rtk
CLI proxy that reduces LLM token consumption by 60-90% on common dev commands. Single Rust binary, zero dependencies
Install / Use
npx skills add rtk-ai/rtkInstalls into whichever agent you are using.
CLAUDE.md
Claude Code project instructions
Quality Score
Category
AI & Machine LearningSupported Platforms
Skill content
View source on GitHubrtk filters and compresses command outputs before they reach your LLM context. Single Rust binary, 100+ supported commands, <10ms overhead.
What RTK Does
RTK intercepts shell commands and compresses their output before your agent reads it.
| Operation | What RTK does to the output |
|-----------|-----------------------------|
| ls / tree | Tree format with file counts instead of one line per entry |
| cat / read | Smart file reading: signatures and structure over full bodies |
| grep / rg | Truncates long lines, groups matches by file |
| git status | Compact stat format, grouped by state |
| git diff | Reduced context, headers stripped |
| git log | Hash, author and subject only |
| git add/commit/push | Confirmation line instead of full progress output |
| cargo test / npm test | Failures only, passing tests collapsed to a count |
| ruff check | Grouped by rule and file |
| pytest | Failures only, traceback trimmed |
| go test | NDJSON parsed, failures only |
| docker ps | Essential fields only |
How Savings Work
RTK cuts up to 90% of the bash output your agent reads. That is what RTK measures, and it is not the same as cutting your bill by 90%.
Bash output is one contributor to input tokens, alongside your prompt, the system prompt and conversation history. Input tokens are in turn only part of the bill, which also counts output tokens. The reduction dilutes at every step.
The token counts RTK reports are estimated as bytes / 4 — RTK ships no tokenizer, so the percentages are reliable but the absolute token numbers are approximate.
Full explanation: How RTK Savings Work
Installation
Homebrew (recommended)
brew install rtk
Quick Install (Linux/macOS)
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rtk-ai/rtk/refs/heads/master/install.sh | sh
Installs to
~/.local/bin. Add to PATH if needed:echo 'export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.bashrc # or ~/.zshrc
Cargo
cargo install --git https://github.com/rtk-ai/rtk
Pre-built Binaries
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
Windows users: Extract the zip and place
rtk.exesomewhere in your PATH (e.g.C:\Users\<you>\.local\bin). Run RTK from Command Prompt, PowerShell, or Windows Terminal — do not double-click the.exe(it will flash and close). The full hook system works natively on Windows (and in WSL). See Windows setup below for details.
Verify Installation
rtk --version # Should show "rtk 0.28.2"
rtk gain # Should show the savings dashboard
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.
Quick Start
# 1. Install for your AI tool
rtk init -g # Claude Code / Copilot (default)
rtk init -g --gemini # Gemini CLI
rtk init -g --codex # Codex (OpenAI)
rtk init -g --agent cursor # Cursor
rtk init -g --agent windsurf # Windsurf
rtk init --agent cline # Cline / Roo Code
rtk init --agent kilocode # Kilo Code
rtk init --agent antigravity # Google Antigravity
rtk init --agent kimi # Kimi AI
rtk init -g --agent pi # Pi
rtk init --agent hermes # Hermes
rtk init -g --agent droid # Factory Droid
# 2. Restart your AI tool, then test
git status # Automatically rewritten to rtk git status
Hook-based agents rewrite Bash commands (e.g., git status -> rtk git status) before execution. Plugin-based agents, including Hermes, use their plugin API to rewrite commands before execution. The agent receives compact output without needing to call rtk explicitly.
Important: the hook only runs on Bash tool calls. Claude Code built-in tools like Read, Grep, and Glob do not pass through the Bash hook, so they are not auto-rewritten. To get RTK's compact output for those workflows, use shell commands (cat/head/tail, rg/grep, find) or call rtk read, rtk grep, or rtk find directly.
How It Works
Without rtk: With rtk:
Claude --git status--> shell --> git Claude --git status--> RTK --> git
^ | ^ | |
| full raw output | | compact output | 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
Commands
Percentages below are reductions in bash output, not reductions in your bill. See How Savings Work.
Files
rtk ls . # Compact 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 (exit 1 if files differ)
Git
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"
GitHub CLI
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
Test Runners
rtk jest # Jest compact (failures only)
rtk vitest # 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 rake test # Ruby minitest (-90%)
rtk rspec # RSpec tests (JSON, -60%+)
rtk err <cmd> # Filter errors only from any command
rtk test <cmd> # Generic test wrapper - failures only (-90%)
Build & Lint
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 rubocop # Ruby linting (JSON, -60%+)
rtk sbt test # ScalaTest output (-90%)
rtk sbt compile # Compilation errors only (-75%)
rtk sbt run # Strip SBT preamble noise
Package Managers
rtk pnpm list # Compact dependency tree
rtk uv run pytest # Preserve uv env, keep program output
rtk pip list # Python packages (auto-detect uv)
rtk pip outdated # Outdated packages
rtk bundle install # Ruby gems (strip Using lines)
rtk prisma generate # Schema generation (no ASCII art)
AWS
rtk aws sts get-caller-identity # One-line identity
rtk aws ec2 describe-instances # Compact instance list
rtk aws lambda list-functions # Name/runtime/memory (strips secrets)
rtk aws logs get-log-events # Timestamped messages only
rtk aws cloudformation describe-stack-events # Failures first
rtk aws dynamodb scan # Unwraps type annotations
rtk aws iam list-roles # Strips policy documents
rtk aws s3 ls # Truncated with tee recovery
Containers
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 oc get pods # OpenShift pod summary
rtk oc get services # OpenShift service list
rtk oc logs <pod> # Deduplicated logs
Infrastructure as Code
rtk pulumi preview # Strip header/URL/duration noise
rtk pulumi up # Compact apply output
rtk pulumi destroy # Compact destroy output
rtk pulumi refresh # Drift summary
rtk pulumi stack # Stack metadata (strips owner/timestamps)
Data & Analytics
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> # Truncate + save full output
rtk wget <url> # Download, strip progress bars
rtk summary <long command> # Heuristic summary
rtk proxy <command> # Raw passthrough + tracking
Token Savings Analytics
rtk gain # Summary stats
rtk gain --graph # ASCII
Truncated for display — read the full file on GitHub.
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