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Claude Code now compresses long-idle sessions before the prompt cache expires (about 1 hour), so when you return to that session later, only the summary needs to be reprocessed rather than the entire conversation. Information released by Claude Devs on November 4, 2026 also mentions that when Pro and Max users resume extremely long conversations, if doing so would consume a large proportion of the 5-hour limit, they will receive a prompt first. This feature is currently live along with the above description, and there are no further developments at this time.
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Claude Code idle session compaction reduces usageDevelopments
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Nov 4
Claude DevsFirst-party
Claude Code idle session compaction reduces usage
Claude Code will now compact long-idle sessions before the prompt cache expires (about 1 hour), so when you return to that session later, only the summary needs to be reprocessed rather than the entire conversation. When Pro and Max users resume very long conversations, if doing so would consume a large proportion of the 5-hour limit, they will receive a warning first.