Your context window is not your agent's memory

Short summary

Context windows are ephemeral—they vanish between sessions. Real memory requires a separate, durable store on disk, not just a bigger token window. Architects should separate working context (the window) from persistent knowledge (the filing cabinet), treating them as distinct systems with different lifespans, costs, and access patterns.

• •Context windows are ephemeral working memory that gets wiped at session end, not persistent memory
• •Large windows increase per-turn costs and attention dilution without solving cross-session continuity
• •Effective agent design separates ephemeral working context from durable on-disk storage with explicit load/persist operations

Generated with AI, which can make mistakes.