context window
The amount of text an AI can read at once, which limits how much of your files and instructions it considers.
Like a whiteboard that only fits so many notes before you have to erase some. A context window is the size limit of what an AI can look at in one go, measured in tokens, which are small chunks of text.
It matters because if your project or prompt is bigger than that space, the agent may miss important files or steps. Clear, focused instructions and relevant excerpts help it stay on track.
In practice you share the key files, summaries of long parts, and links to where code lives. Watch for messages that say content was cut off, and then narrow the scope or provide a shorter example.