Context Collapse
The point where an AI session gets too long and the model starts mixing up, forgetting, or contradicting what you told it earlier. It is not a bug: the context window has filled with noise (old messages, whole files, back-and-forth), and the useful signal drowns in it. You spot it when the agent re-asks questions already settled, reintroduces a bug you just fixed, or loses track of the original goal.
Strengths
- Explains in one sentence why an agent "gets dumb" on long sessions
- The fix is free: starting clean costs 0 extra tokens
Limitations
- Hard to measure precisely: you feel it before you can prove it
Best for
- Knowing when to cut an agent session and restart from a summary