Your image chat dies at 44 MB per message. This plugin fixes that.

What it does

Context Attachment Manager is a TypeScript plugin for Codex and Claude Desktop that stops every image in a conversation from being re-sent with every message. Earlier images stay out of your requests; when the model actually needs one, it pulls that specific image back on its own. You can pin images (like a character reference) so they travel with every turn, or turn off Auto-select and choose manually.

The interesting bit

The model also quietly annotates each image with what it shows and what you said about it — “too dark”, “best face” — so later in a long chat, or even after compaction, it can retrieve the right one from a description like “rainy night”. It’s context management delegated to the thing that was drowning in the context.

Key highlights

• In the author’s 15-image test, a request that carried 24.9 MB went out at 212 KB.
• In a nine-keyframe eval (~32 MB of images), a 42 MB request that never completed dropped to 0.12 MB, with the model picking the correct image before and after compaction.
• Search by description, filter by place, or browse by turn; click for full-size preview.
• Runs fully offline — nothing leaves your machine beyond the requests Codex and Claude already make.
• Works with compatible gateway endpoints, using your configured model and credentials.

Caveats

• Gateway support requires the endpoint to handle the client’s API format, image inputs, and tool calls — not a given for every proxy.
• The eval is one task run by the author; the method and numbers are documented, but it’s a small sample.

Verdict

If you iterate on AI-generated images in Codex or Claude Desktop and your chats choke on their own payload, this is aimed squarely at you. If you never attach images, move along.