# Context

Context is what MAIA remembers between runs. Skills hold your method, and knowledge holds what MAIA should know about you and your work.

Updated: 2026-09-30. Source: https://maia-analytics.com/docs/capabilities/context

## Why it matters

Context is what makes [Compound](https://maia-analytics.com/docs/using-maia/compound) work. A skill carries your method to the next county. Knowledge carries your context to the next project. A run starts better when MAIA already knows how you work and who you are.

## Two kinds of context

Those are two different things, and MAIA stores them apart.

| Ask | Skills | Knowledge |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Holds | A method: criteria, thresholds, steps, and output format | Context: your business, your markets, your terms |
| Answers | How do we do this? | Who is asking? |
| Loaded | When a run needs it | The core file on every turn, other entries when a run needs them |
| Tied to a place | No. A skill runs in any county, so it must not name one | Project knowledge is. It ends with the project |
| Read more | [Skills](https://maia-analytics.com/docs/capabilities/skills) | [Knowledge](https://maia-analytics.com/docs/capabilities/knowledge) |

## Scopes side by side

Both are scoped. The scope decides who can see an entry and where MAIA uses it.

| Scope | Skills | Knowledge |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Personal | Private to you, in every project | Private to you, in every project |
| Workspace | Everyone in the workspace can run it | Everyone in the workspace, on every turn |
| Project | None | Project memory, which lives and ends with the project |
| System | MAIA's ready-made skills, which are read-only | None |

## How context reaches a run

Only the core knowledge files load on every turn, one per scope. Everything else waits until a run asks for it: MAIA sees one line per skill, a name and a description, and loads a skill's full instructions only when a run calls for it. That keeps a run focused on the question in front of it.

Three things follow:

- **What you put in a core file costs attention on every run.** Keep it to what is true of all your work.
- **A skill that names a county or city will not carry to the next county.** Leave the place out.
- **MAIA saves a lasting fact to knowledge on its own** when you state one. Read what it holds from time to time.

## In the app and over MCP

Both kinds live under your account, on the **Knowledge & skills** tab. A project's own memory is on the project's **Project memory** tab. Over MCP, `list_skills` and `save_skill` handle skills, and `save_to_maia_memory` writes knowledge. The `teach_maia` prompt fills in a profile of your work. See [Tools](https://maia-analytics.com/docs/mcp/tools) and [Prompts](https://maia-analytics.com/docs/mcp/prompts).

## In this section

- [Skills](https://maia-analytics.com/docs/capabilities/skills.md): A MAIA skill takes a method you have worked out and returns a run you can repeat. It records the criteria, the steps, and the output format, and it runs in any county.
- [Knowledge](https://maia-analytics.com/docs/capabilities/knowledge.md): MAIA's knowledge takes what you tell it about your business and returns it as context on every turn. It is filled in automatically, open to inspection, and yours to edit.