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Context is the bottleneck for coding agents now

(runnercode.com)
196 points zmccormick7 | 2 comments | 26 Sep 25 15:06 UTC | HN request time: 0.457s | source
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maerF0x0 ◴[26 Sep 25 15:21 UTC] No.45387539[source]▶
I've noticed that chatgpt doesnt seem to be very good at understanding elapsed time. I have some long running threads and unless i prompt it with elapsed time ("it's now 7 days later") the responses act like it was 1 second after the last message.

I think this might be a good leap for agents, the ability to not just review a doc in it's current state, but to keep in context/understanding the full evolution of a document.

replies(2): >>45387612 #>>45387677 #
wat10000 ◴[26 Sep 25 15:27 UTC] No.45387612[source]▶
They have no ability to even perceive time, unless the system gives them timestamps for the current interaction and past interactions.
replies(1): >>45387710 #
1. multiplegeorges ◴[26 Sep 25 15:35 UTC] No.45387710[source]▶
Which seems like a trivial addition if it's not there?
replies(1): >>45387783 #
2. wat10000 ◴[26 Sep 25 15:42 UTC] No.45387783[source]▶
It is, but now you're burning a bit of context on something that might not be necessary, and potentially having the agent focus on time when it's not relevant. Not necessarily a bad idea, but as always, tradeoffs.