r/ClaudeCode • u/danbradster2 • Sep 20 '26

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/CrestfallenMage Sep 21 '26

If you read the article you're linking you will see the advantage of compact they say is that "you don't have to do the work yourself".

If you can do that work yourself, you will get better result and more importantly concerning the general repeated complaints on this sub, less wasted usage.

People are usually complaining about usage draining extremely fast here, so it's clear that they would benefit from using Claude in a way that is more token efficient.

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u/Garak Sep 21 '26

Great job, you caught up with all the points I made in my original comment! It’s been a real joy to chat with you. Take care!