Current behaviour
↗Working card appears at send and keeps ticking through compaction, with a second status stacked under it.
The bug: when you send a message and autocompaction kicks in, the transcript shows a Working turn card plus a separate "Compacting…" notice. Nothing is working on your request yet, so the card lies, and the two statuses compete.
The catch: at the moment you press send, conduit can't know whether compaction will happen. So the sent state has to be neutral enough to turn into either "compacting" or "working" without a flash of the wrong one. That's why this page has two sections.
Every card is a 3-frame storyboard: 1 Sent → 2 Compacting → 3 Replying. Use the toggle top right for dark mode.
Today (for reference)
1
A · The sent state (before anything is known)
5
These cover the gap between pressing send and the first event. Each one must turn cleanly into either compacting or working.
Neutral presence
↗Claude's avatar appears with a quiet pulse and no label. It commits to 'Working' or 'Compacting' only once an event says which.
Message receipt
↗The status belongs to your message, not to Claude. A small line under the bubble moves Sending → Sent → Claude started.
Grace period
↗Show nothing new for ~700ms. Most sends get a first event in that window, so the right status appears first time and never flips.
Composer carries it
↗The send button turns into Stop with a ring. The transcript only grows when there's something real to show.
Shimmering header
↗Claude's name itself shimmers, the way a live label does in a terminal. No card chrome until there's a step to show.
B · Autocompaction starting (no turn card)
12
In every option, the Working card only appears once compaction ends and the model actually starts on your message. Its timer starts then too.
Live seam
↗The 'Compacted context' rule already exists. Draw it early with a moving line, then let it settle in place. Zero layout jump.
Seam above your message
↗Compaction summarises everything before your message, so the line goes there. Older messages fade while it runs; yours stays crisp.
Header status
↗Claude's header shows what it's doing in plain words. No card, no box, just a line, until the real turn starts.
Receipt line
↗Compaction is something that happens to your message before it's read, so it's reported under your message. Claude isn't on screen yet.
Composer dock
↗The transcript stays quiet. A slim tab docked to the top of the composer reports compaction, near where your eyes already are.
Context meter drains
↗Show the thing compaction actually changes. The context ring beside send drains from 92% to 23% while it runs, and nothing else moves.
Squeeze pill
↗A centred pill with arrows pressing inward: reads as 'shrinking' at a glance, even on a phone, without a word.
Session bar chip
↗Compaction is a session state, like 'busy'. It shows in the session bar and sidebar dot. The transcript only shows the result.
Quiet dots
↗The calmest option. Typing dots under Claude, with a dim word beside them. Nothing that reads as progress or work.
Toast over composer
↗Transient by nature, so it gets a transient surface. Floats above the composer and leaves no trace; the seam is the record.
Placeholder card (contrast)
↗Keeps a card in the turn's slot but strips it of everything turn-like: dashed, no timer, no Working. Least layout movement; closest to today.
History fold
↗Boldest. Earlier messages visibly fold into a summary stack while compaction runs, then stay folded as a clickable record.
My pick
S1 Neutral presence + C1 Live seam.
- No wrong first guess. The pulse commits to nothing, so it can become either state without a flash.
- Reuses what exists. The live seam settles into the exact "Compacted context" rule conduit already renders, so frame 2 → 3 has no layout jump and no new component.
- Turn timer stays honest. The Working card, and its clock, start when the model does.
Runner-up: C2 (seam above your message). It's the most truthful about what got compacted, but it moves the rule to a different spot than where completed compactions sit today.