# X_AGENT_CONTEXT_EXHAUSTED

## Means

an agent's next request would not fit its model's context window

## Typical cause

an agent()'s next request was estimated over the model's contextWindow less maxTokens, and auto-compaction (compact, default 'auto') could not bring it under: there were no turns older than keepTurns to summarise, the summary call failed (no text, cut off, refused, unreachable), or the compacted request still did not fit. Raised before the request is sent, never as a truncated transcript — or, as of 2026-11, after a provider refused the turn as over the window (X_AI_CONTEXT_OVERFLOW) and the one forced compaction failed or was refused too (meta.refused holds the provider's text)

## Fix

`compact: { at: 0.6, keepTurns: 2 }` — on the agent — compact earlier and keep fewer turns verbatim; or lower maxToolResultChars, or run on a model whose registerModel row has a larger contextWindow

[MCP and AI](/error-codes#mcp-and-ai)