Environment
- OpenClaw 2026.7.2-beta.4,
compaction.mode: "safeguard", Anthropic provider
Summary
In the compaction-safeguard extension, capCompactionSummaryPreservingSuffix() discards the structured summary body entirely whenever the assembled suffix alone exceeds MAX_COMPACTION_SUMMARY_CHARS (16000):
if (suffix.length >= maxChars) return sliceUtf16Safe(suffix, -maxChars);
The stored "summary" is then the tail 16,000 chars of the suffix — typically mid-word/mid-URL/raw tool JSON, with none of the structured sections (## Decisions, ## Open TODOs, exact identifiers) that the quality guard just spent an LLM round enforcing. On our instance, 5 of 8 compaction summaries in one day began mid-string with no headings; one opened with raw tool-schema JSON.
Why the suffix gets that big
assembleSuffix() concatenates splitTurnSection + preservedTurnsSection + toolFailureSection + fileOpsSummary + workspaceContext. The split-turn and preserved-turns sections carry verbatim message content; on tool-heavy turns they alone exceed 16K, and the branch above then evicts the body.
Secondary issue in the same function
Even below the eviction threshold, the body budget is maxChars - suffix.length with no floor — a 15K suffix squeezes the structured summary to 1K.
Suggested fix
Guarantee the structured body a floor share of the budget (e.g. half), and cap the suffix to the remainder — keeping the suffix's TAIL, since workspace critical rules and the post-compaction instructions are appended last:
if (summaryBody.length + suffix.length <= maxChars) return `${summaryBody}${suffix}`;
const bodyBudget = Math.min(summaryBody.length, Math.max(Math.floor(maxChars / 2), maxChars - suffix.length));
const suffixBudget = Math.max(0, maxChars - bodyBudget);
const cappedBody = capCompactionSummary(summaryBody, bodyBudget);
const cappedSuffix = suffix.length > suffixBudget ? sliceUtf16Safe(suffix, -suffixBudget) : suffix;
return `${cappedBody}${cappedSuffix}`;We are running this as a local dist patch; happy to PR it.
Environment
compaction.mode: "safeguard", Anthropic providerSummary
In the compaction-safeguard extension,
capCompactionSummaryPreservingSuffix()discards the structured summary body entirely whenever the assembled suffix alone exceedsMAX_COMPACTION_SUMMARY_CHARS(16000):The stored "summary" is then the tail 16,000 chars of the suffix — typically mid-word/mid-URL/raw tool JSON, with none of the structured sections (
## Decisions,## Open TODOs, exact identifiers) that the quality guard just spent an LLM round enforcing. On our instance, 5 of 8 compaction summaries in one day began mid-string with no headings; one opened with raw tool-schema JSON.Why the suffix gets that big
assembleSuffix()concatenates splitTurnSection + preservedTurnsSection + toolFailureSection + fileOpsSummary + workspaceContext. The split-turn and preserved-turns sections carry verbatim message content; on tool-heavy turns they alone exceed 16K, and the branch above then evicts the body.Secondary issue in the same function
Even below the eviction threshold, the body budget is
maxChars - suffix.lengthwith no floor — a 15K suffix squeezes the structured summary to 1K.Suggested fix
Guarantee the structured body a floor share of the budget (e.g. half), and cap the suffix to the remainder — keeping the suffix's TAIL, since workspace critical rules and the post-compaction instructions are appended last:
We are running this as a local dist patch; happy to PR it.