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AI Context Degradation Threshold
AI model performance degrades significantly when context usage exceeds 50% of available token limits, similar to human cognitive overload
Decision Rule
Start new AI sessions when context usage reaches 40-50% to maintain output quality
How It Works
Like humans becoming overwhelmed with too much information, AI models lose coherence and accuracy when context becomes saturated with tokens
Failure Modes
Continuing sessions beyond 50% context usage
Ignoring context warnings in AI interfaces
Trying to fit entire projects in single sessions
Example Decision
“When building a complex app and Claude Code shows 45% context usage, start a new session and provide key context summary rather than continuing in degraded state”