Claude Code 2.1.299 compacts 200K+ token conversations after about 54 idle minutes, before the one-hour prompt cache expires
A long conversation left alone no longer has to be reprocessed in full when you come back; the same release closes a sandbox gap and adds usage warnings.
// Key points
- In the terminal, a 200K+ token conversation left idle for about 54 minutes is compacted before its one-hour prompt cache expires, so the next message doesn’t reprocess it all.
- CLAUDE_CODE_IDLE_COMPACT_MIN_TOKENS changes the 200K minimum and "idleCompaction": false in settings.json turns it off; both need v2.1.290 or later.
- Fixed a sandboxed shell command being able to write into a --plugin-dir folder, whose code Claude Code reloads and runs outside the sandbox.
- /usage now warns about max effort, workflows, always-on context and large tool results; the Claude apps gateway no longer serves models blocked by policies such as deniedModels and answers 400 instead.
Builder's takeIdle compaction saves real money: coming back from a meeting to a large conversation used to mean paying full price to reread the context. I’d move the team to 2.1.299 mainly for the --plugin-dir sandbox fix, and raise the threshold for long tasks that need their context verbatim so compaction doesn’t drop details.
// Background · from #Coding agents
Full timeline →- Oct 15 Copilot updates its multi-model orchestration HydraFusion and adds HydraFusion Max for demanding tasks
- Oct 14 Gemini 4 Argon is generally available in GitHub Copilot, billed at provider list price and on by default for Business and Enterprise unless admins turn it off
- Oct 14 Copilot enterprise settings can force a fresh policy at startup and fail closed, and the sandbox key now enforces a minimum client version