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Welcome to ContextShare! 🎉

Thank you for installing ContextShare! You're about to transform how your team manages and shares AI assistant resources in VS Code.

What You Can Do Now

✨ Organize AI Resources: Keep chat modes, instructions, prompts, and tasks in one place
🤝 Share with Your Team: Store everything in Git so your team can collaborate and improve together
🎩 Use Hats (Presets): Switch between different AI configurations with one click
🔄 Stay in Sync: Activate the exact same setup across different projects and team members

Why You Need This (The Problems We Solve)

🎯 Context Control - No More AI Overwhelm

The Problem: Too much context = confused AI. When you load every instruction and prompt at once, your AI assistant gets distracted, burns through tokens, and loses track of what you're actually trying to accomplish.

Our Solution: Selective activation. Only activate the resources you need for your current task. Code review? Activate review-specific instructions. Bug fixing? Switch to debugging prompts. Keep your AI focused and efficient.

🧹 Context Clarity - End Contradictory Instructions

The Problem: Multiple context files with conflicting guidance create "context pollution." Your AI gets mixed signals: "Use TypeScript strict mode" vs "Allow any types for rapid prototyping" - which should it follow?

Our Solution: Curated resource sets. Use Hats to activate only compatible, complementary resources. No more contradictory instructions fighting each other in your AI's context.

🤝 Team Alignment - Stop Copy-Paste Chaos

The Problem: Teams sharing AI resources via Slack, email, or copy-paste leads to version drift, outdated instructions, and inconsistent AI behavior across team members.

Our Solution: Git-based sharing with version control. Your team's AI resources live in your repo, get reviewed in PRs, and everyone stays in sync automatically.

⚡ Token Efficiency - Save Money and time, Get Better Results

The Problem: Loading unnecessary context wastes tokens and degrades response quality. Why pay for 50 irrelevant instructions when you only need 5 relevant ones?

Our Solution: Just-in-time activation. Your AI gets exactly the context it needs, nothing more. Better responses, lower costs, happier developers.

Quick Start (2 Minutes)

Option 1: Start Fresh 🆕

  1. Open the ContextShare View: Click the 📚 icon in the Activity Bar (left sidebar)
  2. Create Template: Click Dev → Create Template Catalog in the title bar
  3. Explore: Browse the created copilot_catalog/ folder with sample resources
  4. Activate: Right-click any resource and select "Activate" to try it out

Option 2: Use Existing Catalog 📁

  1. Open the ContextShare View: Click the 📚 icon in the Activity Bar
  2. Point to Your Catalog: If you have a catalog elsewhere, go to Settings → ContextShare → set Root Catalog Path
  3. Refresh: Click the refresh button in the ContextShare view
  4. Start Activating: Right-click resources to activate them

Option 3: Team Setup 👥

  1. Clone a repo with a copilot_catalog/ folder
  2. Open the ContextShare View: Click the 📚 icon in the Activity Bar
  3. Apply Team Preset: Click Hats → Apply Hat and choose a team preset
  4. You're Ready: All team resources are now active and ready to use

What's Next?

🎯 Try Hats: Save your current setup as a Hat (preset) so you can switch back anytime
📖 Read the Guide: Check out SETUP_GUIDE.md for detailed configuration options
🔧 Customize: Visit Settings → ContextShare to configure directories and behavior

Need Help?

  • 📋 Commands: Press Ctrl+Shift+P and type "ContextShare" to see all available commands
  • ⚙️ Settings: Go to File → Preferences → Settings → search "ContextShare"
  • 🐛 Issues: Check the Output panel → "ContextShare" for diagnostic information

Key Concepts

📚 Catalog

Your source of truth - a folder containing chatmodes/, instructions/, prompts/, tasks/, mcp/, and hats/ subfolders with your AI resources.

🎩 Hats (Presets)

Named collections of resources that you can activate as a set. Perfect for roles like "Code Reviewer", "HW Designer", or project-specific setups.

✅ Active Resources

Resources that are currently copied to your runtime directory (default: .github/) where VS Code can use them.

🏠 Target Workspace

Where your active resources get copied. Usually the same as your current workspace, but can be configured to activate resources elsewhere.

How It Works: Catalog → Workspace Flow

📁 CATALOG SOURCES                     🎯 YOUR LOCAL WORKSPACE
(Source of Truth)                      (Where You Work)

┌─────────────────────────┐            ┌─────────────────────────┐
│    Remote Catalog       │            │ 📂 my-project/         │
│ github.com/team/catalog │   ────┐    │                         │
│ ├── instructions/       │       │    │ ├── src/                │
│ ├── prompts/            │       │    │ ├── .vscode/            │
│ └── hats/               │       │    │ └── .github/  ⬅ ACTIVE │
└─────────────────────────┘       │    │     ├── 📋 instructions/ │
                                  │    │     ├── 💬 prompts/     │
┌─────────────────────────┐       │    │     └── 🎩 chatmodes/   │
│    Local Catalog        │       │    └─────────────────────────┘
│ ./copilot_catalog/      │   ────┤             ⬆️
│ ├── chatmodes/          │       │      🔄 ACTIVATE 
│ ├── instructions/       │       │    
│ ├── prompts/            │       │
│ └── tasks/              │   ────┘
└─────────────────────────┘

🎩 HAT PRESETS: Apply multiple resources at once
   "Frontend Dev" → activates 5 resources instantly
   "Code Review"  → activates 3 different resources

The Magic: Resources stay in your catalog (versioned, shared), but get copied to .github/ only when you need them active in VS Code.

💡 Pro Tip: Start by creating a simple Hat with just a few resources, then gradually add more as you discover what works best for your workflow.