Automate Claude Chat Summaries for Seamless Conversation Continuity

What this guide does

What changed: Claude won't drop your work. This guide shows how to automatically summarize a long Claude chat and continue it in a new session. You get warning rules, ready-made summary prompts, and simple automation ideas to create new chats with context preserved.

Why Claude hits limits

Claude re-reads the whole chat every time. That uses tokens. Too many tokens makes the system stop or force you to start over.

The Pro versions have big windows (over 200,000 tokens), but practical limits and system load still matter. See Claude usage limits for background.

High-level solution: auto-summary + new chat creation

The idea is simple:

• Watch token or message size.
• When a threshold is hit, ask Claude to write a short summary plus "how to resume" instructions.
• Create a new chat and inject the summary so Claude can pick up where it left off.

This removes the need to copy/paste long histories. It also avoids the abrupt messages that tell users to "hit continue" and then say it's impossible.

When to warn and auto-run

Warning thresholds

• Soft warning at ~65% of your token budget. Send a note: "This chat is getting long."
• Hard warning at ~85–90%. Trigger an auto-summary step.

Actions at the hard warning

• Have Claude produce a compact summary of the important facts.
• Include "open tasks" and next steps so the next chat can resume work.
• Optionally auto-create a new chat and move the summary there.

What a good auto-summary contains

Keep it short. Include only what matters for next steps.

• Goal or project brief (1 sentence)
• Decisions made (bullet list)
• Open tasks and blockers (bullet list)
• Key data, config, or code links (short list)
• Suggested next message to continue the work (1-2 sentences)

Summary prompt template

Summarize the conversation for continuation. Output a short title, one-sentence goal, 3 bullets: decisions, open tasks, blockers, then a 1-2 sentence "how to resume" instruction.
Keep the total summary under 200 tokens.
Format:
Title: ...
Goal: ...
Decisions:
- ...
Open tasks:
- ...
Blockers:
- ...
Resume: ...

Automating new chat creation

Some Claude tools already auto-compact. See Claude Code auto-compact and Cline's auto-compact for examples. The missing piece is automated new chat creation with the summary included.

Simple automation pattern

1. Monitor token usage or message length.
2. At threshold: call the summary prompt above.
3. Create a new chat via API or CLI and send the summary as the first message.
4. Notify the user with a link or chat ID and the summary text.

Pseudo automation example

# Pseudo steps to automate
# 1) Detect usage > 85%
# 2) Ask Claude for the compact summary
# 3) Create new chat and send that summary as initial context
# 4) Notify you with: new_chat_id + summary

# curl example (pseudo)
curl -X POST "https://api.example.com/chats" -H "Authorization: Bearer $KEY" -d '{"initial_message": ""}'

Practical prompts you can copy

Use these short prompts when you need manual control or to bootstrap automation.

• Compact summary (quick): "Summarize this chat in 80 words: goal, decisions, open tasks, and one sentence on how to continue."
• Full handoff (detailed): "Write a 150-token handoff: project goal, steps done, config notes, remaining tasks, and the exact next message to send to continue work."

Checklist before closing a chat

• Run summary prompt and save output.
• Create new chat and paste summary as the first message.
• Label new chat with a clear title (use the summary title).
• Send a short notify message with the new chat link or ID.

Common pitfalls and fixes

• Contradictory system replies: Avoid vague "can't continue" messages by making the summary explicit and action-oriented.
• Too much history in the summary: Keep summaries lean. Use links or attachments for large data.
• Resume fails in CLI: Ensure CLI tools reinject the summary as the first user message when creating the new session. See community reports like this issue.

FAQ

Is this new? Haven't tools done this already?

Parts exist. Auto-compaction is in some tools, but automatic new chat creation and seamless handoff are still rare.

What if Claude mis-summarizes?

Always keep the raw chat logs until the new session proves stable. Use a human review step in automation for critical work.

Resources and reading

• Anthropic: Usage limit best practices
• Claude Code: Auto-compact FAQ
• Cline: Auto-compact docs

Bottom line: Automate short summaries, create a new chat with that summary as the starter message, and notify users. That simple flow prevents lost context and keeps long projects moving.