Clicking context ring should show context breakdown, not trigger /compact

Status Open
Maintainer reply None cached
Activity 0 comments · opened Sep 6, 2026

Current behavior

Clicking the context window ring in the Claude Code input area immediately triggers /compact.

Expected behavior

Clicking the ring shows a breakdown of what's consuming the context window (tokens by category, % used) — matching the informational affordance in Claude Desktop.

Compact should require an explicit action — the /compact command or a dedicated button — not an accidental click on a passive indicator.

Proposed behavior

  • Click ring → show context window makeup (tokens by category, % used)
  • /compact command or explicit button → trigger compaction

Why

The ring is a passive status indicator. Clicking it to get more information is a natural affordance. Triggering a destructive/irreversible action (compaction drops context) on a single click with no confirmation is surprising and easy to do by accident.

Steps to reproduce

  1. Start a long conversation in Claude Code
  2. Click the context ring in the input area
  3. Observe: /compact fires immediately with no confirmation

Environment

  • Claude Code (any recent version)
  • macOS / terminal input UI

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