Compact saves your long conversations from falling apart

The AI has a limited memory for each conversation. Every message, every file it reads, every result it gets back -- all of it takes up space. In long sessions, that space fills up. When it does, the AI starts forgetting things you told it an hour ago. Compact summarizes everything discussed so far, keeps the important decisions and context, and frees up space so the conversation can keep going productively.

Without compact, long work sessions slowly degrade. The AI asks about things you already decided. It re-reads files it already looked at. It loses track of what you are building and why. Compact is the reset button that preserves what matters while clearing the clutter. It is the difference between a productive four-hour session and one that falls apart after two.

You do not need to set anything up. Just type the compact command when you feel the conversation getting long or when the AI seems to be forgetting earlier context.

Good moments to use it: after finishing a big chunk of work (keep the result, clear the exploration), when the AI repeats a question you already answered, before switching to a different task in the same session, or proactively every hour and a half or so during long sessions.

The summary keeps your decisions, the current state of things, and key findings. It compresses the verbose back-and-forth, dead ends, and repeated information.

Every long session, usually two or three times. The clearest signal is when the AI asks about something you already discussed -- that means it is running out of memory, and compact fixes it immediately.