Claude Code Context Is Like a Fridge - Put Only Perishable Items in It

Managing context in Claude Code is essential for maintaining performance, as the main conversation window acts like a finite fridge. The author suggests that not all tasks belong in the main session. Instead, users should treat the main conversation as a space for interactive, back-and-forth work. For other tasks, the article recommends using 'pantries': subagents for self-contained investigations, separate sessions for unbiased code reviews, and headless loops for repetitive, large-scale migrations. By offloading non-perishable tasks to these alternative execution methods, developers can prevent context bloat, keep the main conversation fresh, and improve the overall efficiency of AI-assisted coding. The guide provides a practical decision-making framework to help developers determine when to keep a task in the main thread versus when to delegate it to a subagent or a background process, ensuring optimal resource usage during complex development workflows.