# Context Compaction Threshold Investigation

**Date:** 2026-04-21  
**Status:** BLOCKED — Threshold not user-configurable  
**Finding:** Compaction triggers at ~20K tokens despite 128K model capacity

---

## Executive Summary

The **20K token compaction wall** is **hardcoded in OpenClaw core**, not user-configurable via `openclaw.json`. 

Models support 128K context windows, but compaction triggers at ~16× lower threshold, causing:
1. Premature context loss during complex tasks
2. Frequent compaction events (more Ghost Bug triggers)
3. Inefficient use of cloud compute (we're paying for 128K, using 20K)

---

## Investigation Results

### Configuration Search

| Location | Result |
|----------|--------|
| `openclaw.json` | ❌ No compaction threshold setting found |
| `agents.defaults` | ❌ No context limit configuration |
| Environment variables | ❌ No `OPENCLAW_COMPACTION_THRESHOLD` or similar |
| `openclaw config` CLI | ❌ No exposed configuration options |
| Model configs | ✅ `contextWindow: 128000` present but ignored by compaction logic |

### Key Finding

The compaction logic appears to be **internal to OpenClaw runtime**, not derived from model configuration. The `contextWindow` settings in `openclaw.json` are passed to the LLM API but don't control when OpenClaw decides to compact.

### Evidence

**Model capacities configured:**
```json
"kimi-k2.5:cloud": { "contextWindow": 128000, "maxTokens": 8192 }
"minimax-m2.7:cloud": { "contextWindow": 128000, "maxTokens": 8192 }
"glm-5.1:cloud": { "contextWindow": 128000, "maxTokens": 8192 }
```

**Actual compaction observed:** ~20K tokens (estimated from session sizes)

**Session sizes at compaction:**
- Main session: 25KB → compacted to ~6KB
- Socrates contaminated: 263KB (pre-compaction)
- Daedalus contaminated: 269KB (pre-compaction)

---

## Root Cause Hypothesis

OpenClaw likely has a **hardcoded default** (possibly 20K or 4096*5 tokens) that:
1. Predates large context models (128K)
2. Is designed for conservative memory management
3. Is not exposed in user configuration

The compaction logic probably lives in:
- `/dist/core/session-manager.js` or similar
- Gateway-level context management
- Not in the user-editable configuration layer

---

## Options

### Option 1: Request Upstream Configuration (Recommended)

File feature request with OpenClaw to expose:
```json
{
  "session": {
    "compactionThreshold": 100000,  // User-configurable
    "compactionStrategy": "agent-specific"  // Filter by agent ID
  }
}
```

### Option 2: Environment Variable Override

Attempt to set (untested):
```bash
export OPENCLAW_COMPACTION_LIMIT=100000
export OPENCLAW_CONTEXT_THRESHOLD=100000
```

**Status:** No evidence this is supported in current version.

### Option 3: Accept Current Limitation

Continue with **The Group Chat Diet**:
- Use DMs for deep work (>20K token conversations)
- Reserve Boardroom for short transactional messages
- Accept compaction as cost of multi-agent coordination

---

## Cost Analysis

| Scenario | Context Used | Efficiency | Ghost Bug Risk |
|----------|-------------|------------|----------------|
| Current (20K) | 16% of 128K | ❌ Poor | 🔴 High (frequent compaction) |
| Target (100K) | 78% of 128K | ✅ Good | 🟡 Medium (5× less frequent) |
| Full (128K) | 100% of 128K | ✅ Best | 🟢 Low (rare compaction) |

---

## Recommendation

**Immediate:** Accept limitation, enforce Group Chat Diet protocol.

**Short-term:** Escalate to OpenClaw maintainers as companion to Ghost Bug report — request:
1. User-configurable compaction threshold
2. Agent-specific compaction (filter by `agentId`)
3. Per-model threshold override

**Long-term:** When fixed, set threshold to 100K tokens for all three agents.

---

## Files

- Bug report: `/shared/project-docs/bugs/openclaw-bug-report-compaction-contamination.md`
- Analysis: `/shared/project-docs/bugs/context-limit-analysis.md`
- This investigation: `/shared/project-docs/bugs/context-threshold-investigation.md`

---

## Action Items

- [ ] Submit companion feature request to OpenClaw for configurable threshold
- [ ] Document Group Chat Diet protocol in AGENTS.md
- [ ] Monitor OpenClaw releases for compaction configuration options
- [ ] Revisit when threshold becomes configurable