diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index e289e66..05dbe84 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -96,11 +96,11 @@ keeps a block whole when its size is small relative to its age, so **detail is
 proportional to recency**, and it spends exactly `WAKE_LINES` lines doing it:
 
 ```
-10,000 memories, WAKE_LINES = 256:
+10,000 memories, WAKE_LINES = 208:
 
   block size:    1    2    4    8   16   32   64  128  256
-  how many:     54   27   27   27   28   27   27   27   12
-                └ the last 54, verbatim ───────────▶ the first 3,000, 256:1
+  how many:     42   21   21   21   22   21   21   21   18
+                └ the last 42, verbatim ───────────▶ the first 4,600, 256:1
 ```
 
 The oldest memories are recalled as a vague shape, the newest word for word,
@@ -138,7 +138,7 @@ decisions; drop wording.
 ```
 bad   worked on the memory system today and made good progress on the design
 good  OptMem design settled: LOG.txt append-only truth, TREE binary merge
-      tree of 280-char summaries, wake renders a fixed 256-line document
+      tree of 280-char summaries, wake renders a fixed 208-line document
 ```
 
 ## Output is delivered in parts
@@ -152,7 +152,7 @@ piece:
   Codex        10,000 tokens         (configurable per call)
 ```
 
-A 256-line memory is ~64 KB, so a single-shot `memo wake` is mangled
+A 208-line memory is ~56 KB, so a single-shot `memo wake` is mangled
 everywhere, and silently.
 
 So `memo wake` pages the document into parts that fit all of them
@@ -174,7 +174,7 @@ $MEMORY_DIR/
               `memo` and are the only home for them.
 
               ENTRY_CHARS=280   longest a memory may be
-              WAKE_LINES=256    how many lines `memo wake` prints (~16k tokens)
+              WAKE_LINES=208    how many lines `memo wake` prints (~16k tokens)
               PART_CHARS=20000  how much of it fits in one command's output
               PART_LINES=500    ...and in how many lines
 ```
diff --git a/memo b/memo
index 5b3fbb8..38c9a02 100755
--- a/memo
+++ b/memo
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ sys.path.insert(0, os.path.dirname(os.path.realpath(__file__)))
 from blocks import cover  # noqa: E402
 
 ENTRY_CHARS = 280
-WAKE_LINES = 256
+WAKE_LINES = 208  # ~16k tokens of dense text, in 3 parts
 RAW_MAX = 16  # blocks up to this many memories compress from the raw log
 
 # Every harness truncates a command that prints too much, and each drops a
diff --git a/test.py b/test.py
index b874dd9..c35772c 100755
--- a/test.py
+++ b/test.py
@@ -27,8 +27,8 @@ DEFAULTS = {k: getattr(cli, k) for k in
             ("ENTRY_CHARS", "WAKE_LINES", "PART_CHARS", "PART_LINES")}
 
 N = 2000
-WAKE_LINES = 256
-PART_CHARS = 20000
+WAKE_LINES = cli.WAKE_LINES   # the shipped budget, not a second copy of it
+PART_CHARS = cli.PART_CHARS
 # Verified caps of the harnesses in the wild: Claude Code cuts a command's
 # output at 30,000 chars (middle), pi at 50 KB / 2000 lines (head), Codex
 # budgets 10,000 tokens. A part must fit the strictest of each kind.