90 lines
6.6 KiB
Markdown
90 lines
6.6 KiB
Markdown
# Input & Context
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This chapter covers the two menus in the input bar, file references, uploads, and Astrion's context management system—including the correct use of compression mechanisms.
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---
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## 1. `+` Quick Menu (Full Feature List)
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Click `+` on the left side of the input bar to open it. Here's the full list of features:
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| Feature | Description |
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|------|------|
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| New conversation | Start a new conversation (equivalent to `new` / `clear`) |
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| Upload file | Select a local file to upload into the workspace |
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| Send image / Send video | Attach to the message; **disabled when the current model does not support multimodality** (depends on the `multimodal` config) |
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| Compress conversation | Manually trigger a one-time context compression |
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| Select AgentSkill | Insert a skill reference (equivalent to typing the `//` shortcut) |
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| Workflow | Activate a workflow so the agent progresses through a predefined flow |
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| Conversation type | Switch between "Agent / Multi-agent" on an empty conversation (immutable after creation) |
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| Switch work mode | plan / ask / execute |
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| Switch theme | Classic / Light / Dark |
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| Conversation review | Open the review for the current conversation |
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| Usage statistics | Context and token usage panel |
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| Goal mode | Toggle goal mode (Beta, see the "Conversation" chapter) |
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| Personal settings | Open Personal Space |
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| Live terminal | Open the live terminal panel |
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| Switch model | Choose the model used by this conversation |
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| Thinking mode | Switch between fast / thinking |
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| Permission mode | Switch between readonly / approval / auto / unrestricted |
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| Network permission | Restricted / Fully open (also adjustable in plan mode) |
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| Execution environment | sandbox / direct (host mode only) |
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| Switch workspace / project | Switch the workspace bound to the current conversation |
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| Version control | Turn version control on/off for this conversation |
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| Git status bar | Show/hide the Git status bar above the input bar |
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| Path authorization | View and manage sandbox path authorization |
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| Approval panel | View approval records |
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## 2. `/` Slash Menu
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Type `/` in the input box to trigger the slash shortcut menu, which lets you quickly filter and jump to a category of options by keyword. It currently supports 12 categories: AgentSkills (`//` shortcut), workflow, theme, permission mode, execution environment, model, thinking mode, network permission, work mode, workspace, conversation type, etc.
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Typical usage: `/skill` to pick a skill, `/workflow` to pick a workflow, `/model` to switch models—faster than browsing the `+` menu.
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## 3. `@` File References
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Type `@` to bring up the file menu and insert a reference to a file/directory from the workspace. Referenced files are provided to the agent as context, which is ideal for "discuss this file" scenarios. Image file references are handled according to multimodality capabilities.
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## 4. Context Compression: Shallow vs. Deep
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Every long conversation eventually hits the model's context limit. Astrion provides two levels of automatic compression plus manual compression:
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### Shallow compression (off by default)
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- Mechanism: replaces earlier **tool call results with placeholders** (keeping the most recent N tool results uncompressed), freeing up space immediately.
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- Trigger: fires by default at 80k accumulated tokens (configurable), with additional fine-tuning parameters such as "every N tool calls", "at most N replacements per round", and "keep tool results from the last N user inputs uncompressed".
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- ⚠️ **Important trade-off: shallow compression modifies the history message content, which breaks the provider-side context cache (prompt cache)**—the requests in the rounds after compression will miss the cache, showing up as slower responses and higher costs. This is why it is off by default.
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### Deep compression (on by default, recommended)
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- Mechanism: performs a **deep summarization** of the whole history; the old context is wholly replaced by a condensed summary so the conversation continues lightweight.
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- Output form is configurable (`deep_compress_form`): `file`—the summary is written to a file, read back at any time when needed (default); `inject`—the full summary is injected directly into the context.
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- Trigger: 150k tokens by default.
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### The 80% rule for custom thresholds (follow it)
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If you customize the compression trigger threshold, **set it to at least 80% of the model's actual usable context**.
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For example, if a model's actual context is 128k, the trigger threshold should not be lower than roughly 102k. Setting the threshold too low triggers compression frequently: it wastes tokens, repeatedly breaks the context cache, and makes the AI lose detail memory prematurely. Getting the conversation to "fill the window before compressing" is the most cost-effective use.
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> The model's actual context window is determined by the `context_window` of that model in `custom_models.json`; note the difference between "nominal context" and "actual usable context" (some APIs reserve space for output).
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### Manual compression
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`+` menu → "Compress conversation" can be triggered manually at any time. It's useful when you anticipate starting a new topic and want to proactively free up space.
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## 5. Context Injection Features
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These features affect the context automatically carried in every round of conversation; they are all configured in Personal Space:
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- **Recent conversation hints** (off by default): when enabled, a new conversation automatically injects a summary of the most recent N historical conversations into the context (N is configurable, 1–30, default 10). Good for continuous workflows like "I've been working on the same project recently"; combine it with the "conversation continuity" personalization setting.
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- **AGENTS.md auto-injection** (off by default): when enabled, the AGENTS.md in the project root is automatically injected into the context, so the AI always works with the project conventions.
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- **Project memory index injection**: the AI's project memory index is injected at most 20 entries by default (starting at 5, settable to unlimited). Memory content is actively accumulated by the AI during work.
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- **Skill hints** (off by default): dynamically suggests potentially relevant skills based on the current task.
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## 6. Uploads & Multimodality
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- **Upload file**: goes into the workspace; the AI can read and process it later;
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- **Send image/video**: goes directly into the multimodal context with the message;
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- Image compression tiers (Personal Space): `original / 1080p / 720p / 540p`, default original. When sending many large images in a long conversation, consider a lower tier to save context.
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