Documentation request: Guidance for working with very large files (70k-100k+ records)
Resolved 💬 3 comments Opened Dec 7, 2025 by JBCox Closed Feb 8, 2026
Summary
The current documentation lacks guidance for working with very large files - specifically datasets with 70k-100k+ records like parts catalogs, inventory databases, or pricing sheets.
Current State
The docs mention:
- Avoid pasting large content directly
- Use
/compactand/clearfor context management
But there's no guidance on:
- Practical file size limits
- Chunking strategies
- Alternative approaches (SQLite, indexing, batch processing)
- Workflow examples for large datasets
Proposed Addition
A new documentation page covering:
1. Understanding the Limits
- Context window constraints
- Token consumption for large files
- When direct file reading becomes impractical
2. Practical Strategies
- Query instead of load: Use grep/search to find specific records
- Convert to SQLite: For repeated queries against large datasets
- Split into chunks: Break files by category, range, or size
- Create summary indexes: Lightweight reference files
- Headless mode batching: Process large datasets in batches
- MCP servers: Tools designed for large file handling
3. Examples
- Finding specific parts in a large catalog
- Bulk price updates
- Generating reports from subsets
Why This Matters
Users working with real-world datasets (parts catalogs, product inventories, pricing databases) often have files with 50k-100k+ rows. Without guidance, they'll hit context limits and not know how to proceed.
Draft Content
I've drafted a full documentation page here: https://gist.github.com/ (can provide if helpful)
Would be happy to submit a PR if there's interest.
This issue has 3 comments on GitHub. Read the full discussion on GitHub ↗