Gap Source

OpenHands v1.6.0 (March 30, 2026) added /clear with sandbox preservation. Competitive parity scan CI-307.

What Is Missing

Zeph has /compact (compress context, keep history) but no primitive for starting a fresh conversation while preserving:

• Working directory / filesystem state
• Memory (SQLite + Qdrant) — don't wipe prior knowledge
• Active MCP server connections

OpenHands' pattern: /new creates a new conversation ID but inherits the runtime environment.

Why It Matters

Users doing long coding or research sessions want to clear the conversation window to free up context without losing their accumulated memory and environment setup. Currently the only option is to restart the process entirely.

Implementation Sketch

• /new slash command: reset AgentSession (conversation history, tool call cache, context budget) without reinitializing memory or MCP connections
• Optionally preserve or reset: memory (--keep-memory / --reset-memory), MCP connections (--keep-mcp)
• Record session boundary in SQLite for audit trail

Priority

P3 — useful UX pattern, low urgency.