The Agent Forgets, the Ticket Doesn't: One Developer Makes His Coding Agent Keep an Issue Up to Date for Every Feature
- Level Intermediate
- Setup1–3 hrs (estimated)
- Evidence Some evidence
- CostNot stated in source
- No-codeNo
What they did
A developer found his coding agents kept mentioning important findings once and then losing them after context compaction. His fix is a ticket for every feature or fix that the agent updates as it goes, written so a human can read it in a minute. Findings become sub-issues, and any new session can pick up from the ticket. He shares real examples from his last month, including a bug the agent filed itself and a handoff ticket for deferred work.
How it went
dev.to post by the developer (Oct 26, 2026): agents lose context after compaction; every feature or fix gets a ticket the agent keeps current; examples include issues #13828, #14293 (filed by the agent, closed) and #14255 (handoff). No hard metrics
Worth knowing
- dev.to post by the developer (Oct 26, 2026): agents lose context after compaction; every feature or fix gets a ticket the agent keeps current; examples include issues #13828, #14293 (filed by the agent, closed) and #14255 (handoff). No hard metrics.
Prompt
Cleaned version rewritten from the source — not a direct quote.
For this task, keep issue [issue number or link] up to date as you work, not at the end. At the top, keep a short status a person can read in a minute: what we're doing, what's done, what's left, decisions made and open questions. Every time you find something outside the current task (another bug, a risky migration, an odd flag), open a sub-issue for it instead of just mentioning it. Before you stop, write exactly where things stand and the next step so a fresh session can pick it up.
Recommended
Try it in Grok Bot
- Copy the prompt (button below).
- Open Grok Bot chat and paste it. Replace any [bracketed] placeholders.
- Connect the listed tools (as needed) as connectors when Grok Bot asks.
- If the task repeats, ask: "Make this a daily routine."
Alternatives: the same prompt works in Claude Code, Claude, ChatGPT Agent, OpenClaw.
Set it up
Stack: Claude Code
- Read the original source for full context.
- Connect the tools your agent needs.
- Paste the prompt and replace [bracketed] placeholders.
- Run once manually and check the output before scheduling it.
Generic suggested steps, not from the source.
Evidence
dev.to post by the developer (Oct 26, 2026): agents lose context after compaction; every feature or fix gets a ticket the agent keeps current; examples include issues #13828, #14293 (filed by the agent, closed) and #14255 (handoff). No hard metrics
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