Verbatim Tail

Keeping the recent rounds whole

Library › Context Problems

1. The Context Window

2. Window Occupancy

3. Growth per Turn

4. Remaining Space

5. Turn Budget

6. Retrieval Footprint

7. Retrieval per Turn

8. Search Rounds

9. Window Sizing

10. Truncation

11. Compaction

12. The Compaction Bill

13. Compacted Retrieval

14. The Compaction Threshold

15. Verbatim Tail

16. Stateless API

17. Retrieval Cost

18. Context Tax

19. Quadratic Cost

20. Cost Forecast

Compaction does not summarize everything behind the system prompt. It leaves the most recent rounds alone. An agent that summarized the round it was in the middle of would lose the thread it is holding, so the summary stops short and the live end of the conversation stays verbatim. That leaves the window in three parts: the prompt, the summary of what is old, and the rounds still in their own words.

---

⬇ Verbatim Tail worksheet (2 pages)

---

Next:
16. Stateless API