# context — see where the window goes

`/context` reports what your context window is made of: the system prompt, the
tool definitions, the conversation by role, injected notes, summaries, and shell
output. When the window is nearly full, the same report is where you compact.

<img src="../../assets/screens/context.png" alt="The /context report: 124k of 200k at 62% with the free space and the auto-compact threshold, a composition table of seven parts each with its gauge, the estimate drift line, the compaction count with what its last one cut, the largest messages, and the compact, refresh, scroll, and close hints" width="1680" height="1056">

- **A report, not a tool** — the model's prompt budget is untouched.
- **Where it went, not just how full**: the parts are named, and the difference
  between Pi's total and the estimate is shown rather than hidden.
- **Compaction from the report**, with the before and after numbers.
- **It refuses to compact** while a turn is streaming or another compaction runs.

## What you can do

| What you want | What to do |
|---|---|
| See the window | `/context` |
| See what is using it | the composition table and bars in the same report |
| Find the biggest single items | the largest-messages list in the report |
| Compact | `c` on the screen, or `/context compact` |
| Compact with instructions | `/context compact keep the design notes and the failing test` |
| See what compaction did | the before and after counts in its result |
| Check the history | the compaction count and what the newest one cut |

## Try it

```text
/context
```

If the conversation is the bulk of it, press `c` — the report tells you what it
will cost before it runs, and the result reports the new total.

## Reference

**The command.** `/context` opens a scrollable screen in the TUI and prints the
same facts as text in `rpc`, `json`, and `print` modes. `/context compact
[instructions]` compacts without opening the screen.

**What it reports.** Pi's own estimate — tokens, window, percentage, free space,
and the auto-compaction threshold with the headroom left — then the composition:
system prompt, active tool definitions, conversation by role, injected pack
context, summaries, and shell output, each with a gauge. A `drift` figure names
what the estimate cannot attribute.

**After a compaction.** The report shows the branch's compaction count, what the
newest one cut from and to, what its summary costs, and a pending total while Pi
recalculates rather than a made-up number.

## Limits

- The numbers are estimates, and an estimate with unattributed remainder says so.
- It cannot compact a streaming turn or a compaction already running.
- Injected context is counted where it lands, so a change in an extension's
  injected text moves this report too.

## Learn more

- [Configuration](../configuration.md) — the settings an extension's injected
  text answers to.
- [`plan`](../extensions/plan.md) — the largest single injected block in a
  planning session.