docs: add session pruning docs

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Peter Steinberger
2026-01-07 18:03:35 +01:00
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---
summary: "Session pruning: opt-in tool-result trimming to reduce context bloat"
read_when:
- You want to reduce LLM context growth from tool outputs
- You are tuning agent.contextPruning
---
# Session Pruning
Session pruning trims **old tool results** from the in-memory context right before each LLM call. It is **opt-in** and does **not** rewrite the on-disk session history (`*.jsonl`).
## When it runs
- Before each LLM request (context hook).
- Only affects the messages sent to the model for that request.
## What can be pruned
- Only `toolResult` messages.
- User + assistant messages are **never** modified.
- The last `keepLastAssistants` assistant messages are protected; tool results after that cutoff are not pruned.
- If there arent enough assistant messages to establish the cutoff, pruning is skipped.
- Tool results containing **image blocks** are skipped (never trimmed/cleared).
## Context window estimation
Pruning uses an estimated context window (chars ≈ tokens × 4). The window size is resolved in this order:
1) Model definition `contextWindow` (from the model registry).
2) `models.providers.*.models[].contextWindow` override.
3) `agent.contextTokens`.
4) Default `200000` tokens.
## Modes
### adaptive
- If estimated context ratio ≥ `softTrimRatio`: soft-trim oversized tool results.
- If still ≥ `hardClearRatio` **and** prunable tool text ≥ `minPrunableToolChars`: hard-clear oldest eligible tool results.
### aggressive
- Always hard-clears eligible tool results before the cutoff.
- Ignores `hardClear.enabled` (always clears when eligible).
## Soft vs hard pruning
- **Soft-trim**: only for oversized tool results.
- Keeps head + tail, inserts `...`, and appends a note with the original size.
- Skips results with image blocks.
- **Hard-clear**: replaces the entire tool result with `hardClear.placeholder`.
## Tool selection
- `tools.allow` / `tools.deny` support `*` wildcards.
- Deny wins.
- Empty allow list => all tools allowed.
## Interaction with other limits
- Built-in tools already truncate their own output; session pruning is an extra layer that prevents long-running chats from accumulating too much tool output in the model context.
- Compaction is separate: compaction summarizes and persists, pruning is transient per request.
## Defaults (when enabled)
- `keepLastAssistants`: `3`
- `softTrimRatio`: `0.3`
- `hardClearRatio`: `0.5`
- `minPrunableToolChars`: `50000`
- `softTrim`: `{ maxChars: 4000, headChars: 1500, tailChars: 1500 }`
- `hardClear`: `{ enabled: true, placeholder: "[Old tool result content cleared]" }`
## Examples
Minimal (adaptive):
```json5
{
agent: {
contextPruning: { mode: "adaptive" }
}
}
```
Aggressive:
```json5
{
agent: {
contextPruning: { mode: "aggressive" }
}
}
```
Restrict pruning to specific tools:
```json5
{
agent: {
contextPruning: {
mode: "adaptive",
tools: { allow: ["bash", "read"], deny: ["*image*"] }
}
}
}
```
See config reference: [Gateway Configuration](/gateway/configuration)