{"version":"2.1.312","anchor":"auto-compact-window-env-override-no-longer-bypasses-the-ceil","canonical_anchor":"auto-compact-window-env-override-no-longer-bypasses-the-ceil","heading":"CLAUDE_CODE_AUTO_COMPACT_WINDOW is now capped like other auto-compact settings","tier":"notice","area":"Compaction","scope":"individual","heads_up":true,"url":"https:\/\/changelogs.core-directive.com\/v\/2.1.312\/e\/auto-compact-window-env-override-no-longer-bypasses-the-ceil","release_url":"https:\/\/changelogs.core-directive.com\/v\/2.1.312","markdown":"### `CLAUDE_CODE_AUTO_COMPACT_WINDOW` is now capped like other auto-compact settings\n\nA window set with `CLAUDE_CODE_AUTO_COMPACT_WINDOW` above the configured ceiling is now reduced to that ceiling instead of used as is\n\n**Unclear.** It is not clear where the ceiling comes from or who sets it, so it is unclear whose values are affected.\n\n**What**\n\nAuto-compact is when Claude Code summarises older parts of a conversation to free up room, and the auto-compact window is how large the conversation can grow, in tokens, before that happens. Tokens are the small chunks of text the model counts.\n\n`CLAUDE_CODE_AUTO_COMPACT_WINDOW` is an environment variable that sets this window. Before, a value set this way skipped the ceiling check that other ways of setting the window go through. Now, when a ceiling applies and your value is above it, the window is reduced to the ceiling, and Claude Code reports the result as coming from settings rather than from the environment variable.\n\n**Why**\n\nIf you set `CLAUDE_CODE_AUTO_COMPACT_WINDOW` above the ceiling, you will now get a smaller window than before, so compaction will start earlier than your value suggests.\n\n- Area: Compaction\n- Tier: You'll notice\n- Useful: 2\/5\n- Signal: 1\/5\n- Scope: individual\n- Heads-up: yes"}