| name | session |
| description | Context window management. Clear between tasks, compact when full, rewind on mistakes, resume past sessions. Context is the most constrained resource. |
/session — Manage Your Context Window
Context is Claude's most constrained resource. Performance degrades as it fills. Manage it aggressively.
Core Principle
The context window holds your entire conversation, files read, and command output. LLM performance degrades as context fills. Manage it like memory — free it when you're done.
Operations
/clear — Reset Between Tasks
Use between unrelated tasks. Long sessions with irrelevant context reduce performance.
Trigger: Switching from feature A to feature B. Any time a previous conversation has no bearing on the next task.
/compact — Compress Long Sessions
When auto-compaction triggers, Claude summarizes what matters. For manual control:
/compact Focus on the API changes and the error handling pattern
Customize in CLAUDE.md:
When compacting, always preserve the full list of modified files and test commands.
/rewind — Undo Mistakes
Esc + Esc or /rewind to open checkpoint menu. Restore conversation, code, or both to any previous state.
Use when: Claude went down the wrong path, or you want to try a different approach without losing earlier context.
--continue / --resume — Resume Past Sessions
claude --continue
claude --resume
Use /rename to give sessions descriptive names like "oauth-migration".
/btw — Ask Without Polluting Context
Quick questions that don't need to stay in context. Answer appears in a dismissible overlay.
Failure Pattern
The "kitchen sink session": You start with task A, ask about task B, go back to task A. Context is full of irrelevant noise.
Fix: /clear between unrelated tasks.
Article Reference
"Manage context aggressively." / "Run /clear between unrelated tasks to reset context." / "Context is the most important resource to manage."
