Compact Your Context at 60%, Not 95%
Most people let their context window fill to 95% before doing anything about it. By then, Claude is already degrading -- repeating itself, losing earlier context, making avoidable mistakes.
A better approach: check early, act early.
/context # see exactly where your tokens are going
/compact # summarise when you hit around 60%
/clear # wipe completely between unrelated tasks
The 60% threshold is the key insight. At 60%, /compact still captures everything important because Claude has full visibility over the entire session. At 95%, it is doing triage -- and you will feel it in the output quality.
A few habits that compound the benefit:
- Never paste 200+ lines of unrelated code into a prompt -- it silently crowds out your actual task context
- Always
/clearwhen switching between unrelated tasks, even if you are well under the limit - Run
/contextbefore/compactto understand what is eating your tokens, not just how much
The individual commands (/context, /compact, /clear) are quick to learn. The discipline of using them proactively -- before things degrade, not after -- is what actually changes your results. Think of 60% as a maintenance interval, not a warning sign.
Treat context management like memory hygiene: small, regular actions beat emergency cleanup every time.
via @Hartdrawss
Log in to leave a comment.
When Claude starts referencing files you've since deleted, remembering old code you've already changed, or getting confused by contradictory instructions from a long session — type /clear to wipe the slate clean. Unlike /compact which preserves context, /clear gives you a true fresh start without restarting the CLI.
Not every task needs deep reasoning. Type /fast to switch Claude Code into fast mode — same model, faster output — for quick edits, simple questions, and routine changes. Toggle it off when you need Claude to think harder on complex problems.
Long sessions eat through your context window as conversation history piles up. Type /compact to summarize the conversation so far and reclaim space — keeping Claude's understanding of what you're working on while freeing up room for more work.