NodeNestor/claude-rolling-context

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# Rolling Context for Claude Code

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[![Python 3.7+](https://img.shields.io/badge/python-3.7+-blue.svg)](https://www.python.org)
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A transparent proxy that gives Claude Code **rolling context compression** — old messages get automatically summarized while recent messages stay fully verbatim. You never hit the context wall, and you never lose important details.

**Zero config.** Uses your existing Claude Code auth. No API key needed. Just install and forget.

> Claude Code's built-in `/compact` replaces your **entire** conversation with a lossy summary. After a few compactions, you're summarizing a summary of a summary. This plugin only compresses old messages — recent context stays untouched.

It's also a cost story: every token you carry in context gets re-billed on **every turn** (at cache-read rates), so an unmanaged session's input cost grows with the *square* of its length. Capping the prefix makes it linear — [the math](#the-economics-why-capping-the-prefix-matters) works in relative units and holds for every model, and it matters more the bigger the context window, not less.

## `/compact` vs Rolling Context

| | `/compact` (built-in) | Rolling Context |
|---|---|---|
| What gets compressed | Everything | Only old messages |
| Recent context | Summarized (lossy) | **Kept verbatim** |

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