Claude Code Source Analysis Series, Chapter 4: Context Management

Short summary

Claude Code manages context as a continuous workbench rather than chat history, orchestrating system rules, tool results, and compressed summaries. Each agent action creates environment state that must be preserved yet managed carefully to avoid token overflow or stale information. The system uses a resident garbage-collection approach within its main loop to balance preservation with computational constraints.

• •Context is a dynamic workbench orchestrating rules, tool results, and summaries—not just chat history
• •Continuous governance prevents both information loss and token overflow
• •Tool outputs require careful preservation and managed lifecycle to avoid staleness

Generated with AI, which can make mistakes.