Versatile AI Risk Assessment

Glossary Systems and architecture

Context window and token

Limits how much content a model can consider in one invocation.

As of: September 2026 · Glossary with 46 terms

What is Context window and token?

The context window contains the content available to a model invocation, such as instructions, conversation history and retrieved documents. Its size is usually expressed in tokens: processing units that are not equivalent to words.

Long conversations or documents may be shortened or summarised. Check whether important limitations or sources are lost. A large context window guarantees neither complete consideration nor a correct answer.

Sources for context: Context windows · Claude Docs

TokenContextRAG

More terms from the subject area Systems and architecture.

From the term into the substance

The link leads to the place on the website where the term becomes practical; the overview shows every term in the glossary by subject area.

Cite this term

For reports, policies or internal documents; the link leads directly to this term page.

“Context window and token”. Versatile AI Risk Assessment, glossary of AI risk analysis, as of September 2026.
https://www.versatile-ai-risk-assessment.com/en/wissensbasis/glossary/kontextfenster/

← Back to the glossary