[BUG] Github Issue Prompt Too Long

[cheizdo2-art]

Preflight Checklist

• I have searched existing issues and this hasn't been reported yet
• This is a single bug report (please file separate reports for different bugs)
• I am using the latest version of Claude Code

What's Wrong?

Bug: "Prompt is too long" Error Makes Sessions Completely Unusable

Description

The "Prompt is too long" error completely breaks active Claude Code sessions. Once this error appears, every single subsequent input returns the same error message, making the session permanently unusable and forcing users to lose all conversation context.

Severity

🔴 CRITICAL - Session-breaking bug

Environment

• Claude Code Version: Latest (2026-02-05)
• OS: Windows 11
• Model: Claude Sonnet 4.5
• Interface: VSCode Extension

---

Steps to Reproduce

1. Start a coding session with multiple file operations
2. Continue conversation for 200+ messages
3. Read several files (especially large ones)
4. Suddenly receive: Prompt is too long
5. Try to send any message
6. Result: Every message returns Prompt is too long
7. Session is now permanently broken

---

Expected Behavior

✅ Users should receive warnings before hitting the limit
✅ Should offer automatic context management options
✅ Should provide recovery mechanisms (e.g., /clear context)
✅ Should never completely lock a session

Actual Behavior

❌ No warning before the error occurs
❌ No way to recover the session
❌ Every input returns the same error
❌ Must close tab and lose ALL context
❌ Must manually search .jsonl files to recover work

---

Impact

User Quote (translated from Spanish):

"THERE'S A VERY UNPLEASANT BUG THAT SCREWS UP MY WINDOWS AND PROJECT CONTEXT. SUDDENLY THIS MESSAGE APPEARS 'Prompt is too long' AND YOU CAN NEVER WRITE AGAIN BECAUSE EVERY WORD YOU TYPE RESPONDS WITH THE SAME 'Prompt is too long'. I'M REALLY FED UP WITH THIS BUG"

Real-world impact:

• 🚫 Hours of conversation context lost instantly
• 🚫 Deep work interrupted without warning
• 🚫 Must start from scratch in new session
• 🚫 Users lose trust in Claude Code reliability
• 🚫 Session file: 76 MB / 12,854 messages lost

---

Proposed Solutions

🔥 Quick Fixes (High Priority)

1. Warning System

   • 70% full: "Context filling up - consider clearing"
   • 85% full: "Context almost full - action needed"
   • 95% full: "CRITICAL: Context nearly full"

2. Emergency Recovery Command

   • Add /recover command that works even when context is full
   • Auto-summarizes and clears old context
   • Preserves last 20-30 messages

3. Visual Context Indicator

   • Progress bar showing context usage
   • Color-coded: 🟢 Green (0-60%) → 🟡 Yellow (60-85%) → 🔴 Red (85-100%)

🎯 Long-term Solutions

1. Automatic Context Management

   • Auto-summarize old messages at 80% capacity
   • Keep recent detailed context
   • Store full history but load summaries

2. Smart Context Pruning

   • Remove redundant information automatically
   • Keep: decisions, code changes, important findings
   • Remove: intermediate debugging, repeated reads

3. Streaming Context Window

   • Summarize oldest messages as new ones arrive
   • Maintain sliding window of detailed context

---

Current Workarounds

Users must manually:

• Run /clear context every 50-100 messages
• Avoid reading large files entirely
• Use offset/limit when reading files
• Start new sessions frequently
• Manually search .jsonl files to recover context 😞

None of these are acceptable solutions.

---

Technical Details

Token Limit: ~200,000 tokens

Session Data Location:

~/.claude/projects/[project-name]/[session-id].jsonl

Example Broken Session:

• File: abdb81bf-58ee-4c29-8005-1c6ec7e30848.jsonl
• Size: 76 MB
• Messages: 12,854 lines
• Lost: Multiple hours of wallet analyzer implementation

---

Suggested Settings

{
  "context": {
    "auto_manage": true,
    "warn_at_percent": 70,
    "auto_summarize_at_percent": 85,
    "preserve_recent_messages": 50
  }
}

---

Reproduction Rate

100% - Happens to every user with long enough sessions. This is not an edge case.

---

Priority Request

This bug severely impacts productivity and user experience. Please prioritize:

1. ⚡ Immediate (days): Add warning system
2. ⚡ Short-term (1-2 weeks): Add recovery command
3. 🎯 Medium-term (1 month): Implement auto context management
4. 🚀 Long-term (2-3 months): Redesign context window

---

Additional Notes

• Affects all users who have long sessions
• Makes Claude Code unreliable for serious development
• Users are extremely frustrated by this issue
• Context recovery is currently painful and manual

---

Thank you for addressing this critical issue! 🙏

What Should Happen?

05

Error Messages/Logs

none

Steps to Reproduce

BUG_REPORT_PROMPT_TOO_LONG.md

Claude Model

Not sure / Multiple models

Is this a regression?

Yes, this worked in a previous version

Last Working Version

No response

Claude Code Version

lastest

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

Windows

Terminal/Shell

VS Code integrated terminal

Additional Information

.

[pleskyjp]

I do have timed out prompts too => Fixed locally

[github-actions]

Found 3 possible duplicate issues:

1. "Prompt too long" causes complete hardlock requiring session restart #22013
2. VS Code Extension: "too long prompt" error blocks all input with no recovery guidance #22381
3. [Bug] Chat becomes unresponsive after "Prompt is too long" error #16697

This issue will be automatically closed as a duplicate in 3 days.

• If your issue is a duplicate, please close it and 👍 the existing issue instead
• To prevent auto-closure, add a comment or 👎 this comment

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

[giandre]

I do have timed out prompts too => Fixed locally

@pleskyjp , how did you fix this locally? I am having this problem constantly.

[Alexander96f]

got the same issue, anyone got a solution for this? basicly its unuseable for me even in new conversation I get the same error

[hansheng654]

The problem is 100% due to use of image, where the prompt size is NOT calculated correctly when you use images in prompts, so it blows up before it triggers the auto compress code.
PLZ FIX !!!!

[mognog]

I've been getting it in Claude Code VS Code Extension v2.1.37. It's the 9th Feb 2026 today and I've been getting this issue the last few days. I thought it was my hooks but after analysing them they appear to be fine. Also I created a fresh Claude Code agent tab and asked it to check the permissions on a script and to add a few lines on a help document on how to fix it. It checked the file and did the doc change and checked it into new feature branch without me realising. So I asked it where the change was and it said it was commited already. As soon as I wrote 'ah you commited it already, Thats fine' it came up with 'Prompt is too long'.

Now my chat had:

• no images
• only had 3 very short text inputs from me
• had to read a 30 line script
• had to update an 800 line help markdown document

This chat was so short there is barely a scrollbar. So how come I'm at my prompt limit?

I'm going to shrink down my Claude.md even more and remove examples etc to see if that makes a difference.

[alexjcampbell]

How is this not a P0 for the Claude Code team? The product is barely usable.

[pleskyjp]

I do have timed out prompts too => Fixed locally

@pleskyjp , how did you fix this locally? I am having this problem constantly.

I just restarted claude in system. Sometimes claude code & claude desktop time out on my prompts, or take it too long. I think this is because I dont close dev setup for days not even terminal with claude session. Iam on Mac