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[FEATURE]: Silent/background compaction — don't stream summary output to the terminal #13033

Closed as not planned

Description

@Rohansguliani

Feature hasn't been suggested before.

  • I have verified this feature I'm about to request hasn't been suggested before.

Describe the enhancement you want to request

When auto-compaction triggers, the entire summarization process streams visibly into the chat window. The user has to sit and watch the summary text render token-by-token before they can continue working. This is disruptive and slow — especially since compaction uses the same primary model as the active session by default.

Current behavior:
The compaction summary streams into the chat window just like a normal assistant response. This interrupts the user's flow, is slow (uses the primary model), and adds visual noise — the summary is internal context for the AI, not something the human needs to read in real-time.

Expected behavior:
Compaction should run silently in the background. The user should see at most a brief indicator (e.g., "Compacting context..." → "Done"), not the full streamed output.

Suggestion:

  • Stream compaction in the background without rendering output to the chat
  • Show a minimal status indicator (spinner, progress bar, or one-liner like "Context compacted")
  • Optionally, make this configurable (e.g., compaction.silent: true) for users who want to watch it

Not a duplicate of flagged issues:

This issue is specifically about the UX: compaction output should not stream visibly into the user's chat window.

Environment: opencode 0.0.0-dev-202602020741, macOS (desktop/web app)

Activity

  1. Gamezar commented on Feb 26, 2026

    @Gamezar

    Same here, also makes scrolling through conversation history very difficult. Maybe compaction result can be toggled like output of subagents currently is?

  2. rka-ppi commented on Feb 26, 2026

    @rka-ppi

    vote +1

  3. utapyngo commented on Mar 4, 2026

    @utapyngo

    Please implement background compaction as in Copilot CLI: start compaction in background at 80% context utilization (COPILOT_BACKGROUND_COMPACTION_THRESHOLD), while the agent continues working normally (sending requests, calling tools). When compaction completes, the summary replaces old messages but messages generated during compaction are preserved — so the agent retains recent context and doesn't lose direction. At 95% utilization (COPILOT_BUFFER_EXHAUSTION_THRESHOLD), block until compaction finishes. I love how Copilot implements this.

  4. assigned and unassigned on Apr 26, 2026
  5. github-actions commented on Jun 26, 2026

    @github-actions
    Contributor

    To stay organized issues are automatically closed after 60 days of no activity. If the issue is still relevant please open a new one.

  6. martin-braun commented on Aug 11, 2026

    @martin-braun

    I fully agree with @utapyngo. Can we please re-open this? Please :(

  7. FyiurAmron commented on Sep 27, 2026

    @FyiurAmron

    This will never be reopened, because it's bots. :/

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