diff --git a/docs/installation.md b/docs/installation.md
index 3c12d299bd..ff6210f8f0 100644
--- a/docs/installation.md
+++ b/docs/installation.md
@@ -189,6 +189,35 @@ schema constraints; REA still validates complete canonical inputs. Full-profile
 `gpt-5.4` metadata is also verified locally. Live model API acceptance and
 Windows remain unverified; see [native client verification](testing.md).
 
+Claude Code normally defers MCP tool definitions through tool search. It
+[turns tool search off](https://code.claude.com/docs/en/mcp#configure-tool-search)
+when `ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL` points to a non-first-party host, such as DeepSeek's
+Anthropic-compatible endpoint. It then sends every REA tool's name, description
+and input schema with every request
+([#2019](https://github.com/morluto/rea/issues/2019)). On main at 04089d5be,
+with 172 tools, that payload measured about 496 KB with the default profile and
+about 290 KB with `compact`. By the o200k and cl100k tokenizers, that is roughly
+120k and 68k tokens. Compaction cannot remove tool definitions. If they nearly
+fill the window Claude Code assumes, the context refills after every compaction
+and Claude Code reports that autocompact is thrashing. To avoid this:
+
+- Make Claude Code assume the model's actual context window. DeepSeek's Claude
+  Code guide selects `deepseek-flash[1m]`; the `[1m]` suffix makes Claude Code
+  assume a one-million-token window. For other unrecognized model IDs, set
+  `CLAUDE_CODE_MAX_CONTEXT_TOKENS` to the window the provider documents.
+- If the endpoint forwards `tool_reference` blocks, set `ENABLE_TOOL_SEARCH=true`
+  to restore deferred loading. DeepSeek's Anthropic API guide does not list
+  `tool_reference` among its supported content blocks, so this setting may cause
+  its requests to fail.
+- To shrink the upfront catalog, add
+  `"REA_MCP_INPUT_SCHEMA_PROFILE": "compact"` to the `env` object of the
+  `mcpServers.rea` entry in `~/.claude.json` (`$CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR/.claude.json`
+  when that variable is set), then restart Claude Code. Setup keeps this
+  override.
+
+The sizes above come from REA's own `tools/list`. A live Claude Code session
+against DeepSeek's API is unverified.
+
 For [Pi](https://github.com/earendil-works/pi/blob/main/packages/coding-agent/docs/mcp.md),
 setup writes a `type: "stdio"` entry under `mcpServers.rea` in the user-level
 `~/.pi/agent/mcp.json` and installs the bundled skill under `~/.agents/skills`.