Paste is not persistence
Teams treat the context window like a hard drive. It is closer to RAM with amnesia and a meter.
If the job spans days, truth lives outside the chat: tickets, files, checklists, databases.
Remember decisions, not transcripts
Log decisions and artifacts. Summaries help; raw transcripts rot.
Delete stale context on purpose. Clutter is a bug with good PR.
Field steps
- Separate working memory (prompt) from durable memory (store).
- Write decisions as short records with owners and dates.
- Reload only the slice needed for the next loop.
- Prune context the same way you prune dependencies.
Long view
As windows grow, the temptation to paste everything grows with them. Discipline beats capacity.