rtk-token-optimization

Purpose

Reduce LLM token consumption in Claude Code sessions by 60-90% without changing developer workflow. All Bash commands are transparently rewritten to their rtk equivalents via a PreToolUse hook.

How It Works

Without rtk:                              With rtk:
Claude --git status--> shell --> git      Claude --git status--> RTK --> git
  ^        ~2,000 tokens (raw)    |        ^    ~200 tokens     |       |
  +-------------------------------+        +---- (filtered) ----+-------+

Four strategies applied per command type:

1. Smart Filtering - Removes noise (comments, whitespace, boilerplate)
2. Grouping - Aggregates similar items (files by directory, errors by type)
3. Truncation - Keeps relevant context, cuts redundancy
4. Deduplication - Collapses repeated log lines with counts

Supported Commands

Category	Commands	Typical Savings
Files	ls, read, find, grep, diff	70-80%
Git	status, diff, log, add, commit, push	75-92%
GitHub CLI	pr list, issue list, run list	80%
Test Runners	cargo test, npm test, pytest, go test, vitest, playwright	90%
Build & Lint	cargo build, tsc, next build, eslint, ruff, clippy	80-85%
Package Managers	pnpm list, pip list, bundle install	80%
Containers	docker ps/logs, kubectl pods/logs	80%
AWS	sts, ec2, lambda, logs, s3, cloudformation	80%
Data	json, env, log, curl, wget	70-80%

Token Savings (30-min Session Estimate)

Operation	Frequency	Standard	rtk	Savings
ls / tree	10x	2,000	400	-80%
cat / read	20x	40,000	12,000	-70%
grep / rg	8x	16,000	3,200	-80%
git status	10x	3,000	600	-80%
git diff	5x	10,000	2,500	-75%
cargo test / npm test	5x	25,000	2,500	-90%
Total		~118,000	~23,900	-80%

Usage

After installation, rtk works automatically via the PreToolUse hook. No manual changes needed.

Analytics Commands

rtk gain                # Summary stats
rtk gain --graph        # ASCII graph (last 30 days)
rtk gain --daily        # Day-by-day breakdown
rtk discover            # Find missed savings opportunities
rtk session             # Show RTK adoption across recent sessions

Manual Usage

rtk git status          # Compact git status
rtk read file.rs        # Smart file reading
rtk test cargo test     # Show failures only
rtk lint                # ESLint grouped by rule/file
rtk docker ps           # Compact container list

Prerequisites

• rtk binary: brew install rtk or curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rtk-ai/rtk/refs/heads/master/install.sh | sh
• jq: required by the hook script

Integration

• Hook: hooks/rtk-rewrite.sh (PreToolUse:Bash, last in chain)
• Config: ~/.config/rtk/config.toml for customization
• Tee recovery: failed command full output saved to ~/.local/share/rtk/tee/

References

• rtk GitHub
• rtk Website
• Troubleshooting