AI dictionary

Compaction

Compressing earlier context into a shorter summary so an agent can continue without exceeding its context window.

Plain English

When the model's workspace fills up, compaction turns the messy history into a smaller handoff note.

Example

A coding agent summarizes completed files, open bugs, failed attempts, and next steps before a new session starts.

Why it matters

Poor compaction loses details; good compaction keeps long tasks alive.