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How many chats should I keep open?

Facts as of October 17, 2026

Few – as many as the projects you're currently running. Thomas J. Weiss keeps five to seven open at most. He closes every chat deliberately: first make sure everything relevant is in the knowledge store, then delete.

In detail

At the end of a project or a stretch of work, you give the thread a closing instruction (below, to copy). This has two effects. First, everything really does end up in the knowledge store and not in a chat that will be forgotten at some point. Second, every project has a beginning and an end: the open chats are the projects you're currently working on, and no more.

Ask once more before deleting – and look in the knowledge store yourself. An AI can confirm a backup that doesn't exist, see How can I tell whether the AI has really done, saved or checked something?

Long chats have one more drawback: when the working memory fills up, the system summarizes older parts, and what was only in the conversation can get lost along the way. There is no reliable advance warning. What protects you: write to the knowledge store after every completed step, not only at the end. Then only the course of the conversation gets summarized, not the result, and a new chat can begin at any such boundary.

To copy

Make sure I can close and delete this thread now and that
everything relevant is already in the vault.

In practice

He ends every single thread this way and deletes it afterwards. In an interview in October 2026 he said:

So one thing, a really important tip: close and delete every thread, and while doing so make sure that everything really is in the vault.

(Original: „Also das eine, ganz wichtiger Tipp, jeden Thread schließen und löschen und dabei dafür sorgen, dass auch wirklich alles im Vault steht.“)

He had already described what long chats feel like in September 2026, after writing a play for his parish:

To this day I haven't understood why Claude can't warn you before something like that happens. It was a constant small fear in the background.

(Original: „Ich habe bis jetzt nicht verstanden, warum Claude nicht warnen kann, bevor so etwas passiert. Das war eine ständige kleine Angst im Hintergrund.“)

Sources

  • Interview „Tunnel“ with Thomas J. Weiss, 17.10.2026
  • Note „Zusammenarbeit an Texten“, replicapong.de, 11.10.2026
  • Interview on the review of a theater project, 02.09.2026

Cite: Thomas J. Weiss: “How many chats should I keep open?” replicapong.de, as of October 17, 2026. https://replicapong.de/en/question/how-many-open-chats/ – CC BY 4.0

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