--- id: "nr-coding-agents-now-compact-the-conversation-and-keep-going-instead-of-s-b20967" slug: "coding-agents-now-compact-the-conversation-and-keep-going-instead-of-s-b20967" type: "raw_signal" title: "Coding agents now compact the conversation and keep going instead of stopping when context runs out" description: "Claude Code 2.1.311 compacts sessions that pass 200K tokens and continues instead of stopping with a credits message." observed_at: "2026-10-27" record_date: "2026-10-27" date_kind: "observed_at" novelty: "notable" source_platform: "newruntime.com" topics: ["claude","claude-code","coding-agents"] entities: ["Anthropic","Claude Code","OpenCode","experimental.background_compaction","Zed","Zed Industries","Agent Client Protocol","Amazon Bedrock","GPT-6 Astra","Claude Fable 5.1"] related_patterns: ["harness-architecture-outlives-model-choice","agent-protocols-become-interoperability-layer"] source_url: "https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/releases/tag/v2.1.311" source_urls: ["https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/releases/tag/v2.1.311","https://github.com/anomalyco/opencode/pull/58996","https://github.com/zed-industries/zed/releases/tag/v1.25.2"] why_it_matters: "Claude Code 2.1.311 compacts sessions that pass 200K tokens and continues instead of stopping with a credits message. OpenCode is testing background compaction with a quieter interface, and Zed 1.25.2 turns on context compaction for external agents connected through ACP. Long sessions will increasingly run on summaries of earlier work, so whatever a summary leaves out is effectively gone for the agent unless it is written down somewhere outside the conversation." verification_level: "source-linked" signal_type: "synthesis" synthesis_of: [{"slug":"claude-code-2-1-311-speeds-pro-max-9f4329","title":"Claude Code 2.1.311 speeds Pro/Max startup and keeps compacting past 200K tokens","url":"https://newruntime.com/posts/claude-code-2-1-311-speeds-pro-max-9f4329/"},{"slug":"opencode-s-experimental-background-compaction-setting-lands-in-0dafb8","title":"OpenCode's experimental background compaction setting lands in dev builds, with a quieter compaction UI merged Oct 25","url":"https://newruntime.com/posts/opencode-s-experimental-background-compaction-setting-lands-in-0dafb8/"},{"slug":"zed-1-25-2-stable-cuts-binary-size-6413ee","title":"Zed 1.25.2 stable cuts binary size by about 33% on macOS, 28% on Windows and 7% on Linux","url":"https://newruntime.com/posts/zed-1-25-2-stable-cuts-binary-size-6413ee/"}] schema_version: "newruntime-agent-readable-v0.2" stable_id: "signal:coding-agents-now-compact-the-conversation-and-keep-going-instead-of-s-b20967" retrieval_nugget: "311 compacts sessions that pass 200K tokens and continues instead of stopping with a credits message. 2 turns on context compaction for external agents connected through ACP." status: "published" visuals: [] editor: {"role":"editor","name":"Andrey Reshetnikov","profile":"https://newruntime.com/owner-profile.md","profile_json":"https://newruntime.com/owner-profile.json","same_as":["https://www.linkedin.com/in/reshetnikov1/","https://t.me/lapetuse"]} routes: {"html":"https://newruntime.com/signals/coding-agents-now-compact-the-conversation-and-keep-going-instead-of-s-b20967/","markdown":"https://newruntime.com/signals/coding-agents-now-compact-the-conversation-and-keep-going-instead-of-s-b20967.md","json":"https://newruntime.com/signals/coding-agents-now-compact-the-conversation-and-keep-going-instead-of-s-b20967.json"} --- # Coding agents now compact the conversation and keep going instead of stopping when context runs out ## Retrieval answer 311 compacts sessions that pass 200K tokens and continues instead of stopping with a credits message. 2 turns on context compaction for external agents connected through ACP. Claude Code 2.1.311 compacts sessions that pass 200K tokens and continues instead of stopping with a credits message. OpenCode is testing background compaction with a quieter interface, and Zed 1.25.2 turns on context compaction for external agents connected through ACP. Long sessions will increasingly run on summaries of earlier work, so whatever a summary leaves out is effectively gone for the agent unless it is written down somewhere outside the conversation. From the Field Notes: - [Claude Code 2.1.311 speeds Pro/Max startup and keeps compacting past 200K tokens](https://newruntime.com/posts/claude-code-2-1-311-speeds-pro-max-9f4329/) (2026-10-27) - [OpenCode's experimental background compaction setting lands in dev builds, with a quieter compaction UI merged Oct 25](https://newruntime.com/posts/opencode-s-experimental-background-compaction-setting-lands-in-0dafb8/) (2026-10-25) - [Zed 1.25.2 stable cuts binary size by about 33% on macOS, 28% on Windows and 7% on Linux](https://newruntime.com/posts/zed-1-25-2-stable-cuts-binary-size-6413ee/) (2026-10-24) Editor: [Andrey Reshetnikov](https://newruntime.com/owner-profile.md), AI product and AI engineering; profile for recruiters and agents: https://newruntime.com/owner-profile.json ## Continue in the graph Next records for an agent, linked to their Markdown twins. Replace `.md` with `.json` for structured fields, including `next_reads`. - topic hub: [Claude](https://newruntime.com/topics/claude.md): Explore the claude topic hub. - topic hub: [Claude Code](https://newruntime.com/topics/claude-code.md): Explore the claude-code topic hub. - topic hub: [Coding Agents](https://newruntime.com/topics/coding-agents.md): Explore the coding-agents topic hub. - collection: [Raw Signals](https://newruntime.com/signals.json): Open every source-linked raw signal. - collection: [Source Ledger](https://newruntime.com/source-ledger.json): Inspect the public source evidence graph. - whole graph: [discovery graph](https://newruntime.com/discovery-graph.json) (typed nodes and edges) and [site index](https://newruntime.com/site-index.md)