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No control over context window length in Assistant API

6/10 Medium

The Assistant API automatically appends the entire conversation thread and PDFs to each message up to the 128k token limit, with no user control over context window management. OpenAI is considering this feature but has provided no timeline.

OpenAI Assistant APIGPT-4
Category
config
Workaround
none
Stage
build
Freshness
persistent
Scope
single_lib
Upstream
open
Recurring
Yes
Buyer Type
individual
Maintainer
slow

Sources

Collection History

Query: “What are the most common pain points with OpenAI API for developers in 2025?”3/30/2026

The API appends the entire conversation thread, including any PDFs (when retrieval is active), to each message... OpenAI's current setup does not allow users to control the length of the context window.

Created: 3/30/2026Updated: 3/30/2026