Status line CTX after /compact reflects single-turn input, not steady-state context

Summary

The CTX: number shown in the status line immediately after /compact is misleadingly high. It reflects the input-token cost of the compaction turn itself (which includes a flurry of system-reminders re-injecting recent tool-call results), not the persistent post-compaction context floor.

Repro

1. Run a session long enough to hit a few Read calls and accumulate context.
2. Run /compact.
3. Observe the status line CTX number — for me it landed at 136K.
4. Send any short follow-up message (e.g. "ok").
5. Status line drops to 60K on the next turn with no other state change.

Expected vs actual

• Expected: After /compact, the CTX number reflects the new compacted state (system prompt + project instructions + memory + tools + summary). Subsequent turns shouldn't shrink it further unless something else is freed.
• Actual: The compaction turn itself bundles a large pile of system-reminders that re-inject file contents from recently called Read tools, plus the deferred-tool list, plus other one-shot reminders. Those tokens are real input cost for that turn but are not persistent. The next turn — which does not re-fire those reminders — drops to the actual steady-state floor.

In my case the gap was 136K vs 60K — a >2x overstatement of the persistent context budget.

Why this matters

Users use the CTX number to estimate "how much room is left." If it's inflated by ~76K right after /compact, the UX implies compaction did less than it did, and users might over-correct (e.g. running /clear instead of /compact, or re-compacting prematurely).

Suggested fix

Either:

• Option A: Show two numbers in the status line — "this turn" vs "persistent floor" (or just label the existing one clearly).
• Option B: On the /compact turn specifically, suppress the one-shot reminders from the displayed CTX, or refresh the status line on the next turn so users see the steady-state number.
• Option C: Document the behavior somewhere users will find it — but a number that needs explanation is itself the problem.

Environment

• Claude Code v2.1.131
• Platform: Linux (Pop!_OS, kernel 6.17.9)
• Model: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context)
• Status line: custom token tracker (but the underlying CTX figure comes from the CLI)