RTK (Rust Token Killer)

RTK is a token-optimization wrapper for Claude Code. It filters and compacts the output of common developer commands (build, test, git, gh, docker, etc.) to dramatically reduce token usage in Claude Code sessions.

Project: https://www.rtk-ai.app/

Install on Windows

Download the prebuilt binary from the GitHub releases page:

curl -L -O https://github.com/rtk-ai/rtk/releases/download/v0.35.0/rtk-x86_64-pc-windows-msvc.zip

Extract rtk.exe and place it on a directory that is in your PATH, for example D:\_workarea\tools\:

unzip rtk-x86_64-pc-windows-msvc.zip
mv rtk/rtk.exe /d/_workarea/tools/

Verify the install:

rtk --version

Initialize globally

Register RTK instructions into the global Claude Code config (~/.claude/CLAUDE.md) so every Claude Code session is told to prefix commands with rtk:

rtk init --global

On Windows, RTK falls back to --claude-md mode automatically (hook-based mode is Unix-only). The command writes an rtk-instructions block to ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md. Restart Claude Code after running it so the new instructions are loaded.

Usage

Prefix any supported command with rtk to get a compacted output:

rtk git status
rtk git diff
rtk cargo test
rtk tsc
rtk gh pr checks

If RTK has no dedicated filter for the command, it passes through unchanged, so prefixing is always safe.

View token savings statistics:

rtk gain
rtk gain --history