Claude Code forgets what it was doing after compaction: why, and the fix

What survives compaction

Fix 1: move lasting instructions into CLAUDE.md

Claude Code's memory docs give three reasons an instruction disappears after compaction: it was given only in conversation, it lives in a nested CLAUDE.md that hasn't reloaded yet, or it is a path-scoped rule that hasn't matched a file since. Put anything that must last in the project-root CLAUDE.md, or drop the paths: frontmatter from a rule that must survive.

Fix 2: compact on your terms

• /compact with instructions keeps what you choose instead of what the automatic pass guesses, for example /compact focus on the auth bug fix. Run it before starting a long new task.
• /rewind, pick a message and choose Summarize from here or Summarize up to here to compact only part of the conversation.
• /autocompact with a token count, such as /autocompact 500k, sets how full the window gets before the automatic pass runs.

Fix 3: re-inject state with a hook

A SessionStart hook with the compact matcher runs after every compaction, and whatever it prints is added to the new context. Print the state Claude needs, such as the last few commits:

{
  "hooks": {
    "SessionStart": [
      {
        "matcher": "compact",
        "hooks": [
          { "type": "command", "command": "echo 'Recent commits:'; git log --oneline -5" }
        ]
      }
    ]
  }
}

After /clear or a new session

/clear starts a fresh conversation, and the old one stays saved: claude --continue reopens the most recent session in the folder, and claude --resume opens a picker. Starting fresh is often the better choice for a new task, as long as the state you need lives somewhere other than the old conversation.

Keep the task's state outside the session

Keep the plan somewhere other than the conversation. A file works: a PROGRESS.md with the plan as a checklist, plus a CLAUDE.md line telling Claude to read it before each step. Claude Code's own task list also persists across compactions when the task tools are on; see Claude Code task list empty if yours isn't.

Taskhold keeps the state on a server. The agent plans the task into steps with taskhold_plan and completes each with a summary. After a compaction, a /clear or a new session, taskhold_get_current returns the task in progress with its steps and the next one to do, so Claude picks up at the right step. You see the same state on the live board, and any reply you left waits in taskhold_updates. The compact hook can remind Claude to look:

{
  "hooks": {
    "SessionStart": [
      {
        "matcher": "compact",
        "hooks": [
          { "type": "command", "command": "echo 'Call taskhold_get_current and continue from the next open step.'" }
        ]
      }
    ]
  }
}