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

Supported Formats

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

See [strategies.md](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](agent-guide.md) for the complete recursive delegation protocol.

Commands Quick Reference

For complete command options and JSON output formats, see [reference.md](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](troubleshooting.md).