Use /context to See What Claude Can Actually See

Wondering why Claude seems confused about your project? Check what it's actually working with.

/context

This command shows you a breakdown of your current context window — what files are loaded, how much space each one takes, and how close you are to the limit.

This is invaluable for debugging unexpected behaviour. If Claude keeps hallucinating an API that doesn't exist, it might be because the relevant source file isn't in context, or because a massive log file is crowding out everything else.

What you'll typically see:

• A list of files currently in the conversation
• Token counts for each item
• Total context usage as a percentage
• System prompt and conversation history size

Use this information to make decisions:

# Context getting heavy? Compact it
/compact

# Or clear and start fresh with just what you need
/clear
claude "read @src/api/routes.ts and add pagination"

As your context fills up, Claude's responses can start to degrade — less room to reason, earlier context gets pushed out. Run /context regularly during long sessions so you know when it's time to /compact or start fresh before quality slips.

You can't optimise what you can't see — /context shows you exactly what Claude is working with.