[BUG] Context limit reached · /compact or /clear to continue

[xlsi]

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?

Auto-compact is off, but claude stops when there are still 30% context left.

What Should Happen?

It should allow me to keep working with the warning showing but non-blocking

Error Messages/Logs

Steps to Reproduce

1. turn off auto-compact,
2. use 2.1.7 and above version.

Claude Model

Opus

Is this a regression?

Yes, this worked in a previous version

Last Working Version

2.1.6 (Claude Code)

Claude Code Version

2.1.12 (Claude Code)

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

macOS

Terminal/Shell

Terminal.app (macOS)

Additional Information

No response

[github-actions]

Found 3 possible duplicate issues:

1. [BUG] Context percentage mismatch between /context, statusline API, and internal limit trigger #18241
2. [BUG] Turning auto-compact OFF won't allow to continue until you fill the 200K tokens window anymore (it worked before). #18152
3. [BUG] Auto compact off, but asking me to compact before 100% context usage #18314

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

[abreufilho]

Same here. Clearly something changed from 2.1.6

[jmmirabile]

This is EXTREMELY frustrating and break causing. This happened in the middle of a refactoring. After running "/compact", I started Claude again, instructed Claude to read the CLAUDE.md, the code and notes, it then ignored other parts of the deployment and did some extra stuff. Then after discussing and reading thru what it broke, the usage limit hit. Then, I did some other things, waited two hours and started again. And again, despite Claude stating it understood what to change, it did something different. And then while researching what it did and discussing why, I ran into the usage limit again! I just wasted two hours with no progress because compacting happens in the middle of coding, Claude looses context and then again when the usage limit is reached! I hate complaining, Claude helped me make incredible progress in two days, but to just stop in the middle of a refactoring, wow! That's not cool.

[OlaHulleberg]

it seems like Claude Code has stopped parsing message_delta events from the API, and instead bases it's usage on ONLY message_start instead

[HCYT]

I’m experiencing the same issue—Claude asks me to compact even with over 30% context remaining.

[lutfi238]

same issue with version 2.1.12 (Claude Code)

[mysehyunhope]

same issue. 2.1.12, windows native.
auto-compact : false,
but it seems that it started happening since i used /compact,
any way, i found a workaround on reddit: setting CLAUDE_CODE_BLOCKING_LIMIT_OVERRIDE="197000" in powershell.
or just u can go back to 2.1.6 or 2.1.2.
it's just a temporary tweak.
i hope this bug gets fixed ASAP.