[DOCS] SDK /compact slash command output

Status Fixed / completed
Maintainer reply None cached
Activity 5 comments · opened Sep 16, 2025 · closed Sep 29, 2025

Documentation Type

Incorrect/outdated documentation

Documentation Location

https://docs.anthropic.com/en/docs/claude-code/sdk/sdk-slash-commands#common-slash-commands

Section/Topic

SDK Slash Commands /compact

Current Documentation

The /compact command reduces the size of your conversation history by summarizing older messages while preserving important context:

import { query } from "@anthropic-ai/claude-code";

for await (const message of query({
  prompt: "/compact",
  options: { maxTurns: 1 }
})) {
  if (message.type === "system" && message.subtype === "compact_boundary") {
    console.log("Compaction completed");
    console.log("Pre-compaction tokens:", message.compact_metadata.pre_tokens);
    console.log("Trigger:", message.compact_metadata.trigger);
  }
}

What's Wrong or Missing?

What actually gets returned from the SDK is a message type of "user" with the following content:

<local-command-stdout>Compacted </local-command-stdout>

Suggested Improvement

Either update the documentation or the code to match the expected behavior.

Impact

High - Prevents users from using a feature

Additional Context

_No response_

View original on GitHub ↗

5 Comments

Mng-dev-ai · 1 year ago

also, it doesn't create a new jsonl file with the new summary

ShibuyaZone · 1 year ago

also,

Based on the GitHub code for the Claude Code Python SDK (v0.21), it appears that internally, it still uses the Claude Code CLI to forward prompts.
In Claude Code (v1.0.117), the CLI does not yet support built-in slash commands, though custom slash commands appear to be supported.
Indeed, both the CLI and SDK support custom slash commands, but built-in slash commands like /compact do not function.

Mng-dev-ai · 1 year ago

looks like it's fixed in v1.0.128

benbrandt · 1 year ago

I am seeing this event now, and also seeing the full user message of what the compact message is. will close for now

github-actions[bot] · 1 year ago

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