Compact Guard
Protect important context through compaction cycles. Based on Claude Code internals: compaction restores max 5 files with 5K tokens each, within a 50K total budget.
Trigger
Use before /compact or when auto-compact warning appears.
Key Constants (from Claude Code source)
POST_COMPACT_MAX_FILES_TO_RESTORE = 5— only 5 files survivePOST_COMPACT_TOKEN_BUDGET = 50K— total restore budgetPOST_COMPACT_MAX_TOKENS_PER_FILE = 5K— per-file limit- Auto-compact fires at
context_window - 13Kbuffer
Pre-Compact Checklist
Before compacting, save these to memory or a scratch file:
- Current task — What are you working on? One sentence.
- Files in progress — Which files are being edited? (max 5 — compaction only restores 5)
- Decisions made — Any architectural choices made this session
- Blockers — What's preventing progress?
- Next steps — What to do immediately after compact
Strategy: Microcompact First
Before full compaction, try microcompact:
- Large tool results (test output, grep results) can be trimmed
- File reads that are no longer relevant can be dropped
- Use subagents for heavy exploration to keep main context clean
Post-Compact Recovery
After compaction, immediately:
- Re-read the top-priority file (the one you're actively editing)
- Check task list for current progress
- Review any scratch notes saved pre-compact
- Resume from next steps
Prevention Strategies
| Strategy | Token Savings | When |
|---|---|---|
| Delegate grep/search to subagent | 30-60% per search | Always for broad searches |
Read only needed lines (offset/limit) | 50-90% per read | Large files |
| Compact at task boundaries | Preserves coherence | Between logical steps |
Use /resume for fresh start | 100% | Unrelated new task |
Output
After running compact-guard:
COMPACT GUARD
Files to preserve: [list top 5]
Task state: [one sentence]
Decisions: [key choices]
Next step: [immediate action after compact]
Ready to compact. Run /compact now.Rules
- Always save state before compacting — never compact blind
- Prioritize the file you're actively editing as #1 to restore
- If auto-compact fires unexpectedly, immediately re-read your working file
- Keep CLAUDE.md under 60 lines to leave room for actual context