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Don't trust large context windows

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Re: Don't trust large context windows

#91
post #40

I've been able to avoid context size issues by applying one simple constraint to my agent loop. What I do is prevent all tool calling in the user's top-level conversation thread. Anything that needs to tool call must happen in a recursive invoke of the agent, which returns whatever results to caller. I can keep the same high level conversation going for an entire day over a million LOC+ codebase without ever hitting…

How do you get something like this set up?

Re: Don't trust large context windows

#92
post #9

Considerations about what goes on in agents internally will probably not be part of software development for long. Personally, I already see LLMs and agents as blackboxes. I give each feature request to multiple LLMs and then compare the results. I don't manually use "sessions" at all. I just look at the outcome. When I dislike it, I "git reset --hard", change my prompts and restart the feature request. To have an on…

What kind of projects/code do you have them work on?

Asking because I could guess that approach would be ok for the types of front end work that doesn't require much security or other validation.

But it sounds like it wouldn't be suitable for work in regulated industries or anything that needs to have extreme care taken.

?

Re: Don't trust large context windows

#95
post #8

This has not been my experience with Opus since Anthropic released the 1M token context window for use under the subscription plans. I routinely push past 500k tokens, even sometimes up to around 800k tokens, and don't see this problem. I've seen it to some extent when getting truly near the limit, up around and above 900k tokens, though what I see isn't as severe as the author seems to see. (And I rarely fill the co…

I often push past 300k or so and I’ve absolutely worked at 800k but it’s an observable problem. Large context windows can work depending on the problem but I do feel more effective biasing towards small ones <300k.

Re: Don't trust large context windows

#96
post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah 60k is ludicrous, I've barely seeded the context at that point and I don't see context related degradation until well into the 600-700k.

In this thread: People tossing coins independently and fighting over the result they got.

No it's not.

It seems that people have different workflows or repos, or memories or prompts or expectations.

Re: Don't trust large context windows

#99
post #40

I've been able to avoid context size issues by applying one simple constraint to my agent loop. What I do is prevent all tool calling in the user's top-level conversation thread. Anything that needs to tool call must happen in a recursive invoke of the agent, which returns whatever results to caller. I can keep the same high level conversation going for an entire day over a million LOC+ codebase without ever hitting…

This is interesting to me because reducing context & token usage is in the user's best interest but not in the financial interest of AI vendors. I am not an expert but it sounds like your "one simple trick" would fix context issues and allow much tighter control over token usage. Thanks for being willing to share this tip in an HN comment, changing how those in the know use AI agents going forward -- it's hard to kee…

The tokens are still being burnt, they're just doing so in a parallel dimension from the users main context window.

Re: Don't trust large context windows

#100
post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is interesting to me because reducing context & token usage is in the user's best interest but not in the financial interest of AI vendors. I am not an expert but it sounds like your "one simple trick" would fix context issues and allow much tighter control over token usage. Thanks for being willing to share this tip in an HN comment, changing how those in the know use AI agents going forward -- it's hard to kee…

The tokens are still being burnt, they're just doing so in a parallel dimension from the users main context window.

The real benefit is being able to use a cheaper, but good enough, model with a specific system prompt dedicated to that task.
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