Misleading error message when conversation context exceeds 20MB limit
Resolved 💬 3 comments Opened Mar 25, 2026 by MILKYMAN1610 Closed Mar 29, 2026
Problem
When a conversation's accumulated context exceeds the 20MB request size limit, the error shown is:
Request too large (max 20MB). Try with a smaller file.
This is confusing because:
- The user may not have attached any file at all
- The error implies the fix is to use a smaller file, which doesn't help
- The session becomes stuck with no clear path forward — even typing "reset yourself" triggers the same error
Expected behavior
The error message should clearly indicate that the conversation history is too large, not a file, and suggest starting a new chat. For example:
Conversation context is too large to continue. Please start a new chat.
Steps to reproduce
- Have a long conversation with many tool calls / large tool outputs
- Eventually the accumulated context hits the 20MB limit
- Every subsequent message returns the misleading error
Suggested improvement
- Change the error message to distinguish between "file too large" and "conversation context too large"
- Optionally, proactively warn the user as they approach the limit
This issue has 3 comments on GitHub. Read the full discussion on GitHub ↗