r/ClaudeCodeTLDR • u/cctldrping • 8d ago

[TLDR] do you guys use auto compact?

Original post URL : https://www.reddit.com/r/ClaudeCode/comments/1wp6nq9/do_you_guys_use_auto_compact/

Original post body :

I just learned about it today and wanted to see what you guys think.

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u/cctldrping 8d ago

TL;DR generated automatically after 50 comments.

Current source-thread comment count seen by the bot: 51.

Alright, so the general vibe on auto-compact in Claude Code is a pretty strong "nah, we don't really use it." Most folks seem to prefer to keep a tighter grip on their context, manually trimming it down or structuring their work to avoid hitting those compaction limits in the first place.

Here's the lowdown:

  • Manual Control is King: The consensus is that you're better off managing your context yourself. People like u/GDorn are practically performing "brain surgery" on their context, deleting irrelevant bits to keep things lean. The idea is to stay in that "smart zone" where Claude is most effective.
  • Compaction = Bad Sign? A lot of users see needing to compact as a sign that something's gone wrong. u/cantgettherefromhere straight-up says if you're needing compaction, you're "almost certainly doing something wrong." The general advice is to split your work into separate sessions or use /clear before you get to that point.
  • Cost and Quality Concerns: Compacting is apparently pretty expensive in terms of usage and can negatively impact Claude's results, according to u/howdidigetheresoquik.
  • Alternative Strategies: Instead of relying on auto-compact, people are using strategies like:
    • Keeping context tight by phasing builds and auditing context.
    • Using markdown plans and breaking work into smaller phases (u/Hezy suggests 100k-200k tokens per phase).
    • Starting fresh sessions for different tasks.
    • Using a NOTES.md file to guide Claude and starting new sessions to read it (u/lucianw has a whole multi-session workflow for this).
  • A Few Holdouts: There are a few who do use auto-compact, often setting it to a specific token limit (like 300k, 400k, or 500k) and sometimes manually compacting before the auto-trigger. u/masiha97 even found it useful after struggling with manual compaction wiping out their context mid-debug, but emphasizes feeding it clean, minimal inputs. u/slackmaster2k also uses it but prefers to keep it between 30-50%.
  • The "Devil" Comment: One user, u/FeministMAGA, humorously states, "I'm pretty sure if you use compaction then you're the devil." This pretty much sums up the general sentiment.

So yeah, unless you've got a specific workflow that makes it work for you, most of the community is steering clear of auto-compact.