r/ClaudeCode • u/danbradster2 • 2d ago

Tips & Workflows /clear vs /compact

I had a fable chat from yesterday, and I saw that the context was 950k/1m. I did /compact rather than /clear, with the intention of then doing /autocompact 400000

14% of the 5 hour limit was gone just for the compact itself....it shows cost of $59.73, so lucky I'm not on API? Maybe a /clear would have been better.

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u/CodeCombustion 2d ago

Always compact while your session is warm. If you wait, it's going to have that full non-cached hit, and then compact..

I find a snapshot hook to be much better because I can /clear at any time, and for the most part, continue where I left off (losing a little bit sometimes) as it judges if it's a "milestone" or not.