RTK (Rust Token Killer) - Token-Optimized Commands

Usage: Token-optimized CLI proxy (60-90% savings on dev operations)

Golden Rule

Always prefix commands with

rtk

. If RTK has a dedicated filter, it uses it. If not, it passes through unchanged. This means RTK is always safe to use.

RTK calls binaries directly — shell aliases are bypassed. No

command

prefix needed. Use

command

only for alias-prone commands RTK doesn't cover (

cd

,

cp

,

mv

,

rm

).

Important: Even in command chains with

&&

, use

rtk

:

# Wrong
git add . && git commit -m "msg" && git push

# Correct
rtk git add . && rtk git commit -m "msg" && rtk git push

Meta Commands (always use rtk directly)

rtk gain              # Show token savings analytics
rtk gain --history    # Show command usage history with savings
rtk discover          # Analyze Claude Code history for missed opportunities
rtk proxy <cmd>       # Execute raw command without filtering (for debugging)
rtk init              # Add RTK instructions to CLAUDE.md
rtk init --global     # Add RTK to ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md

Installation Verification

rtk --version         # Should show: rtk X.Y.Z
rtk gain              # Should work (not "command not found")
which rtk             # Verify correct binary

Name collision: If

rtk gain

fails, you may have reachingforthejack/rtk (Rust Type Kit) installed instead.

Hook-Based Usage

All other commands are automatically rewritten by the Claude Code hook. Example:

git status

→

rtk git status

(transparent, 0 tokens overhead)

RTK Commands by Workflow

Build & Compile (80-90% savings)

rtk cargo build         # Cargo build output
rtk cargo check         # Cargo check output
rtk cargo clippy        # Clippy warnings grouped by file (80%)
rtk tsc                 # TypeScript errors grouped by file/code (83%)
rtk lint                # ESLint/Biome violations grouped (84%)
rtk prettier --check    # Files needing format only (70%)
rtk next build          # Next.js build with route metrics (87%)

Test (90-99% savings)

rtk cargo test          # Cargo test failures only (90%)
rtk vitest run          # Vitest failures only (99.5%)
rtk playwright test     # Playwright failures only (94%)
rtk test <cmd>          # Generic test wrapper - failures only

Git (59-80% savings)

rtk git status          # Compact status
rtk git log             # Compact log (works with all git flags)
rtk git diff            # Compact diff (80%)
rtk git show            # Compact show (80%)
rtk git add             # Ultra-compact confirmations (59%)
rtk git commit          # Ultra-compact confirmations (59%)
rtk git push            # Ultra-compact confirmations
rtk git pull            # Ultra-compact confirmations
rtk git branch          # Compact branch list
rtk git fetch           # Compact fetch
rtk git stash           # Compact stash
rtk git worktree        # Compact worktree

Note: Git passthrough works for ALL subcommands, even those not explicitly listed.

GitHub (26-87% savings)

rtk gh pr view <num>    # Compact PR view (87%)
rtk gh pr checks        # Compact PR checks (79%)
rtk gh run list         # Compact workflow runs (82%)
rtk gh issue list       # Compact issue list (80%)
rtk gh api              # Compact API responses (26%)

JavaScript/TypeScript Tooling (70-90% savings)

rtk pnpm list           # Compact dependency tree (70%)
rtk pnpm outdated       # Compact outdated packages (80%)
rtk pnpm install        # Compact install output (90%)
rtk npm run <script>    # Compact npm script output
rtk npx <cmd>           # Compact npx command output
rtk prisma              # Prisma without ASCII art (88%)

Files & Search (60-75% savings)

rtk ls <path>           # Tree format, compact (65%)
rtk read <file>         # Code reading with filtering (60%)
rtk grep <pattern>      # Search grouped by file (75%)
rtk find <pattern>      # Find grouped by directory (70%)

Analysis & Debug (70-90% savings)

rtk err <cmd>           # Filter errors only from any command
rtk log <file>          # Deduplicated logs with counts
rtk json <file>         # JSON structure without values
rtk deps                # Dependency overview
rtk env                 # Environment variables compact
rtk summary <cmd>       # Smart summary of command output
rtk diff                # Ultra-compact diffs

Infrastructure (85% savings)

rtk docker ps           # Compact container list
rtk docker images       # Compact image list
rtk docker logs <c>     # Deduplicated logs
rtk kubectl get         # Compact resource list
rtk kubectl logs        # Deduplicated pod logs

Network (65-70% savings)

rtk curl <url>          # Compact HTTP responses (70%)
rtk wget <url>          # Compact download output (65%)

Token Savings Overview

Category	Commands	Typical Savings
Tests	vitest, playwright, cargo test	90-99%
Build	next, tsc, lint, prettier	70-87%
Git	status, log, diff, add, commit	59-80%
GitHub	gh pr, gh run, gh issue	26-87%
Package Managers	pnpm, npm, npx	70-90%
Files	ls, read, grep, find	60-75%
Infrastructure	docker, kubectl	85%
Network	curl, wget	65-70%

Overall average: 60-90% token reduction on common development operations.