# Context Window

> The amount of text, images, tool results, or other tokens a model can consider in one request.

- Category: Context & Memory
- Stage: Established
- Also called: Context length, Token window
- Canonical: https://www.joelcsaji.com/ai-dictionary/context-window

## Plain English

It is the model's short-term workspace.

## Example

A long-context model can inspect a whole repository or a large batch of documents before answering.

## Why it matters

Large context helps, but long tasks still need retrieval, memory, and summarization discipline.

## Related

- [Token](https://www.joelcsaji.com/ai-dictionary/token)
- [Compaction](https://www.joelcsaji.com/ai-dictionary/compaction)
- [Context Engineering](https://www.joelcsaji.com/ai-dictionary/context-engineering)

## Mentioned in

- [Fable 5, Export Controls, and GLM 5.2](https://www.joelcsaji.com/blog/fable-5-export-controls-and-glm-5-2)

## Sources

- [Google Cloud Generative AI Glossary](https://docs.cloud.google.com/docs/generative-ai/glossary)
- [Anthropic: Effective Harnesses](https://www.anthropic.com/engineering/effective-harnesses-for-long-running-agents)