Claude Code

Make Your Claude Helpers Summarize Themselves Sooner

How one line in a helper's settings makes that helper compact its own work earlier, the exact number format that works, and the three cases where it does nothing

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A helper agent (subagent) keeps its whole pile of work in its own chat until the window is nearly full. Since v2.1.296 you can tell one helper to summarize itself earlier, with a single line in its settings.

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Get the full setup steps + the copy-paste setup prompt

The rest of this guide (4 more sections, 1 copy-paste prompt) opens right here. The setup prompt, one paste into Claude that sets it all up, comes by email only. Use your real address.

Unlocks: Step 1: update and open the helper · Step 2: add the line · The catch · Sources

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