Context Window Pollution: The Silent Agent Degradation Problem

Context Window Pollution: The Silent Agent Degradation Problem Your AI agent starts sharp. Give it a task, it executes cleanly. Give it the same task two hours later, after running continuously? It might fumble it. This is not a model problem. It is a context window problem. What Happens Over Time Every tool call leaves residue in the context: partial API responses, dead-end reasoning steps, error messages from retries, stale task context. The model does not cleanly distinguish "fresh instructions" from "junk from 47 steps ago." Result: degraded decisions. The right answer is buried under noise. The Fix: A Context Flush Rule Add this to your SOUL.md: Every 20 steps, summarize completed work to memory/progress.md, clear intermediate reasoning, and reload only the current task context. Fresh context = sharper decisions. Less noise, more signal. Progress is preserved via the summary file — nothing important is lost, just restructured. Three Signs You Have Context Pollution Agent quality d