context-degradationlisted

# Context Degradation Patterns Language models exhibit predictable degradation patterns as context length increases. These patterns are not random failures — they follow measurable thresholds and can be systematically diagnosed and mitigated. ## When to Use / Not Use **Use when:** - Agent performance degrades unexpectedly during long conversations - Debugging cases where agents produce incorrect or irrelevant outputs - Designing systems that must handle large contexts reliably - Investigating "lost in middle" phenomena in agent outputs - Evaluating model selection based on degradation thresholds **Do NOT use when:** - Learning context basics or theory -> use `context-fundamentals` - Compressing or summarizing context -> use `context-compression` - KV-cache optimization or context partitioning -> use `context-optimization` - Building isolated multi-agent architectures -> use `multi-agent-patterns` ## Decision Tree ``` What degradation symptom are you seeing? ├── Agent ignores information from middle of context │ └── Lost-in-Middle -> Place critical info at edges, use explicit headers ├── Agent keeps referencing wrong/incorrect facts │ ├── Wrong facts came from tool output error -> Context Poisoning (truncate to before poison point) │ ├── Wrong facts came from retrieved docs -> Context Poisoning (validate docs before loading) │ └── Wrong facts came from model hallucination -> Context Poisoning (mark and re-evaluate) ├── Agent focuses on irrelevant information │