[ChatGPT] Long-running chat becomes unusably slow (10+ min delay) — context rebuild bug?

Hi, I’m using ChatGPT to manage two long-running production workrooms
(Japan Shorts / US Shorts for YouTube script creation).
After several weeks of usage, both rooms became extremely slow.


:white_check_mark: Symptoms

  • The more structured workflow + message history accumulates,
    the slower the response becomes.
  • At first it was a few seconds delay (3–10 sec).
  • But today, each reply took OVER 10 minutes.

This is not typical latency — the model freezes as if it is
re-scanning or reconstructing the entire conversation context
before answering.


:white_check_mark: Why I believe this is a bug

It feels like the system is repeatedly “rehydrating” all past messages,
instead of compressing / anchoring / trimming old context.
So the context buffer becomes extremely heavy and the room becomes
nearly unusable for long-term projects.

I am aware of “fast mode” (no web, no images, short),
but that only controls output.
The problem is clearly internal context size, not rendering.


:white_check_mark: What I need (clarification request)

Is there a recommended method or internal setting for:

  1. Auto-pruning / compressing chat history
    while preserving the fixed rules / workflow instructions?

  2. Anchoring system-level instructions
    so the model doesn’t keep rebuilding them on every turn?

  3. Long-running project mode / context checkpoint
    where a large chat doesn’t degrade over time?


:white_check_mark: Why restarting a new chat is not a good workaround

These are persistent production rooms, not casual chats.
If I reset the room, I lose all the accumulated workflow logic,
style patterns, and prior refinements.

I need a solution that allows:
“Long-running rooms + stable performance + anchored instructions.”


If there is a developer-side switch, option, or recommended workflow
to solve this (context trim / anchor mode / lightweight mode),
please advise.

Thank you.

Hi @giyoung4860

I imagine you already use something like VS-Code as an IDE to manage your codebase. You might think about installing the Codex IDE extension and making use of the very powerful Codex Agent system to work on your codebase, you can even connect your ChatGPT account to it!

It automatically addresses exactly the issues you raise here and no more copy pasting code around from browser to editor.