • Active conflicts with other lanes
Used by: All agents running inside the lane, Lane chat, Lane-scoped automationsLocation: .ade/artifacts/packs/lanes/<lane-id>/current.md
A Feature Pack aggregates context for a specific Linear issue or feature that may span multiple lanes. It combines relevant lane packs with the issue description and related code paths.Contents:
  • Linear issue description, acceptance criteria, and comments
  • All lane packs for lanes linked to this issue
  • Relevant code paths identified by the CTO
  • Cross-lane dependency summary
Used by: Multi-lane feature coordination, CTO feature planning, mission scope determinationLocation: .ade/artifacts/packs/features/<issue-id>/current.md
A Conflict Pack is generated when ADE detects a merge conflict between two lanes. It provides a resolution agent with everything it needs to understand and resolve the conflict without starting from scratch.Contents:
  • Both sides of the conflict (lane A intent + lane B intent)
  • The conflicting diffs, annotated with intent context
  • Previous resolution attempts (if any)
  • Suggested resolution strategy generated by the CTO
  • File ownership context (which lane “owns” each conflicting file)
Used by: Conflict resolution agents, the Conflicts view panel, PR merge rehearsalsLocation: .ade/artifacts/packs/conflicts/<conflict-id>/current.md
A Plan Pack is a versioned implementation plan created during a Mission’s planning phase. It contains the full step-by-step plan that the mission executor will follow.Contents:
  • Detailed implementation steps in order
  • Acceptance criteria for each step
  • Dependency map (which steps must complete before others can start)
  • Risk assessment for each major change
  • Estimated token budget per phase
Used by: Mission executor, Mission validation phase, post-mission reviewLocation: .ade/artifacts/packs/missions/<mission-id>/plan.md
A Mission Pack is a deterministic snapshot of a mission’s full context recorded at each phase boundary (planning complete, execution complete, validation complete). It enables mission resume after a crash, full audit, and replay.Contents:
  • Complete mission state at each phase boundary
  • All inputs consumed and all outputs produced at each phase
  • Executor decisions and their reasoning
  • Cost and token usage per phase
Used by: Mission resume, mission audit trail, History view replayLocation: .ade/artifacts/packs/missions/<mission-id>/phase-<n>.md

​
Pack Filesystem Layout

All packs live inside .ade/artifacts/packs/ at your project root. The layout is deterministic and stable. 
.ade/
  artifacts/
    packs/
      project/
        current.md          ← always the latest project pack
        history/
          <timestamp>.md    ← previous versions
      lanes/
        <lane-id>/
          current.md
          history/
      features/
        <issue-id>/
          current.md
      conflicts/
        <conflict-id>/
          current.md
      missions/
        <mission-id>/
          plan.md
          phase-1.md
          phase-2.md
          ...
Pack history files are retained for 30 days by default. You can adjust retention in Settings → Context → Pack History Retention. History files are useful for auditing what context an agent had during a specific session.

​
Next Steps

Pack Structure & Priority

Learn about the pack content contract, section markers, export levels, and how ADE assembles the context priority stack.

Freshness & Integration

Understand auto-refresh triggers, freshness indicators, and how packs integrate with missions, PRs, and the memory system.