deepseek-ai/deepseek-harness · error · Error

compaction still above threshold after ${spec.compactionRetr

Error message

compaction still above threshold after ${spec.compactionRetries + 1} compaction attempts (${measurement.totalTokens} estimated tokens >= threshold ${spec.thresholdTokens})

What it means

Error "compaction still above threshold after ${spec.compactionRetries + 1} compaction attempts (${measurement.totalTokens} estimated tokens >= threshold ${spec.thresholdTokens})" thrown in deepseek-ai/deepseek-harness.

Source

Thrown at packages/compaction/compaction-basic/src/index.ts:328

      measurement = meter.measure(agent.session)
    }
    if (measurement.totalTokens < spec.thresholdTokens) return null

    let result: CompactionResult | null = null
    for (let attempt = 0; attempt <= spec.compactionRetries; attempt += 1) {
      const range = selectCompactableRange(agent.session, measurement, spec.retainTokens)
      if (range === null) {
        /* v8 ignore else -- concrete replacement preserves a compactable checkpoint; subclass hooks cannot mutate it. */
        if (result === null) return null
        /* v8 ignore next -- paired with the defensive post-success branch above. */
        break
      }
      result = await this.compactRegion(range.start, range.end, agent, signal)
      measurement = meter.measure(agent.session)
      if (measurement.totalTokens < spec.thresholdTokens) return result
    }

    throw new Error(
      `compaction still above threshold after ${spec.compactionRetries + 1} compaction attempts `
      + `(${measurement.totalTokens} estimated tokens >= threshold ${spec.thresholdTokens})`,
    )
  }

  /**
   * Compact one inclusive positional range from the agent-owned surface using
   * the effective token meter for all retention and shrink pricing.
   * @param start - inclusive first surface-node seq.
   * @param end - inclusive last surface-node seq.
   * @param agent - owner of the target session, used by the summarizer.
   * @param signal - optional summarization cancellation signal.
   * @returns the successful durable compaction result.
   */
  override async compactRegion(
    start: number,
    end: number,
    agent: Agent,

View on GitHub (pinned to b150a551b8)

Solutions

1. Lower the threshold, increase compactionRetries, or reduce the context size before compacting.

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at packages/compaction/compaction-basic/src/index.ts:328 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of deepseek-ai/deepseek-harness@b150a551b8 (2026-08-24). Data as JSON: /api/errors/7063bcac23cbc8f8. Report an issue: GitHub.