# Context Reset

> Clearing an agent's active context window and starting a fresh run from a structured handoff artifact.

- Category: Context & Memory
- Stage: Rising
- Also called: Fresh context handoff, Context window reset
- Canonical: https://www.joelcsaji.com/ai-dictionary/context-reset

## Plain English

Instead of compressing a crowded conversation, you give the next agent a clean slate plus the notes it needs.

## Example

A long-running coding harness ends a session, writes the completed work and next steps to files, then starts a new agent run from those artifacts.

## Why it matters

Context resets can reduce context-window drift and premature wrap-up behavior, but they depend on high-quality handoff state.

## Related

- [Compaction](https://www.joelcsaji.com/ai-dictionary/compaction)
- [Checkpoint](https://www.joelcsaji.com/ai-dictionary/checkpoint)
- [Long-Running Agent](https://www.joelcsaji.com/ai-dictionary/long-running-agent)

## Sources

- [Anthropic: Harness Design](https://www.anthropic.com/engineering/harness-design-long-running-apps)
- [Anthropic: Managed Agents](https://www.anthropic.com/engineering/managed-agents)