You'll noticeTier: how much it should matter to you
2Useful: my rating, 1 to 5
1Signal: worth watching, 1 to 5
ContextArea: what it touches
ImprovementsKind: in v2.1.319,
ImprovementsSection of the release
What
Claude Code keeps a running estimate of how many tokens, the units the model reads text in, a conversation uses. Images delivered by MCP tasks (work run by an MCP server, a plugin-like service that gives Claude extra tools) are now counted as a fixed amount per image. Before, they were counted by the size of their encoded text, which could be far larger.
Why
The estimate decides when Claude Code compacts the conversation, meaning it summarizes older parts to free space. A closer estimate makes that happen at a better time when images come in from MCP tasks.
