/clear wipes the context from your current session. Use it when you switch between unrelated tasks. AI becomes less accurate as context builds up — clearing it gives Claude a clean slate and saves tokens.
More context isn't always better
Research shows that AI accuracy decreases as the amount of content already in the context window grows. Old, irrelevant context from previous tasks makes Claude work harder and perform worse on the new task.
If you've been writing a YouTube script and now you want to write a cold email, that entire script conversation is now noise Claude has to process through.
Use it between unrelated tasks
Any time you finish one task and start something with a different context, run /clear first. For example:
- Switching from writing content to analysing data
- Moving from one client to another
- Going from research to execution
Don't use it when you're continuing the same project or need Claude to remember what was just discussed. Use it when you're starting something new and the old context would just be noise.
It also saves tokens
Every prompt Claude processes includes all the context from the current session. The longer the session, the more tokens every new prompt costs.
Running /clear between tasks means each new prompt starts lean. On a limited plan, this directly extends how much you can get done before hitting usage limits.