RLM - Recursive Language Model Context Tool

Prerequisites

IMPORTANT: RLM must be installed before use. Verify installation first:

which rlm || dotnet tool install -g rlm

Requirements:

• .NET 10+ runtime

# Install from NuGet
dotnet tool install -g rlm

# Update to latest version
dotnet tool update -g rlm

# Verify installation
rlm --version

Overview

RLM CLI implements the Data Ingestion Building Blocks pattern for processing documents that exceed your context window. It streams content using IAsyncEnumerable and maintains session state for multi-turn processing.

Use this skill when:

• Input exceeds your context window
• You need to find specific information in large documents (needle-in-haystack)
• You need to summarize or aggregate data from massive corpora
• You need to compare sections across large documents

Key limits:

• Max recursion depth: 5 levels (prevents infinite decomposition)

Quick Start

# Ensure RLM is installed, then load document
dotnet tool install -g rlm 2>/dev/null; rlm load document.md
rlm chunk --strategy uniform --size 50000
# Process current chunk, then:
rlm store result_0 "extracted info"
rlm next                              # Get next chunk
rlm store result_1 "more info"
rlm aggregate                         # Combine all results

Documentation

Topic	File	Description
Agent Guide	agent-guide.md	Parallel processing with sub-agents
Strategies	strategies.md	All chunking strategies with decision tree
Examples	examples.md	Real-world workflow scenarios
Reference	reference.md	Complete command reference and JSON formats
Troubleshooting	troubleshooting.md	Common errors and solutions

Supported Formats

Format	Extension(s)	Features
Markdown	.md, .markdown	YAML frontmatter, code blocks, headers
PDF	.pdf	Text extraction, page count, title, author
HTML	.html, .htm	Converts to Markdown, preserves structure
JSON	.json	Pretty-prints, element count
Word	.docx	Heading preservation, paragraph extraction, document properties
Plain text	.txt, etc.	Basic text loading

Core Workflow

1. Load Document

rlm load document.md                    # Single file
rlm load ./docs/                        # Directory (merged)
rlm load ./docs/ --pattern "**/*.md"    # Recursive glob
rlm load ./docs/ --merge false          # Keep separate
cat huge-file.txt | rlm load -          # From stdin

2. Check Document Info

rlm info                # Size, tokens, metadata
rlm info --progress     # Processing progress bar

3. Choose Decomposition Strategy

Task	Strategy	Command
Find specific info	filter	rlm filter "pattern"
Summarize document	uniform	rlm chunk --strategy uniform --size 50000
Analyze structure	semantic	rlm chunk --strategy semantic
Token-precise	token	rlm chunk --strategy token --max-tokens 512
Complex documents	recursive	rlm chunk --strategy recursive --size 50000
Unknown task	auto	rlm chunk --strategy auto --query "your question"

See strategies.md for detailed options and selection guide.

4. Process Chunks

rlm store chunk_0 "Finding from first chunk"
rlm next                                    # Get next chunk
rlm store chunk_1 "Finding from second chunk"
# Continue until "No more chunks"

5. Navigate Efficiently

rlm skip 10       # Skip forward 10 chunks
rlm skip -5       # Skip backward 5 chunks
rlm jump 50       # Jump to chunk 50 (1-based)
rlm jump 50%      # Jump to 50% position

6. Aggregate Results

rlm aggregate                       # Combine all stored results
rlm aggregate --separator "\n---\n" # Custom separator

7. Clear Session

rlm clear         # Clear default session
rlm clear --all   # Clear all sessions

Parallel Processing

For documents with 10+ chunks, use parallel processing with sub-agents:

# 1. Parent initializes with named session
rlm load massive.pdf --session parent
rlm chunk --strategy uniform --size 30000 --session parent

# 2. Parent extracts chunks and spawns workers
#    IMPORTANT: Chunking (step 1) must complete before using `next`
rlm next --raw --session parent > chunk_0.txt
# SPAWN: rlm-worker with "Process chunk_0.txt, session=child_0"

rlm next --raw --session parent > chunk_1.txt
# SPAWN: rlm-worker with "Process chunk_1.txt, session=child_1"
# ... continue for all chunks

# 3. After workers complete, import and aggregate
rlm import "rlm-session-child_*.json" --session parent
rlm aggregate --session parent

Alternative: Use slice for exporting content without chunking:

# Export content by character position (no chunking required)
rlm slice 0:30000 --session parent --raw > chunk_0.txt
rlm slice 30000:60000 --session parent --raw > chunk_1.txt

Key Rules:

• Parent uses --session parent
• Each worker uses unique --session child_N
• Workers store results with key result

Recursive Delegation: Workers can spawn their own child workers for very large chunks. See agent-guide.md for the complete recursive delegation protocol.

Commands Quick Reference

Command	Description
rlm load <file|dir|->	Load document(s) into session
rlm info [--progress]	Show document metadata or progress
rlm slice <range>	View section (e.g., 0:1000, -500:)
rlm chunk [--strategy]	Apply chunking strategy
rlm filter <pattern>	Filter by regex
rlm next [--raw|--json]	Get next chunk
rlm skip <count>	Skip forward/backward
rlm jump <index|%>	Jump to chunk index or percentage
rlm store <key> <value>	Store partial result
rlm import <glob>	Import child session results
rlm results	List stored results
rlm aggregate	Combine all results
rlm clear [--all]	Reset session(s)

For complete command options and JSON output formats, see reference.md.

Best Practices

1. Start with info - Check document size before choosing strategy
2. Filter first - For search tasks, use filter to reduce content
3. Store incrementally - Save results after each chunk, not in batches
4. Navigate efficiently - Use skip and jump instead of repeated next
5. Merge small chunks - Use --min-size --merge-small for semantic chunking
6. Clear between tasks - Run rlm clear when starting fresh

Permissions

This skill restricts tool access to Bash(rlm:*) only - Claude can only execute rlm commands when this skill is active.

For common errors and solutions, see troubleshooting.md.