Context management enables agents to maintain relevant information, handle long conversations effectively, and optimize performance by balancing comprehensive context with efficient processing.
Overview
The Context Management primitive focuses on how agents maintain, organize, and utilize information throughout conversations and workflows. While sessions and states handle persistence, context management addresses the strategic questions of what information to keep active, how to structure it, and when to optimize it. Effective context management is essential for:- Long Conversations: Maintain relevance in extended interactions without performance degradation
- Information Prioritization: Keep critical information accessible while managing less relevant details
- Memory Optimization: Balance comprehensive context with processing efficiency
- Task Continuity: Ensure agents have the right information at the right time
- Performance Scaling: Handle complex workflows without overwhelming the context window
Automatic History
All messages automatically preserved in conversation context
Context Windowing
Agents intelligently manage large conversation histories
Strategic Summarization
Condense lengthy contexts while preserving key information
Priority Information
Highlight critical details for agent attention
How Context Management Works
Context flows through agent conversations in several ways:- Message History: All previous messages automatically included in agent context
- System Prompts: Persistent instructions and guidelines throughout the session
- Tool Results: Outputs from previous tool executions available as context
- File State: Created files and their contents accessible in the environment
- Explicit Context: Information you provide directly in messages
Automatic Context: Agentbase automatically manages message history. You don’t need to manually include previous messages - they’re always available to the agent.
Code Examples
Basic Context Flow
Explicit Context Provision
Context Summarization
Structured Context
Context Injection via System Prompt
Use Cases
1. Long-Running Project Management
Maintain context across weeks or months:2. Customer Conversation Management
Handle extended customer interactions:3. Research Compilation
Accumulate research findings with context:4. Iterative Development with Context
Maintain development context across iterations:5. Multi-Document Analysis
Analyze multiple documents with shared context:6. Contextual Debugging
Debug with full session context:Best Practices
Context Organization
Structure Important Context
Structure Important Context
Prioritize Recent Information
Prioritize Recent Information
Use Reference Points
Use Reference Points
Context Optimization
Compress Verbose Information
Compress Verbose Information
Remove Stale Context
Remove Stale Context
Context Handoff
Explicit Context Transfer
Explicit Context Transfer
Integration with Other Primitives
With Sessions
Sessions are the container for context:With States
State persistence enables context continuity:With Prompts
System prompts provide persistent context:With Multi-Agent
Context transfers between agents:Performance Considerations
Context Window Size
- Small contexts (<10 messages): Optimal performance
- Medium contexts (10-50 messages): Good performance
- Large contexts (50-100 messages): Consider summarization
- Very large contexts (100+ messages): Implement context optimization
Optimization Strategies
Memory vs. Performance Trade-offs
Comprehensive Context
Pros: Agent has all information
Cons: Slower, higher costs
Optimized Context
Pros: Faster, lower costs
Cons: May lose some detail
Troubleshooting
Agent Forgetting Information
Agent Forgetting Information
Problem: Agent doesn’t remember earlier conversationSolution: Verify session continuity and explicitly reference important info
Slow Response Times
Slow Response Times
Problem: Responses getting slower in long conversationsSolution: Implement summarization
Context Confusion
Context Confusion
Problem: Agent mixing up different topics or tasksSolution: Use structured context and clear delineation
Related Primitives
Sessions
Container for all conversation context
States
Persistent state that forms part of context
Prompts
Persistent context via system prompts
Multi-Agent
Context transfer between agents