Content
# Claude Token Diet
**Cut your Claude Code token usage by 60 to 90%. One command to install. Works on Mac and Linux. Reversible any time.**
---
## The problem
If you use Claude Code, it reads a *lot* in the background. Every `git status`, every file open, every search — all that output lands in Claude's memory. You're paying for Claude to read noise.
On a long session, you can easily burn through hundreds of thousands of tokens just on raw command output nobody actually needs.
## The fix
`diet` is a small tool that puts Claude on a diet. Same experience, way less waste.
It does three things:
1. **Compresses command output** before Claude sees it (80-90% smaller on average)
2. **Teaches Claude to read smarter** — no re-reading files, no useless searches, no writing random planning documents
3. **Audits your setup** — tells you which Claude extensions (MCP servers) you're paying for but never actually using
## Install (2 minutes)
Copy-paste this into your terminal:
```bash
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/xotw/claude-token-diet/main/install.sh | bash
```
Then **restart Claude Code**. That's it.
If you'd rather clone the repo:
```bash
git clone https://github.com/xotw/claude-token-diet.git ~/.claude-token-diet
~/.claude-token-diet/install.sh
```
**You need:** macOS or Linux, Python 3 (pre-installed on Mac), and either Homebrew or `curl`.
## See what you saved
After a day of normal work:
```bash
diet stats
```
You get something like this:
```
Claude Token Diet — your savings
rtk (Bash-tool compression) cumulative since install
115 commands • 4,037,054 bytes raw → 5,982 bytes after (100% smaller)
Claude Code usage (from your transcripts in ~/.claude/projects)
Period Sessions Turns Spend Cache Anthropic cache $
──────────────────── ──────── ─────── ────────── ───── ─────────────────
Last 24 hours 9 1,345 $80.84 95% $332.31
Last 48 hours 15 1,841 $111.41 94% $400.51
Last 7 days 978 11,454 $627.88 88% $1,651.92
Last 30 days 6,171 44,729 $2,477.57 92% $8,975.69
Since diet install 7 977 $62.39 95% $232.47
diet installed: 2026-04-20 13:50
```
Reading the table:
- **The top line** is what diet directly saved you: 4 MB of shell output that Claude never had to read.
- **The table** is your normal Claude Code usage, broken into rolling time windows.
- **Since diet install** grows every session, so you can watch diet's impact in real time.
## Commands
```
diet stats # see your savings
diet audit # find what's still wasting tokens
├─ diet audit mcp which Claude extensions are sitting idle
├─ diet audit md how big is your CLAUDE.md
└─ diet audit files which files you're reading most
diet undo # roll everything back, cleanly
diet help
```
## Safety
- Every change gets a timestamped backup before anything is touched
- `diet undo` reverses the install in seconds (removes the hook, removes the CLAUDE.md block, removes the symlink)
- Nothing leaves your machine — everything runs locally
- Works alongside your existing Claude Code setup, doesn't replace it
## FAQ
**Is this official Anthropic tooling?**
No. This is an open-source layer on top of Claude Code + [rtk](https://github.com/rtk-ai/rtk). It uses Claude Code's public hook system — nothing hacky.
**Does it work with Cursor / Windsurf / Cline?**
The underlying tool (rtk) supports them. `diet install` currently wires Claude Code. For other agents, run `rtk init --agent cursor` (or `windsurf`, `cline`, `codex`, etc.) manually after `diet install`.
**What if my cache hit rate is low?**
Usually means you're pausing more than 5 minutes between Claude Code messages (Anthropic's prompt cache expires after 5 min), or editing your `CLAUDE.md` mid-session (cache invalidation). Keep sessions moving.
**How accurate are the numbers?**
- **rtk compression line**: exact, measured by rtk.
- **Token counts**: exact, pulled from Claude Code's own transcript files.
- **Spend**: tokens × current Anthropic public pricing (override with `DIET_PRICE_*` env vars if you're on a different tier).
- **Anthropic cache $**: counterfactual — what you'd pay if every cached read had been a fresh input. Directionally honest, not exact-to-the-cent.
**Why does the table show 30 days of data if I only installed diet yesterday?**
Because Claude Code has been writing your usage to disk the whole time. diet just reads those transcripts. The **Since diet install** row is the only one scoped to after you installed diet.
**Can I uninstall cleanly?**
Yes. `diet undo` removes everything diet added. Run `brew uninstall rtk` if you also want the underlying compression tool gone.
---
MIT license. Built by [@xotw](https://github.com/xotw). Issues, PRs, feedback welcome.
Credit: the compression engine is [rtk](https://github.com/rtk-ai/rtk). diet stacks behavioral rules, auditing, and honest accounting on top of it.
