Chunk

Split a file into overlapping chunks suitable for parallel fanout processing. Produces numbered chunk files and a manifest.json describing each chunk's location, line range, and overlap metadata.

Triggers

Alternate expressions and non-obvious activations:

• "break this file up for parallel processing" → chunk with defaults
• "prepare for fanout" → chunk + write manifest
• "split into pieces" → chunk at semantic boundaries
• "make this codebase searchable" → chunk directory of files

Trigger Patterns Reference

Pattern	Example	Action
Chunk file	"chunk this file"	Apply semantic-boundary strategy, write to .aiwg/rlm-chunks/
Size override	"chunk into 100-line pieces"	--size 100
Overlap override	"chunk with 50-line overlap"	--overlap 50
Fixed count	"split into fixed-size chunks"	--strategy fixed-count
JSON output	"chunk as JSON"	--format json
Custom directory	"chunk into tmp/chunks/"	--output tmp/chunks/
Dry run	"how would this file be chunked?"	Read file, describe strategy, no writes

Behavior

When triggered:

1. Parse arguments — identify source file, strategy, size, overlap, format, and output directory from user input.

2. Read the source file — determine total line count and content type (code, markdown, prose, config).

3. Select chunking strategy:

   • semantic-boundary (default) — split at headings (##, ###), blank lines between sections, function/class definitions, or import blocks. Preserves logical units.
   • fixed-count — fixed number of lines per chunk regardless of content. Use when content has no clear structure.
   • adaptive — measure content density (code density, average line length) and shrink chunk size for dense regions, expand for sparse ones.

4. Apply overlap — each chunk includes the last --overlap lines of the previous chunk and the first --overlap lines of the next. This ensures queries that span chunk boundaries are answerable from either side.

5. Write output:

   • Text mode: one file per chunk, named chunk-0001.txt, chunk-0002.txt, etc.
   • JSON mode: single chunks.json with each chunk's content embedded as a field.
   • Always write manifest.json regardless of format.

6. Report result — print chunk count, output directory, and manifest path.

Manifest Format

{
  "source": "src/auth/middleware.ts",
  "source_lines": 842,
  "strategy": "semantic-boundary",
  "chunk_size": 200,
  "overlap": 20,
  "format": "text",
  "output_dir": ".aiwg/rlm-chunks/middleware-ts/",
  "created_at": "2026-04-01T14:23:00Z",
  "chunks": [
    {
      "id": "chunk-0001",
      "file": ".aiwg/rlm-chunks/middleware-ts/chunk-0001.txt",
      "start_line": 1,
      "end_line": 218,
      "overlap_start": 0,
      "overlap_end": 20,
      "boundary_type": "function",
      "boundary_label": "validateToken()"
    },
    {
      "id": "chunk-0002",
      "file": ".aiwg/rlm-chunks/middleware-ts/chunk-0002.txt",
      "start_line": 199,
      "end_line": 412,
      "overlap_start": 20,
      "overlap_end": 20,
      "boundary_type": "class",
      "boundary_label": "AuthMiddleware"
    }
  ]
}

Parameters

• <file> — Source file to chunk (required)
• --size N — Target chunk size in lines (default: 200). For adaptive, this is the base size before density adjustments.
• --overlap N — Lines of overlap on each side of a chunk boundary (default: 20)
• --strategy semantic-boundary|fixed-count|adaptive — Chunking strategy (default: semantic-boundary)
• --format json|text — Output format (default: text)
• --output <dir> — Output directory (default: .aiwg/rlm-chunks/<filename>/)

Examples

Example 1: Default chunk

User: "chunk src/auth/middleware.ts"

Action:

aiwg chunk src/auth/middleware.ts

Response: "Split middleware.ts (842 lines) into 5 chunks using semantic-boundary strategy. Overlap: 20 lines. Manifest: .aiwg/rlm-chunks/middleware-ts/manifest.json"

---

Example 2: Small chunks for a dense file

User: "chunk this file into 100-line pieces with 30-line overlap for the RLM fanout"

Action:

aiwg chunk src/core/parser.ts --size 100 --overlap 30

Response: "Split parser.ts (1,240 lines) into 14 chunks. 100-line target, 30-line overlap. Manifest: .aiwg/rlm-chunks/parser-ts/manifest.json"

---

Example 3: Fixed-count for a flat config file

User: "split config/nginx.conf into fixed chunks"

Action:

aiwg chunk config/nginx.conf --strategy fixed-count --size 150

Response: "Split nginx.conf (620 lines) into 5 fixed-count chunks. Manifest: .aiwg/rlm-chunks/nginx-conf/manifest.json"

---

Example 4: JSON format for programmatic use

User: "chunk the migration SQL file as JSON"

Action:

aiwg chunk db/migrations/0042_schema.sql --format json --output .aiwg/rlm-chunks/migration/

Response: "Split 0042_schema.sql (380 lines) into 2 JSON chunks. Output: .aiwg/rlm-chunks/migration/chunks.json. Manifest: .aiwg/rlm-chunks/migration/manifest.json"

Clarification Prompts

If the user's intent is ambiguous:

• "Should I split at semantic boundaries (headings, functions) or use fixed line counts?"
• "What chunk size would you like? Default is 200 lines."
• "Should the output go to .aiwg/rlm-chunks/ or a custom directory?"

References

• @$AIWG_ROOT/agentic/code/addons/rlm/skills/fanout/SKILL.md — Next step after chunking
• @$AIWG_ROOT/agentic/code/addons/rlm/skills/rlm-prep/SKILL.md — One-shot prep (chunk + index)
• @$AIWG_ROOT/agentic/code/addons/rlm/skills/rlm-search/SKILL.md — Full pipeline using chunk output
• @$AIWG_ROOT/agentic/code/addons/rlm/schemas/rlm-chunk-manifest.yaml — Manifest schema
• @$AIWG_ROOT/agentic/code/addons/aiwg-utils/rules/context-budget.md — Parallel context budget rules