Context Goes Stale

Wed, 23 Sep 2026 05:00:20 +0100

The agent reads the project’s decision record at repository version C1: backend SQLite, migration failing, README describing the current backend. It plans accordingly. By the time it acts, the repository is at C5. The decision record now says PostgreSQL, the migration passes, the README was rewritten twice. Nothing in the agent’s context changed — which is exactly the failure. The captured observation was authoritative, relevant, well-represented, and faithfully preserved. It described a state that no longer exists, and the model configured SQLite with complete confidence. Every chapter before this one asked whether information should enter context. This one asks whether what entered is still true of the world it claims to describe.

Temporal Context on Programmer.ie: Modern AI programming

Context Goes Stale