Files
openclaw-skill/openclaw-knowhow-skill/docs/reference/concepts/context.md
Selig 4c966a3ad2 Initial commit: OpenClaw Skill Collection
6 custom skills (assign-task, dispatch-webhook, daily-briefing,
task-capture, qmd-brain, tts-voice) with technical documentation.
Compatible with Claude Code, OpenClaw, Codex CLI, and OpenCode.
2026-03-13 10:58:30 +08:00

1.7 KiB

Context

OpenClaw's "Context" represents everything the model receives for a run, constrained by the model's token limit. It encompasses the system prompt, conversation history, tool calls, and attachments.

Key Components

The system breaks down into several parts:

  • System prompt (built by OpenClaw): includes rules, tools, skills, time/runtime data, and workspace files
  • Conversation history: user and assistant messages within the session
  • Tool results and attachments: command outputs, file reads, media

Context Inspection Commands

Users can monitor context usage via:

Command Description
/status Shows window fullness and session settings
/context list Displays injected files with approximate token counts
/context detail Provides granular breakdown by file and tool schemas
/usage tokens Appends token usage to replies
/compact Summarizes older messages to free space

What Counts Toward the Window

Everything sent to the model consumes tokens:

  • System prompt sections
  • Conversation history
  • Tool calls and results
  • Attachments and transcripts
  • Compaction summaries
  • Provider wrappers

Workspace File Injection

OpenClaw automatically injects these files (if present):

  • AGENTS.md
  • SOUL.md
  • TOOLS.md
  • IDENTITY.md
  • USER.md
  • HEARTBEAT.md
  • BOOTSTRAP.md

Files exceeding bootstrapMaxChars (default 20,000) are truncated, with truncation status indicated in context reports.

Skills and Tools

Skills include metadata in the system prompt but load instruction details only when the model calls /read on the skill file.

Tools incur dual costs:

  1. Text descriptions in the system prompt
  2. JSON schemas that count toward context separately