What Claude's length limit is
Claude's help center says length limits relate to Claude's context window: the amount of information Claude can work with in a single chat. On paid plans, it says, the newest models support up to a 1M token context window, while others support 500K or 200K tokens. Part of that space is always kept for Claude's reply.
So the limit depends on the model, but every chat has one.
What happens near the limit
According to the help center, if you have code execution turned on, Claude now manages long conversations automatically: when a chat approaches the limit, it summarizes earlier messages so the conversation can continue. Your full chat history is kept.
That keeps the chat going, but a summary is still a summary. The early details, the rule you set at the start or the option you ruled out, may come through shorter than you'd like.
Why long chats use more of your limit
The help center is clear on this too: longer conversations that trigger automatic context management consume more of your usage limit. Its advice, if you're approaching your usage limit in a longer chat, is to try starting a new conversation.
So even when Claude can keep a chat going, a fresh one is often the better move.
Keep going in a new chat
Start the new chat with a short message:
- The goal, in one line.
- What's decided, so it isn't reopened.
- The rules you kept repeating.
- Where you stopped: the latest version of the work.
Keep it short. A tight handoff leaves room to work.
A new chat isn't a downgrade.
Claude's help center also mentions projects as an option when you hit a length limit. Either way, a new chat starts with the full space, and a short handoff tells it exactly where you were.
The faster way: let Uncook write the handoff
Uncook's Handoff writes that message for you. On the Claude page, click the Uncook icon and pick Handoff. You get a prompt with your goal, what's decided, the rules you set and where you stopped.
Read it, change what you want, then copy it into a new chat.
Questions people ask
Can I make a full Claude chat longer? Not from inside the chat. The limit depends on the model; a new chat starts with the full space.
Does Claude's automatic summary replace a handoff? It keeps the chat going. A handoff lets you choose what carries over, and start with a full context window.
Can I continue in ChatGPT instead? Yes. A handoff is plain text, so you can paste it into any AI.
Start fresh,
without starting over.
Add to Chrome
We don't keep the conversations you bring. When you click Send to Uncook in the extension window, the extension sends the chat from your tab to our servers, encrypted, for up to 30 minutes, and we delete it as soon as your Uncook page opens it. What Uncook makes from it is kept as a task, for as long as our Privacy page says. Neither your chats nor your tasks are used to train AI models.