When working with [Large Language Models (LLMs)](/docs/getting-started/providers), there are limits to how much conversation history they can process at once. goose provides smart context management features to help handle context and conversation limits so you can maintain productive sessions. Here are some key concepts:
goose automatically compacts older parts of your conversation into a summary when approaching token limits, allowing you to maintain long-running sessions without manual intervention.
Control the auto-compaction behavior with the `GOOSE_AUTO_COMPACT_THRESHOLD` [environment variable](/docs/guides/environment-variables.md#session-management).
Disable this feature by setting the value to `0.0`.
```
# Automatically compact sessions when 60% of available tokens are used
You can customize how goose summarizes conversations during compaction by editing the `compaction.md` [prompt template](/docs/guides/context-engineering/prompt-templates).
To help maintain efficient context usage, goose summarizes older tool call outputs in the background while keeping recent calls in full detail. By default, goose computes the cutoff from the model context limit and auto-compaction threshold. For advanced tuning, see [`GOOSE_TOOL_CALL_CUTOFF`](/docs/guides/environment-variables#session-management).
The `Max Turns` limit is the maximum number of consecutive turns that goose can take without user input (default: 1000). When the limit is reached, goose stops and prompts: "I've reached the maximum number of actions I can do without user input. Would you like me to continue?" If the user answers in the affirmative, goose continues until the limit is reached and then prompts again.
This feature gives you control over agent autonomy and prevents infinite loops and runaway behavior, which could have significant cost consequences or damaging impact in production environments. Use it for:
- Preventing infinite loops and excessive API calls or resource consumption in automated tasks
- Enabling human supervision or interaction during autonomous operations
- Controlling loops while testing and debugging agent behavior
This setting is stored as the `GOOSE_MAX_TURNS` environment variable in your [config.yaml file](/docs/guides/config-files). You can configure it using the Desktop app or CLI.
In addition to the persistent `Max Turns` setting, you can provide a runtime override for a specific session or task via the `goose session --max-turns` and `goose run --max-turns` [CLI commands](/docs/guides/goose-cli-commands).
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**Choosing the Right Value**
The appropriate max turns value depends on your use case and comfort level with automation:
- **5-10 turns**: Good for exploratory tasks, debugging, or when you want frequent check-ins. For example, "analyze this codebase and suggest improvements" where you want to review each step
- **25-50 turns**: Effective for well-defined tasks with moderate complexity, such as "refactor this module to use the new API" or "set up a basic CI/CD pipeline"
- **100+ turns**: More suitable for complex, multi-step automation where you trust goose to work independently, like "migrate this entire project from React 16 to React 18" or "implement comprehensive test coverage for this service"
Remember that even simple-seeming tasks often require multiple turns. For example, asking goose to "fix the failing tests" might involve analyzing test output (1 turn), identifying the root cause (1 turn), making code changes (1 turn), and verifying the fix (1 turn).
The Desktop displays a colored circle next to the model name at the bottom of the session window. The color provides a visual indicator of your token usage for the session.
| **Main** | Set context limit for the main model (also serves as fallback for other models) | LiteLLM proxies, custom models with non-standard names | `GOOSE_CONTEXT_LIMIT` |
This setting only affects the displayed token usage and progress indicators. Actual context management is handled by your LLM, so you may experience more or less usage than the limit you set, regardless of what the display shows.
Context limit overrides only work as [environment variables](/docs/guides/environment-variables#model-context-limit-overrides), not in the config file.
```bash
export GOOSE_CONTEXT_LIMIT=1000
goose session
```
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**Scenarios**
1. LiteLLM proxy with custom model name
```bash
# LiteLLM proxy with custom model name
export GOOSE_PROVIDER="openai"
export GOOSE_MODEL="my-custom-gpt4-proxy"
export GOOSE_CONTEXT_LIMIT=200000 # Override the 32k default
goose monitors your API provider balance and warns you when credits are running low or exhausted. When this happens, you'll see an **Insufficient Credits** notification.
For providers that support it (such as [Tetrate Agent Router Service](https://router.tetrate.ai)), the notification includes an **Add credits** button that takes you directly to your provider's billing page.
**What to do:**
1. Click the **Add credits** button (if available) to top up your account
2. Or visit your provider's dashboard manually to add credits
3. Once credits are added, resend your message to continue the conversation
:::tip
goose detects low balance conditions automatically, so you won't lose your conversation context—just add credits and pick up where you left off.
:::
**Supported providers:** Tetrate Agent Router Service, OpenRouter, and other providers that report balance information via HTTP 402 responses.
The session cost is shown at the bottom of the goose window and updates dynamically as tokens are consumed. Hover over the cost to see a detailed breakdown of token usage. If multiple models are used in the session, this includes a cost breakdown by model. Ollama and local deployments always show a cost of $0.00.
Pricing data is regularly fetched from the OpenRouter API and cached locally. The `Advanced settings` tab shows when the data was last updated and allows you to refresh.
These costs are estimates only, and not connected to your actual provider bill. The cost shown is an approximation based on token counts and public pricing data.
Show estimated cost in the goose CLI by setting the `GOOSE_CLI_SHOW_COST` [environment variable](/docs/guides/environment-variables.md#session-management) or including it in the [configuration file](/docs/guides/config-files.md).
