Context
Context: what the model sees, how it is built, and how to inspect it
Beginner mental model:
- **System prompt** (OpenClaw-built): rules, tools, skills list, time/runtime, and injected workspace files.
- **Conversation history**: your messages + the assistant's messages for this session.
- **Tool calls/results + attachments**: command output, file reads, images/audio, etc.
Context is _not the same thing_ as "memory": memory can be stored on disk and reloaded later; context is what's inside the model's current window.
Quick start (inspect context)
- ''/status'' → quick "how full is my window?" view + session settings.
- ''/context list'' → what's injected + rough sizes (per file + totals).
- ''/context detail'' → deeper breakdown: per-file, per-tool schema sizes, per-skill entry sizes, and system prompt size.
- ''/usage tokens'' → append per-reply usage footer to normal replies.
- ''/compact'' → summarize older history into a compact entry to free window space.
See also: [Slash commands](/tools/slash-commands), [Token use & costs](/token-use), [Compaction](/concepts/compaction).
What counts toward the context window
Everything the model receives counts, including:
How OpenClaw builds the system prompt
🧠 Context breakdown Workspace: '<workspaceDir>' Bootstrap max/file: 20,000 chars Sandbox: mode=non-main sandboxed=false System prompt (run): 38,412 chars (~9,603 tok) (Project Context 23,901 chars (~5,976 tok)) Injected workspace files: - AGENTS.md: OK | raw 1,742 chars (~436 tok) | injected 1,742 chars (~436 tok) - SOUL.md: OK | raw 912 chars (~228 tok) | injected 912 chars (~228 tok) - TOOLS.md: TRUNCATED | raw 54,210 chars (~13,553 tok) | injected 20,962 chars (~5,241 tok) - IDENTITY.md: OK | raw 211 chars (~53 tok) | injected 211 chars (~53 tok) - USER.md: OK | raw 388 chars (~97 tok) | injected 388 chars (~97 tok) - HEARTBEAT.md: MISSING | raw 0 | injected 0 - BOOTSTRAP.md: OK | raw 0 chars (~0 tok) | injected 0 chars (~0 tok) Skills list (system prompt text): 2,184 chars (~546 tok) (12 skills) Tools: read, edit, write, exec, process, browser, message, sessions_send, … Tool list (system prompt text): 1,032 chars (~258 tok) Tool schemas (JSON): 31,988 chars (~7,997 tok) (counts toward context; not shown as text) Tools: (same as above) Session tokens (cached): 14,250 total / ctx=32,000
Injected workspace files (Project Context)
🧠 Context breakdown (detailed) … Top skills (prompt entry size): - frontend-design: 412 chars (~103 tok) - oracle: 401 chars (~101 tok) … (+10 more skills) Top tools (schema size): - browser: 9,812 chars (~2,453 tok) - exec: 6,240 chars (~1,560 tok) … (+N more tools)
Skills: what's injected vs loaded on-demand
The system prompt includes a compact **skills list** (name + description + location). This list has real overhead.
Skill instructions are _not_ included by default. The model is expected to ''read'' the skill's ''SKILL.md'' **only when needed**.
- Conversation history.
- Tool calls + tool results.
- Attachments / scripts (images/audio/files).
- Compaction summaries and pruning artifacts.'
'- Provider "wrappers" or hidden headers (invisible, still count).
Tools: there are two costs
Tools affect context in two ways:
1. **Tool list text** in the system prompt (what you see as "Tooling").
2. **Tool schemas** (JSON). These are sent to the model so it can call tools. They count toward context even though you don't see them as plain text.
''/context detail'' breaks down the biggest tool schemas so you can see what dominates.
- Time (UTC + converted user time if configured).
- Runtime metadata (host/OS/model/thinking).
- Injected workspace bootstrap files under ''Project Context''.'
''
'Full breakdown: ''system prompt''.
Commands, directives, and "inline shortcuts"
Slash commands are handled by the Gateway. There are a few different behaviors:
- **Standalone commands**: a message that is only ''/...'' runs as a command.
- **Directives**: ''/think'', ''/verbose'', ''/reasoning'', ''/elevated'', ''/model'', ''/queue'' are stripped before the model sees the message.
- Directive-only messages persist session settings.
- Inline directives in a normal message act as per-message hints.
- **Inline shortcuts** (allowlisted senders only): certain ''/...'' tokens inside a normal message can run immediately (example: "hey /status"), and are stripped before the model sees the remaining text.
Details: [Slash commands](/tools/slash-commands).
- ''BOOTSTRAP.md'' (first run only)'
''
'Large files are truncated per-file using ''agents.defaults.bootstrapMaxChars'' (default ''20000'' chars). ''/context'' shows ''raw vs. injected'' sizes and whether truncation occurred.
Sessions, compaction, and pruning (what persists)
What persists across messages depends on the mechanism:
- **Normal history** persists in the session transcript until compacted/pruned by policy.
What /context actually reports
''/context'' prefers the latest **run-built** system prompt report when available:
- ''System prompt (run)'' = captured from the last embedded (tool-capable) run and persisted in the session store.
- ''System prompt (estimate)'' = computed on the fly when no run report exists (or when running via a CLI backend that doesn't generate the report).
Commands, directives, and "inline shortcuts"
Slash commands are handled by the gateway. There are several different behaviors:
- ''Standalone commands'': messages that are only ''/...'' run as commands.
- ''Directives'': ''/think'', ''/verbose'', ''/reasoning'', ''/elevated'', ''/model'', ''/queue'' are stripped before the model sees the message.
- Directive-only messages preserve session settings.
- Inline directives in normal messages act as per-message prompts.
- ''Inline shortcuts'' (whitelisted senders only): certain ''/...'' tokens in normal messages can run immediately (e.g., "hey /status") and are stripped before the model sees the rest of the text.'
''
'Details: ''slash commands''.
Sessions, compaction, and pruning (what persists)
What persists between messages depends on the mechanism:
- Normal history stays in the session record until compacted/pruned by policy.
- Compaction keeps a summary in the record and keeps recent messages intact.
- ''Pruning'' removes old tool results from the in-memory prompt for a run but doesn't rewrite the record.'
''
'Docs: ''sessions'', ''compaction'', ''session pruning''.
What `/context` actually reports
''/context'' prefers the latest ''run-built'' system prompt report (if available):
- ''System prompt (run)'' = captured from the last embedded (tool-supporting) run and persisted in session storage.
- ''System prompt (estimate)'' = dynamically calculated when no run report exists (or when run via CLI backend that doesn't generate reports).
Either way, it reports scale and top contributors; it does not dump the full system prompt or tool schemas.