Whether you clear or compact, the part you control is what gets written down first.
Handoff note
Also called Structured note-taking
A short file one session writes for the next: what is done, what failed, what was ruled out, what to do next and how to check it. It is all that crosses from one empty context to the next, so it has to stand alone.
The next session will otherwise pay to rediscover everything, or walk into the same dead end. What was ruled out is the part people forget, and it is the most expensive to find twice. A cheerful status report answers none of this, so write it for a stranger.
“Write docs/handoff.md before we stop: branch name, what is done with commit hashes, the exact failing test and error, what you ruled out and how, the next step, and the command that checks it. A new agent must be able to carry on from this file alone.”