High-performance CLI proxy that reduces LLM token consumption by 60-90%
CI Release License: MIT Discord Homebrew
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rtk filters and compresses command outputs before they reach your LLM context. Single Rust binary, zero dependencies, <10ms overhead.
| 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% |
git log |
5x | 2,500 | 500 | -80% |
git add/commit/push |
8x | 1,600 | 120 | -92% |
cargo test / npm test |
5x | 25,000 | 2,500 | -90% |
ruff check |
3x | 3,000 | 600 | -80% |
pytest |
4x | 8,000 | 800 | -90% |
go test |
3x | 6,000 | 600 | -90% |
docker ps |
3x | 900 | 180 | -80% |
| Total | ~118,000 | ~23,900 | -80% |
Estimates based on medium-sized TypeScript/Rust projects. Actual savings vary by project size.
brew install rtk
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rtk-ai/rtk/refs/heads/master/install.sh | shInstalls to
~/.local/bin. Add to PATH if needed:echo 'export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.bashrc # or ~/.zshrc
cargo install --git https://github.com/rtk-ai/rtk
Download from releases:
- macOS:
rtk-x86_64-apple-darwin.tar.gz/rtk-aarch64-apple-darwin.tar.gz - Linux:
rtk-x86_64-unknown-linux-musl.tar.gz/rtk-aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu.tar.gz - Windows:
rtk-x86_64-pc-windows-msvc.zip
rtk --version # Should show "rtk 0.28.0" rtk gain # Should show token savings stats
Name collision warning: Another project named "rtk" (Rust Type Kit) exists on crates.io. If
rtk gainfails, you have the wrong package. Usecargo install --gitabove instead.
# 1. Install hook for Claude Code (recommended) rtk init --global # Follow instructions to register in ~/.claude/settings.json # Claude Code only by default (use --opencode for OpenCode) # 2. Restart Claude Code, then test git status # Automatically rewritten to rtk git status
The hook transparently rewrites commands (e.g., git status -> rtk git status) before execution. Claude never sees the rewrite, it just gets compressed output.
Without rtk: With rtk:
Claude --git status--> shell --> git Claude --git status--> RTK --> git
^ | ^ | |
| ~2,000 tokens (raw) | | ~200 tokens | filter |
+-----------------------------------+ +------- (filtered) ---+----------+
Four strategies applied per command type:
- Smart Filtering - Removes noise (comments, whitespace, boilerplate)
- Grouping - Aggregates similar items (files by directory, errors by type)
- Truncation - Keeps relevant context, cuts redundancy
- Deduplication - Collapses repeated log lines with counts
rtk ls . # Token-optimized directory tree rtk read file.rs # Smart file reading rtk read file.rs -l aggressive # Signatures only (strips bodies) rtk smart file.rs # 2-line heuristic code summary rtk find "*.rs" . # Compact find results rtk grep "pattern" . # Grouped search results rtk diff file1 file2 # Condensed diff
rtk git status # Compact status rtk git log -n 10 # One-line commits rtk git diff # Condensed diff rtk git add # -> "ok" rtk git commit -m "msg" # -> "ok abc1234" rtk git push # -> "ok main" rtk git pull # -> "ok 3 files +10 -2"
rtk gh pr list # Compact PR listing rtk gh pr view 42 # PR details + checks rtk gh issue list # Compact issue listing rtk gh run list # Workflow run status
rtk test cargo test # Show failures only (-90%) rtk err npm run build # Errors/warnings only rtk vitest run # Vitest compact (failures only) rtk playwright test # E2E results (failures only) rtk pytest # Python tests (-90%) rtk go test # Go tests (NDJSON, -90%) rtk cargo test # Cargo tests (-90%)
rtk lint # ESLint grouped by rule/file rtk lint biome # Supports other linters rtk tsc # TypeScript errors grouped by file rtk next build # Next.js build compact rtk prettier --check . # Files needing formatting rtk cargo build # Cargo build (-80%) rtk cargo clippy # Cargo clippy (-80%) rtk ruff check # Python linting (JSON, -80%) rtk golangci-lint run # Go linting (JSON, -85%)
rtk pnpm list # Compact dependency tree rtk pip list # Python packages (auto-detect uv) rtk pip outdated # Outdated packages rtk prisma generate # Schema generation (no ASCII art)
rtk docker ps # Compact container list rtk docker images # Compact image list rtk docker logs <container> # Deduplicated logs rtk docker compose ps # Compose services rtk kubectl pods # Compact pod list rtk kubectl logs <pod> # Deduplicated logs rtk kubectl services # Compact service list
rtk json config.json # Structure without values rtk deps # Dependencies summary rtk env -f AWS # Filtered env vars rtk log app.log # Deduplicated logs rtk curl <url> # Auto-detect JSON + schema rtk wget <url> # Download, strip progress bars rtk summary <long command> # Heuristic summary rtk proxy <command> # Raw passthrough + tracking
rtk gain # Summary stats rtk gain --graph # ASCII graph (last 30 days) rtk gain --history # Recent command history rtk gain --daily # Day-by-day breakdown rtk gain --all --format json # JSON export for dashboards rtk discover # Find missed savings opportunities rtk discover --all --since 7 # All projects, last 7 days
-u, --ultra-compact # ASCII icons, inline format (extra token savings) -v, --verbose # Increase verbosity (-v, -vv, -vvv)
Directory listing:
# ls -la (45 lines, ~800 tokens) # rtk ls (12 lines, ~150 tokens)
drwxr-xr-x 15 user staff 480 ... my-project/
-rw-r--r-- 1 user staff 1234 ... +-- src/ (8 files)
... | +-- main.rs
+-- Cargo.toml
Git operations:
# git push (15 lines, ~200 tokens) # rtk git push (1 line, ~10 tokens)
Enumerating objects: 5, done. ok main
Counting objects: 100% (5/5), done.
Delta compression using up to 8 threads
...
Test output:
# cargo test (200+ lines on failure) # rtk test cargo test (~20 lines)
running 15 tests FAILED: 2/15 tests
test utils::test_parse ... ok test_edge_case: assertion failed
test utils::test_format ... ok test_overflow: panic at utils.rs:18
...
The most effective way to use rtk. The hook transparently intercepts Bash commands and rewrites them to rtk equivalents before execution.
Result: 100% rtk adoption across all conversations and subagents, zero token overhead.
rtk init -g # Install hook + RTK.md (recommended) rtk init -g --opencode # OpenCode plugin (instead of Claude Code) rtk init -g --auto-patch # Non-interactive (CI/CD) rtk init -g --hook-only # Hook only, no RTK.md rtk init --show # Verify installation
After install, restart Claude Code.
OpenCode supports plugins that can intercept tool execution. RTK provides a global plugin that mirrors the Claude auto-rewrite behavior by rewriting Bash tool commands to rtk ... before they execute. This plugin is not installed by default.
Note: This plugin uses OpenCode's
tool.execute.beforehook. Known limitation: plugin hooks do not intercept subagent tool calls (upstream issue). See OpenCode plugin docs for API details.
Install OpenCode plugin:
rtk init -g --opencode
What it creates:
~/.config/opencode/plugins/rtk.ts
Restart Required: Restart OpenCode, then test with git status in a session.
Manual install (fallback):
mkdir -p ~/.config/opencode/plugins cp hooks/opencode-rtk.ts ~/.config/opencode/plugins/rtk.ts
| Raw Command | Rewritten To |
|---|---|
git status/diff/log/add/commit/push/pull |
rtk git ... |
gh pr/issue/run |
rtk gh ... |
cargo test/build/clippy |
rtk cargo ... |
cat/head/tail <file> |
rtk read <file> |
rg/grep <pattern> |
rtk grep <pattern> |
ls |
rtk ls |
vitest/jest |
rtk vitest run |
tsc |
rtk tsc |
eslint/biome |
rtk lint |
prettier |
rtk prettier |
playwright |
rtk playwright |
prisma |
rtk prisma |
ruff check/format |
rtk ruff ... |
pytest |
rtk pytest |
pip list/install |
rtk pip ... |
go test/build/vet |
rtk go ... |
golangci-lint |
rtk golangci-lint |
docker ps/images/logs |
rtk docker ... |
kubectl get/logs |
rtk kubectl ... |
curl |
rtk curl |
pnpm list/outdated |
rtk pnpm ... |
Commands already using rtk, heredocs (<<), and unrecognized commands pass through unchanged.
~/.config/rtk/config.toml (macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/rtk/config.toml):
[tracking] database_path = "/path/to/custom.db" # default: ~/.local/share/rtk/history.db [hooks] exclude_commands = ["curl", "playwright"] # skip rewrite for these [tee] enabled = true # save raw output on failure (default: true) mode = "failures" # "failures", "always", or "never" max_files = 20 # rotation limit
When a command fails, RTK saves the full unfiltered output so the LLM can read it without re-executing:
FAILED: 2/15 tests
[full output: ~/.local/share/rtk/tee/1707753600_cargo_test.log]
rtk init -g --uninstall # Remove hook, RTK.md, settings.json entry cargo uninstall rtk # Remove binary brew uninstall rtk # If installed via Homebrew
- TROUBLESHOOTING.md - Fix common issues
- INSTALL.md - Detailed installation guide
- ARCHITECTURE.md - Technical architecture
- SECURITY.md - Security policy and PR review process
- AUDIT_GUIDE.md - Token savings analytics guide
Contributions welcome! Please open an issue or PR on GitHub.
Join the community on Discord.
MIT License - see LICENSE for details.