--- title: Smart Context Management sidebar_position: 22 sidebar_label: Smart Context Management --- import Tabs from '@theme/Tabs'; import TabItem from '@theme/TabItem'; import { ScrollText } from 'lucide-react'; When working with [Large Language Models (LLMs)](/docs/getting-started/providers), there are limits to how much conversation history they can process at once. Goose provides smart context management features to help handle context and conversation limits so you can maintain productive sessions. Here are some key concepts: - **Context Length**: The amount of conversation history the LLM can consider - **Context Limit**: The maximum number of tokens the model can process - **Context Management**: How Goose handles conversations approaching these limits - **Turn**: One complete prompt-response interaction between Goose and the LLM ## Context Limit Strategy When a conversation reaches the context limit, Goose offers different ways to handle it: | Feature | Description | Best For | Impact | |---------|-------------|-----------|---------| | **Summarization** | Condenses conversation while preserving key points | Long, complex conversations | Maintains most context | | **Truncation** | Removes oldest messages to make room | Simple, linear conversations | Loses old context | | **Clear** | Starts fresh while keeping session active | New direction in conversation | Loses all context | | **Prompt** | Asks user to choose from the above options | Control over each decision in interactive sessions | Depends on choice made | Your available options depend on whether you're using the Desktop app or CLI. Goose Desktop exclusively uses summarization to manage context, preserving key information while reducing size. When you reach the context limit in Goose Desktop: 1. Goose will automatically start summarizing the conversation to make room. 2. You'll see a message that says **"Preparing summary..."**, followed by **"Session summarized."** 3. Once complete, you'll have the option to **"View or edit summary."** 4. You can then continue the session with the summarized context in place. You can proactively summarize your conversation before reaching context limits: 1. Click the scroll text icon () in the chat interface 2. Confirm the summarization in the modal 3. View or edit the generated summary if needed The CLI supports all context limit strategies: `summarize`, `truncate`, `clear`, and `prompt`. The default behavior depends on the mode you're running in: - **Interactive mode**: Prompts user to choose (equivalent to `prompt`) - **Headless mode** (`goose run`): Automatically summarizes (equivalent to `summarize`) You can configure how Goose handles context limits by setting the `GOOSE_CONTEXT_STRATEGY` environment variable: ```bash # Set automatic strategy (choose one) export GOOSE_CONTEXT_STRATEGY=summarize # Automatically summarize (recommended) export GOOSE_CONTEXT_STRATEGY=truncate # Automatically remove oldest messages export GOOSE_CONTEXT_STRATEGY=clear # Automatically clear session # Set to prompt the user export GOOSE_CONTEXT_STRATEGY=prompt ``` When you hit the context limit, the behavior depends on your configuration: **With default settings (no `GOOSE_CONTEXT_STRATEGY` set)**, you'll see this prompt to choose a management option: ```sh ◇ The model's context length is maxed out. You will need to reduce the # msgs. Do you want to? │ ○ Clear Session │ ○ Truncate Message // highlight-start │ ● Summarize Session // highlight-end final_summary: [A summary of your conversation will appear here] Context maxed out -------------------------------------------------- Goose summarized messages for you. ``` **With `GOOSE_CONTEXT_STRATEGY` configured**, Goose will automatically apply your chosen strategy: ```sh # Example with GOOSE_CONTEXT_STRATEGY=summarize Context maxed out - automatically summarized messages. -------------------------------------------------- Goose automatically summarized messages for you. # Example with GOOSE_CONTEXT_STRATEGY=truncate Context maxed out - automatically truncated messages. -------------------------------------------------- Goose tried its best to truncate messages for you. # Example with GOOSE_CONTEXT_STRATEGY=clear Context maxed out - automatically cleared session. -------------------------------------------------- ``` To proactively trigger summarization before reaching context limits, use the `/summarize` command: ```sh ( O)> /summarize ◇ Are you sure you want to summarize this conversation? This will condense the message history. │ Yes │ Summarizing conversation... Conversation has been summarized. Key information has been preserved while reducing context length. ``` ## Maximum Turns The `Max Turns` limit is the maximum number of consecutive turns that Goose can take without user input (default: 1000). When the limit is reached, Goose stops and prompts: "I've reached the maximum number of actions I can do without user input. Would you like me to continue?" If the user answers in the affirmative, Goose continues until the limit is reached and then prompts again. This feature gives you control over agent autonomy and prevents infinite loops and runaway behavior, which could have significant cost consequences or damaging impact in production environments. Use it for: - Preventing infinite loops and excessive API calls or resource consumption in automated tasks - Enabling human supervision or interaction during autonomous operations - Controlling loops while testing and debugging agent behavior This setting is stored as the `GOOSE_MAX_TURNS` environment variable in your [config.yaml file](/docs/guides/config-file). You can configure it using the Desktop app or CLI. 1. Click the gear icon `⚙️` on the top toolbar 2. Click `Advanced settings` 3. Scroll to `Conversation Limits` and enter a value for `Max Turns` 1. Run the `configuration` command: ```sh goose configure ``` 2. Select `Goose Settings`: ```sh ┌ goose-configure │ ◆ What would you like to configure? │ ○ Configure Providers │ ○ Add Extension │ ○ Toggle Extensions │ ○ Remove Extension // highlight-start │ ● Goose Settings (Set the Goose Mode, Tool Output, Tool Permissions, Experiment, Goose recipe github repo and more) // highlight-end └ ``` 3. Select `Max Turns`: ```sh ┌ goose-configure │ ◇ What would you like to configure? │ Goose Settings │ ◆ What setting would you like to configure? │ ○ Goose Mode │ ○ Router Tool Selection Strategy │ ○ Tool Permission │ ○ Tool Output // highlight-start │ ● Max Turns (Set maximum number of turns without user input) // highlight-end │ ○ Toggle Experiment │ ○ Goose recipe github repo │ ○ Scheduler Type └ ``` 4. Enter the maximum number of turns: ```sh ┌ goose-configure │ ◇ What would you like to configure? │ Goose Settings │ ◇ What setting would you like to configure? │ Max Turns │ // highlight-start ◆ Set maximum number of agent turns without user input: │ 10 // highlight-end │ └ Set maximum turns to 10 - Goose will ask for input after 10 consecutive actions ``` :::tip In addition to the persistent `Max Turns` setting, you can provide a runtime override for a specific session or task via the `goose session --max-turns` and `goose run --max-turns` [CLI commands](/docs/guides/goose-cli-commands). ::: **Choosing the Right Value** The appropriate max turns value depends on your use case and comfort level with automation: - **5-10 turns**: Good for exploratory tasks, debugging, or when you want frequent check-ins. For example, "analyze this codebase and suggest improvements" where you want to review each step - **25-50 turns**: Effective for well-defined tasks with moderate complexity, such as "refactor this module to use the new API" or "set up a basic CI/CD pipeline" - **100+ turns**: More suitable for complex, multi-step automation where you trust Goose to work independently, like "migrate this entire project from React 16 to React 18" or "implement comprehensive test coverage for this service" Remember that even simple-seeming tasks often require multiple turns. For example, asking Goose to "fix the failing tests" might involve analyzing test output (1 turn), identifying the root cause (1 turn), making code changes (1 turn), and verifying the fix (1 turn). ## Token Usage After sending your first message, Goose Desktop and Goose CLI display token usage. The Desktop displays a colored circle next to the model name at the bottom of the session window. The color provides a visual indicator of your token usage for the session. - **Green**: Normal usage - Plenty of context space available - **Orange**: Warning state - Approaching limit (80% of capacity) - **Red**: Error state - Context limit reached Hover over this circle to display: - The number of tokens used - The percentage of available tokens used - The total available tokens - A progress bar showing your current token usage The CLI displays a context label above each command prompt, showing: - A visual indicator using dots (●○) and colors to represent your token usage: - **Green**: Below 50% usage - **Yellow**: Between 50-85% usage - **Red**: Above 85% usage - Usage percentage - Current token count and context limit ## Cost Tracking Display estimated real-time costs of your session at the bottom of the Goose Desktop window. To manage live cost tracking: 1. Click the gear icon `⚙️` on the top toolbar 2. Click `Advanced settings` 3. Scroll to `App Settings` and toggle `Cost Tracking` on or off The session cost updates dynamically as tokens are consumed. Hover over the cost to see a detailed breakdown of token usage. If multiple models are used in the session, this includes a cost breakdown by model. Ollama and local deployments always show a cost of $0.00. Pricing data is regularly fetched from the OpenRouter API and cached locally. The `Advanced settings` tab shows when the data was last updated and allows you to refresh. These costs are estimates only, and not connected to your actual provider bill. The cost shown is an approximation based on token counts and public pricing data. Cost tracking is [not yet available](https://github.com/block/goose/issues/3206) in the Goose CLI.