The Narrow Window

Advertised context windows are not work windows. Install practical bands and stop-new-work rules.

The Problem

Every model advertises a context window. 200K. 400K. 1M. Those numbers are real, but they are not the same as judgment. A model can still hold the conversation while getting worse at the work. It remembers the words and loses the plot. It connects unrelated projects. It speaks with confidence from stale context. It keeps going because continuing is what it was trained to do.

The Solution

Course 10 gave you bands. Course 13 taught you to control what enters the room. This course teaches you where the best work actually happens. The useful window is narrower than the technical window. Your agent installs a narrow-window protocol: plan when light, execute in the productive band, stop new work before judgment degrades, and use fresh sessions for new domains. You stop asking, "How much context is left?" and start asking, "Is this the right instance for this job?"

You will: pick your context threshold for domain switches and test it across a week of sessions.