Context, memory and tools

Read the context meter

The toolbar context meter shows the integration’s view of the model window and its contents: messages, instructions, tools and memory where those figures are available. Reporting differs by provider and model.

Large context is useful when the task needs it, but a focused request and the relevant files make progress easier to review. Keep the goal and acceptance checks visible when a task spans a long conversation.

Compact a supported conversation

Use the context control’s compaction action or the agent command palette when it is available. Current manual compaction is gated to supported Claude, Codex and Kimi integrations. Other providers may manage their own context without exposing that command.

Claude can compact automatically; Helios marks the boundary in the transcript. Before continuing after a long task, check that the objective, important constraints and current project state are still clear.

Inspect capabilities and loaded instructions

Choose Capabilities in the workspace selector. It shows the connected provider’s reported tools and MCP servers, plus instruction information where the integration can establish it. Native loaders do not provide comprehensive receipts for every effective instruction file.

This is a useful first stop when an agent cannot use a tool you expected. Check the active provider, project folder and reported configuration. Refreshing the pane reads the driver’s reported state; it does not reconnect servers. Provider discovery and a cached catalogue do not establish that a tool is authenticated or reachable.

Instructions remain ordinary project or provider files. Review a repository’s AGENTS.md or CLAUDE.md as part of understanding the workspace you are giving to an agent.

Read and edit Claude memory

The Claude memory pane exposes supported global and project instruction files, the memory index and memory-file editing. Saves are atomic, and rotating backups are kept under Helios’s backups/ directory.

Open the intended project before editing its memory. A file shown in the memory editor belongs to that provider’s instruction system; it is not automatically shared with every other provider.

Use Save to keep an edit, Discard to abandon your changes, and Reload to read the file again. If the file changed elsewhere, inspect the conflict before choosing whether to reload or save your version anyway.

The editor’s rotating copies are useful recovery points. Keep a separate backup of local app and provider data for machine recovery.

Configure provider tools

Native integrations keep their own tool and authentication setup. Use the provider’s CLI configuration and Helios’s reported capability inventory to verify the result. The account and provider sections of Settings can refresh discovery.

Helios can forward supported MCP integrations to its provider paths. The optional estate-mcp.json configuration supplies additional servers for supported Codex, OpenRouter and Kimi paths; leave it absent when you do not need it. Server configuration and provider support determine what is actually available.

See the repository’s agent setup reference for configuration formats. Keep authentication values outside shared examples and review a tool’s requested access before enabling it.

Use optional shared context

The Shared pane reads a separately configured scratchpad service. The service is not bundled with Helios. If none is available, the pane can report that it cannot reach the scratchpad; ordinary conversations can still run.

Shared context, Claude memory, the conversation transcript and the Work goal have different roles. Check which source an entry belongs to before treating it as a project instruction.

An optional local router integration can report routing information when a separately configured broker is available. Neither a router, tandem nor a scratchpad service is required to install Helios and start an ordinary provider chat.

The optional integrations guide covers the handoff form, Missions gate behaviour and read-only session pools.