What is an AI Context Window? | DevUtility Hub Glossary

The maximum amount of text (measured in tokens) that an LLM can 'read' and process in a single interaction.

The RAM of the AI World: Context Window

A Context Window is essentially the short-term memory of an AI model. It includes the user's current prompt, all previous messages in the conversation, and any 'RAG' data provided to the model.

The Growth of Context

In 2026, context windows have exploded—with models like Claude 4 and GPT-5-Turbo supporting up to 2 million tokens. However, just because a window is 'large' doesn't mean the model is 'attentive' to everything inside it (the 'Lost in the Middle' phenomenon).

Optimization Strategies

Summarization: Truncating older parts of a conversation to stay within the 'Goldilocks Zone' of high-accuracy reasoning.
Token Budgeting: Using our **Token Counter** to ensure you aren't paying for redundant context.
Needle-in-a-Haystack: Testing whether your model can find a specific fact hidden in a 100k+ token payload.

Managing your context window is the key to balancing cost vs. performance. If you exceed the window, the model will simply 'forget' the oldest parts of your input.

The maximum amount of text (measured in tokens) that an LLM can 'read' and process in a single interaction.

The RAM of the AI World: Context Window

A Context Window is essentially the short-term memory of an AI model. It includes the user's current prompt, all previous messages in the conversation, and any 'RAG' data provided to the model.

The Growth of Context

Optimization Strategies

Summarization: Truncating older parts of a conversation to stay within the 'Goldilocks Zone' of high-accuracy reasoning.
Token Budgeting: Using our **Token Counter** to ensure you aren't paying for redundant context.
Needle-in-a-Haystack: Testing whether your model can find a specific fact hidden in a 100k+ token payload.

Managing your context window is the key to balancing cost vs. performance. If you exceed the window, the model will simply 'forget' the oldest parts of your input.