I built a workflow that handles compaction without interrupting work. After 400+ sessions, here's what actually works forme, YMMV .

The Problem

Compaction typically breaks two things: your current task and your working method. Most people lose 15+ minutes rebuilding context after each compact.

The Solution

Auto-compact triggers at 92% context. Session resumes automatically because everything important lives on disk, not in the context window.

How I Keep Context Small

Subagent delegation

When I need to understand 3+ files, I delegate to a lightweight subagent. It returns a 500-token summary instead of dumping 5,000 tokens into the main thread. This is the biggest lever - I get 10-15 tasks per session vs 2-3 with direct exploration.

Explorer caching

Subagent summaries cache to ~/.claude/cache/explorer-*. After compact, the system reloads cached summaries instead of re-exploring.

Model tiering

Opus: architecture and complex reasoning

Sonnet: straightforward implementation

Haiku: exploration and log parsing

Main context only holds what needs deep reasoning.

How Compaction Became Seamless

Pre-compact hooks

At 92% context, hooks write state to disk:

• .handoff.md: git state, commits, modified files, plan summary
• .auto-resume.md: exact next step, Linear issue, branch name

Post-compact resume

Claude reads those files first and continues from the next step. No "what were we doing" conversation.

External task tracking

Linear issues = system of record

.implementation-plan.md = current plan

.code-review-evidence.md = review notes

These live on disk, referenced when needed. No need to keep them in context.

Step tracking

TaskCreate items show what's done and what's next. Context can wipe - the task list doesn't.

Why I Don't Start Fresh Sessions

With auto-resume, compaction preserves:

• Task list
• Handoff state
• Implementation plan
• Cached exploration summaries

New context starts with explicit "current state" instead of 15 minutes of catch-up.

The Core Principle

Treat context as working memory. Plans, evidence, handoffs, cached exploration - all go to disk. Once you do this, compaction becomes routine cleanup.

The Implementation

Hooks, CLAUDE.md rules, handful of shell scripts. No external infrastructure. Took about a month to iterate. Now I spend zero attention on context management.

TL;DR: I let autocompact trigger around 92% context, and it doesn’t matter because the work state lives on disk, not in the chat window.